Meet Michael Willem

Hi and Welcome!

I'm Michael Willem, a Landscape Photographer from Melbourne, Australia. This is my site all about the Great Ocean Road and everything I love about it.

Yes, the Great Ocean Road and I go way back, back to some of my earliest childhood travel & camping memories with my parents.

Inspiring Beauty
I owe my Photographic passion to this most beautiful stretch of Coastline. It started with my photographic obsession with the Twelve Apostles; the famous sandstone stacks near Port Campbell.

When I got my drivers license at age 18, I would travel down from Melbourne any chance I got, with my first camera; a second hand Pentax P50.

I've followed my parents tradition and regularly travel the Road with my own family. We have our own favourite places too, and It's my absolute pleasure to tell you all about them.

This is my opportunity to give a bit back and share my knowledge and experiences of one of the world's most spectacular coastal drives. Along the way I'll invite you to share some of your stories too!

Family Trips
I love travelling here with my family, my beautiful wife Lucy, and four amazing kids Jessica, Bethany, Joshua and Daniel. We are very fortunate to be living within an hours drive of the start of the Great Ocean Road, and we visit at least a few times a year as a family.

Most of my earlier work was shot while on holidays (vacation for some of you) and day trips with them. If you ask them they may not be as thrilled as I am about some of my shots. I had a hard time finding the balance between photography and actually spending time with my family while away! I would often come back to a car full of very impatient kids and a wife ready to strangle me!

I've got the balance a bit better these days, and prefer to travel alone for 'serious photography,' while family trips are restricted to 'not-so-serious photography.'

My Photography
I've been a serious photographer since about 18, and have been building a professional landscape photography portfolio since 2004. This website, although very much a travel info site, is the first time I've made my photography available to the public.

Film, Glorious Film!
For my 'serious photography' I shoot almost exclusively on Velvia slide film and Medium and Large Format Panoramic cameras. The process seems very 'Old School' in today's digital world, but most professional landscape photographers still choose slide film for its fine detail and beautiful colour tones. One of my scanned 6x17cm slides would be equivalent to about a 110 Megapixel digital camera, and with superior tonality.

Film is costly, time consuming and not for the impatient! All shots have to be scanned, cleaned up and colour corrected (there's no Auto White Balance with film!) so the process of displaying my photos on the web is a lengthy and ongoing one.

The best thing to do if you want to be kept up to date is subscribe to this site for regular news and updates, that way you'll be the one of the first to know when I've got something new to share, both of a photographic and travel nature.

Discover, and be Inspired!
I hope you get a lot out of this site, and if you haven't done so already, I hope to inspire you to take this wonderful trip of a lifetime and see for yourself why the Great Ocean Road is my first love in Photographic Locations.

So what drives Michael Willem's Passion for Photography? The Answer should be obvious; The beauty of Nature! I just love finding new things to Photograph, or new angles on well known locations. Ultimately, it's the determination to find that 'perfect shot,' and I have a whole lifetime to find it!

Happy travelling!

Start you Great Ocean Road Adventure: --> Torquay

About Michael Willem --> Great Ocean Road Homepage