Zoneone Arts brings Liam Lynch to you...

Posted on 13 Jan. 2026

Interviews

Liam LynchPhotographer / Film maker

JANUARY 5, 2026

Firstly, what led you to photography and film making?

I grew up in the country (Central Victoria) surrounded by nature. As a child, I spent hours alone in the bush or lying on my back watching birds of prey — particularly brown hawks and wedge-tailed eagles — circling in flight in search of a meal. That fascination has never left me and has undoubtedly formed the foundation of my wildlife photography and passion for conservation over the years,

Explain how you see photography as an art form in 2025?

I think it’s a very challenging time to sell photography as an art form. It always has always been, but nowadays “everyone with a phone is a photographer.” The perception that an image is not considered art because it can be reproduced in its exact form multiple times is seen as a disadvantage for photographers striving to be recognised as artists in fine art and gallery spaces.

I’ve spoken about this with a couple of gallery owners this year, and both confirmed the difficulty they have promoting and selling photographic prints both online and directly from their gallery walls. Personally, I sell more prints when people see them first hand on clients. walls or in public spaces than I do through my website.

Nature is a very wide format discuss.

Take a small area, Elephants…

Elephant Snorkel, 2014

In 2008, I was invited, to work with the Conservation Response Unit (CRU), part of the Sumatran Elephant Conservation Programme located in Tangkahan, North Sumatra (Indonesia). Established in 2002, the CRU uses trained captive elephants, their mahouts, park rangers and local community representatives for direct, field-based conservation interventions. These units support the conservation of wild elephants and their habitat while creating opportunities for local communities, achieving positive outcomes for both elephants and people.

Elephantus Oculus

At the time of my visit, all of the elephants at the centre had been relocated from Aceh following the 2004 tsunami. With the assistance of the mahouts and rangers, I was able to work directly with the elephants up close and even in the water with them while they bathed and played. Although these were captive, trained elephants, they were not kept in enclosures and still maintained many of the traits and behaviours of the wild elephants in the region.

Underwater…

Gliding Turtle 2018

What different types of cameras do you use?

I use a Sony mirrorless system inside an Aquatica housing, which has had some custom modifications to allow me to adjust specific camera and lens operations while underwater.

How good a swimmer are you and do you have to be?

Tonga 2018

You do not need to be a great swimmer, but you do need to be confident in the water, aware of how quickly ocean conditions can change, able to adapt to those changes, and prepared for them.

What sort of assistance do you need for this area of photography?

When I’m not in familiar locations, I rely heavily on local knowledge — whether that’s from dive operators or a network of fellow divers and underwater photographers.

Heading South 2014

Can you expand on several rare encounters you have been able to photograph?

That question puts a smile on my face. I have had many, but here are two: On one of my many trips to Tonga to photograph the humpback whale migration, I was“head-butted” by a very friendly juvenile. He then proceeded to lift me (very gently) out of the water with his pectoral fin and appeared to grin at me afterwards.

Headbutt, 2025 ‘Headbutt’ ~ Curiosity Meets Contact

Another memorable moment took place in a remote Sumatran rainforest. After weeks trekking through extremely challenging jungle terrain, we finally found a mother and baby Tapanuli orangutan and followed them for several kilometres through the dense canopy. While the mother stayed high and remained quite shy, her baby was far more inquisitive — coming down lower and, at one point, urinating directly above me, much to the delight of the research team.

Orangutan, Beti 2014 title: ‘Beti’

Explain about the Tapanuli Orangutans and this project?

In 2014, I was invited to join a group of researchers in a remote pocket of rainforest on the island of Sumatra — the unexplored Batang Toru ecosystem, approximately 142,000 hectares. This rainforest is home to hundreds of unique species including criticallyendangered Sumatran tigers, hornbills and the world’s most trafficked animal, the pangolin. The researchers were particularly focused on the orangutans inhabiting the region. At the time, these were considered part of the Sumatran orangutan species, but in 2017 they were officially declared a third, separate species: the Tapanuli orangutan. They instantly became the rarest great ape on Earth, with fewer than eight hundred individuals remaining.

To put this into perspective: there are an estimated 12,000 Sumatran orangutans in the wild, and they are already considered critically endangered. So where does that leave the Tapanulat fewer than eight hundred?

‘Tapanuli Orangutan’

Resently, I read a report that another group of Tapanuli orangutans has been discovered outside the Batang Toru forest in an area of peat swamp forest — the first confirmed record of the species outside Batang Toru. Unfortunately, the area is particularly vulnerable to land use change due to its non-protected zoning, placing this newly confirmed habitat at considerable risk.

The discovery has sparked both optimism and concern: it offers an opportunity to expand understanding of the species’ range, but it also brings new conservation challenges. Since 2014, I’ve returned to Sumatra several times to work with various organisations, including school-based tree-planting groups in the Batang Toru area that I have helped raise funds for. My images from my time in the forest and from subsequent trips have been. used in publications and conservation awareness campaigns.

Discuss this profound comment by Baba Dioum, ‘In the end, we will conserve, only what we love, we will love what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught.’

I first heard this phrase spoken by Farwiza Farhan at a conservation festival in Sumatra I had travelled there to work with another conservation group that year and was fortunate enough to interview and film her. The quote resonated deeply with me, especially as I was collaborating with a school-based group at the time. To me, it underscores that education and understanding are the keys to conservation — and that begins with children.

Farwiza is the leader of Forest, Nature & Environment Aceh (HAkA), a homegrown Acehnese

NGO dedicated to protecting the Leuser Ecosystem in Sumatra. By empowering communities,

taking legal action, and mobilising local, national and global campaigns, Farwiza and her

team are paving the way for truly sustainable development. Her impact on community-driven

conservation was recognised with the 2016 Whitley Award.

When do you use black & white and when is colour more appropriate?

Leafy Palladium 2025 (monotone/palladium) Leafy Sea Dragon

With my palladium printing, black and white (monochrome) is the only option, but in general I decide whether to present the final image in colour, monochrome, tri-tone, greyscale or a combination while editing. Modern software and printing processes have significantly expanded the creative possibilities over the years.

‘Prom Queen’

How did the Ned Kelly Series come about?

The body armour depicted is based on reproductions by Anna Borghazi, an Australian Film Industry Award–winning costume designer. I photographed them during the production of the film Ned Kelly starring Heath Ledger back in 2002.

Burnt Moon 2025

Ned is one of Australia’s most mythologised figures. My images have evolved over time, with a new series currently in production. Like many Australians, I’ve long been captivated by the stories surrounding our most famous outlaw (or bushranger, as we call him). In each series, I aim to resurrect the iconic armour worn by Ned Kelly and his gang.

One series features the surface inscribed with excerpts from Kelly’s Jerilderie Letter, an 8,000-word manifesto transcribed by gang member Joe Byrne, including the powerful statement:

“I am a widow’s son, outlawed, and my orders must be obeyed.”

— Edward ‘Ned’ Kelly, The Jerilderie Letter (1879) The latest series depicts Ned and the gang emerging from the charred landscape after the devastating “Black Saturday” bushfires in 2009.

Kelly Gang 2025 Bushfire. Aftermath

These images are being adapted into wall coverings, including experimental transparent film printed and adhered to waterproofing membrane inside a shower.

Kelly Gang on Balk

What are you currently working on?

Recently my focus has shifted toward transforming my images — and potentially other images, archives and collaborative works — into large-scale wall coverings and murals.

Jelly Wallpaper Interior Bathroom 2025

My goal is to have them displayed across multiple surfaces and textures, both internally and externally. It’s an exciting and highly creative time for me, full of research, development and exploration of new possibilities — and of course, it’s challenging, which is exactly how I like it.

Leafy industrial hanging brass wall panels