Jocelyn Parry-Jones

I was born in Hobart (Tasmania) in 1986. I am fortunate to have parents who had an appreciation for the beauty of this island. They took me to visit many places around the state thought out my childhood. My favourite place was always Mt Field National Park where we went on many walks and family picnics. I was encouraged to become a scout, which increased my appreciation for Tasmania through the many opportunities to spend time in the wilderness.

My love for Tasmania’s forests in particular was the inspiration for my completion of a Bachelor of Environment and Wilderness Studies at the University of Tasmania (2005-2008). I wanted to learn more about how I could help protect those places that the government seemed so intent on destroying. I then travelled overseas for thirteen months and returned with an even deeper appreciation for how uniquely beautiful Tasmania is. I continued to study science in 2010, doing an honours in Soil Carbon with the department of Agriculture. I continued on to do a PhD and then decided to leave and focus on my growing passion of photography.

In 2013 I completed a Diploma of Visual Arts (photography) at the Tasmanian Polytechnic. During that year I was fortunate to be the winner of the Tasmanian Student Bursary, which enabled me to attend the Australian Institute of Professional Photography conference. This year I am studying adventure guiding, so I can take people though the Tasmanian Wilderness and educate them about its many values. Concurrently to guiding, I will continue to take wilderness photographs and share them with the local and international community.

I am inspired to use images of Tasmania’s beautiful threatened places to create awareness of what we stand to lose. Tasmania is currently at a very critical time environmentally where it could either become a world class attraction due to its outstanding international wilderness values, or it could become a global embarrassment by allowing our government to squander it needlessly.