Hello, my name is Natalya Stone and I’m a nature photographer, based in Melbourne, Australia. I travel regularly to capture the wonder and beauty of the natural world around us. Some of my favourite things to capture – amazing patterns, textures and colours, the majesty of trees, the imposing strength of a boulder, glorious golden light, a foggy atmosphere… Travel is in my blood and I will continue to travel far and wide until I’m no longer able… Once bitten by the travel bug there's no going back - there is always somewhere new to explore or rediscover. I've travelled to 43 countries (lived in 3 - Australia, England and Papua New Guinea) so far - so many more to go to!
Fuelled by a passion for travel and a love of this planet, my eye is influenced by the incredible patterns, textures, and colours of nature. Connecting with nature is my therapy helping to keep any anxieties at bay - a cathartic release from real world stresses. I’m a strong advocate for the protection of the environment and our precious wildlife, seeking to create images that will invoke respect and care for our world.
Awards - I most recently was announced as 2020 Winner of the Wildlife category in the Australian Photography Awards. I was a participant in Knox City Council’s 2019’s “Immerse” exhibition, a finalist in the 2018 Bowness Photography Prize and have held exhibitions at MGA (Bowness 2018), Vernissage Gallery, Brunswick Street Gallery, Glimmer Gallery and the Melbourne Camera Club.
My influences - great photographers and environmentalists such as Peter Dombrovkis, Ansel Adams and Eliot Porter.
“If I can help people, in some small way, see the natural beauty of our planet, maybe they will pause long enough to consider their actions and help protect it and all that lives on it.” Natalya Stone
I think the fact that I was surrounded by National Geographic magazines during my childhood may have just rubbed off a bit! My Mum has been getting a monthly subscription of Nat Geo since well before I was born and still is getting them to this day. There have been many hours spent poring through the pages and wondering about those far off places and extraordinary wildlife. The pages were turned gently, showing an almost religious reverence for the photos. I dreamed of going to these far flung places and taking my own photos.
At the bottom of the family linen press, kept carefully in a "Jetset tours" bag lived my Dads' cameras. A box brownie, a polaroid camera and a Kodak Retina. When no one was looking I would sit in the hallway, get the cameras out and wonder at them. I wasn't meant to be touching them, but I was fascinated with the magic of the prints they could deliver. If I was very lucky Dad would let me take a photo with the polaroid and I would wait for the image to appear!!
AWARDS
IPA - International Photography Awards 2022 - Official Selection “The Fluidity of Sand”
Better Photography Magazine Photographer of the Year 2022 - 3 x Silver Awards “Behind You”, “The Portal” & “Silver Linings”
“Lagumin” APA Australian Photography Awards 2022 Shortlisted/Top 50 - Environment Category
“Invasion” APA Australian Photography Awards 2020 – WINNER – Wildlife Category
“Life Cycle”, “Ovule”, “Pollinator”, “Consumed” and “Embrace Age” APA Australian Photography Awards 2019 - Top 100 Finalist Aerial category
“Ovule” Silver Award AIPP – APPA’s (Australian Professional Photography Awards) 2019 Landscape Aerial category
“Bouquet” Silver Award AIPP – APPA’s (Australian Professional Photography Awards) 2019 Landscape Aerial category
“Pollinator” Silver Award AIPP – Victoria State Awards 2019 Landscape Aerial category
“Moody Mornings” Silver Award AIPP – Victoria State Awards 2019 Landscape Single Capture category
Finalist – 2019 AIPP Victorian Emerging Photographer of the Year
“Euphoria” APA Australian Photography Awards 2018 Finalist – Top 20 Finalist Landscape Category
“Exhilaration” from the 2017 series Euphoric- 2018 Finalist, Bowness Photography Prize
Silver Award AIPP – Victoria State Awards & APPA's 2018 Landscape Open category
Silver Award AIPP – Victoria State Awards & APPA's 2018 Landscape Aerial category
“Foggy morning” FOCUS Awards 2017 Sunrise/Sunset Category – 23rd place in Top 50
“Bigger than Us” – Top 50 in the Black and White category 2017 Australian Photography magazine, Photographer of the Year
“Puffin” APA Australian Photography Awards 2017 Finalist – placed 14th in Top 20 Student category
“If these trees could talk” APA Australian Photography Awards 2016 Winner- Student category
EXHIBITIONS
Exhibition: In Focus Women
An exhibition dedicated to featuring women in landscape photography. Image: “Whale Tail”
The Prince Art Gallery, Sydney
5 - 10 November 2022
Exhibition: Connecting with Nature
Group exhibition celebrating the love of nature, the landscape and photography. Images: “Grant’s Gull”, “Slow”, “Conflicted” & “Surrender”.
Glimmer Gallery, 241 Hawthorn Road, Caulfield North
13 - 26 November 2021
Exhibition: Immerse
Immerse is one of the largest and most innovative art exhibition programs in Australia. It is an exhibition that breaks free of an art gallery and through art and storytelling inspires audiences to experience art in the unexpected places of their everyday. Immerse is a conversation with an audience of thousands, first developed and coordinated by Knox City Council in 2015.
The program provides exhibitions, artist talks and performances across local Knox venues over 30 days, making available high quality contemporary art and opening up new cultural conversations to the Knox community and beyond.
"Intoxication" a series of aerial photographs of Lake Eyre-Kati Thanda
1 - 30 September 2019
Swinburne Gallery 369
Exhibition: The Female Gaze
International Women’s Day Exhibition of Photography
Images: “Moody Mornings”, “Intoxication” and “The Painted Hills”
7 – 24 March 2019
The Melbourne Camera Club, South Melbourne
Exhibition: William & Winifred Bowness Photography Prize
My image “Exhilaration”
A celebration of National Excellence 2018
29 September – 18 November 2018
Monash Gallery of Art – mga
Exhibition: Welcome
Studio B Gallery welcoming its newest artists with a group exhibition offering a diverse range in artistic styles, media and size.
8 – 19 August 2018
Studio B Gallery, Prahran
Exhibition: Significant
A series of aerial photographs exploring the colour, pattern and textures of Iceland.
9 - 25 February 2018
Brunswick Street Gallery
PSC (Photography Studies College) Affordable art pop up gallery Summer 2017 “Cyan”
At Southgate
PSC Summer Exhibition 2017 “Cyan”
At Photography Studies College
PSC Mid-year exhibition 2017 “Cactus & Banana”
Centre for Contemporary Photography
2016 CCP Salon 25 November – 17 December 2016
4 images
PUBLICATIONS
2022 In Focus Women - coffee table book
2021 In Focus Women - coffee table book
2020 APA Annual (Australian Photography Awards)
2019 The Annual, Capture Magazine – Aerial category