‘I want people to see nature as a wondrous work of art’: Jon McCormack’s best phone picture

The Australian photographer climbed inside a hollowed-out rock overlooking the ocean to get this striking, disorienting image

Around 10,000 years ago, Kangaroo Island separated from mainland Australia. As a result, species evolved independently – and now the island is home to wildlife found nowhere else, including a soot-coloured dunnart, as well as, of course, kangaroos. The human population here is so low that there are 14 kangaroos for every one person.

On the far southern edge of the island sit Remarkable Rocks: granite forms carved over time by wind, rain and salt. Jon McCormack took this photograph inside one of the boulders overlooking the Southern Ocean, facing towards Antarctica.

“It’s a fascinating place that feels both ancient and exposed, shaped by weather and isolation,” says McCormack, who shot this image at sunset after a day spent exploring the island. “I climbed inside a section of rock that had been hollowed out by erosion and found this composition,” he says. “A suspended, sculptural form of stone hanging over the vastness of the ocean. I think what makes this image work is its graphic simplicity. The line, the horizon and the opening all work together to create the composition, and the hole in the rock gives the energy and tension.”

Western Queensland-born McCormack now lives in northern California, and has spent the last decade photographing patterns in nature across seven continents. (His book, Patterns: Art of the Natural World, is published by Damiani this month.) “I want people to see nature as I see it. As a wondrous, intricate and endlessly creative work of art,” he says. “My intention here was to make an image that felt both visually striking and slightly disorienting. The first catches your attention, but the latter asks you to look more carefully – to stay a little longer.”