Paul M. Dare

In 2016 I embarked on a fascinating journey: to photograph South Australia from the air and replicate the work of pioneering aerial photographer Douglas Darian Smith,a pioneering photographer who captured thousands of photographs across the 20th century.

I flew to the same coordinates, framed the same landscapes, and created before-and-after pairs separated by more than 50 years. The result was published in 2023.

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Life is a journey of exploration. My path has taken me from the Himalayas to the South Pacific, from the Arctic to Africa: landscapes, cultures and peoples that have added immeasurable richness to my life.

My current study focuses on the meteorite impact craters of Australia: the ancient scars left across this vast continent by interplanetary visitors. The results will be published as a book, co-authored with my son Brad Dare.

Two of my great passions are aviation and software development, and through Spatial Scientific, I've found a way to pursue both at once. For the past two decades I've been building flight management systems and camera control software used by aerial survey companies around the world.

The work has taken me far beyond the desk. Testing and deploying these systems has put me in the cockpit of aircraft across Australia and into some genuinely remote and fascinating corners of the globe; places I would never have reached otherwise.

In recent years I've been transitioning into a completely new field: mental health support work. It has become one of the most meaningful things I do. Through local charities I sit with veterans and people experiencing homelessness: listening, being present, offering a gentle and non-judgmental voice.

The work has drawn me toward humanist and Buddhist philosophies: ways of understanding suffering and connection that have quietly reshaped how I see the world and my place in it.