Terang artist's landscape photographs on display at Warrnambool's The F Project

The breathtaking images captured from across the south-west test the boundaries of photography and explore what it means to let go.

O'Connor said he took a step back from life when shooting the exhibition by leaving his phone behind and immersing himself in the locations.

"Soft surrealism is the direction I took and I tried to capture images you could look at and find them relaxing," he said. "I wanted people to imagine being there and getting washed away, which funnily enough is what almost happened in the beginning.

"I originally wanted to take black and white photos of Thunder Point. It was a typical Warrnambool day with all of the elements and I realised when I got there I'd left my film camera at home. I took my digital camera out, found a sheltered spot amongst the rocks and I sat there for half-an-hour.

"I took the tripod out and snapped the first image of the exhibition and I'm not sure how it came about but the image has a blurred bottom while the top is sharp.

"I thought this is something I need to explore."

O'Connor spends four days a week teaching mathematics at Terang College and on Fridays ventures to Melbourne for the day to attend the Photography Studies College where he is undertaking his Advanced Diploma of Photography.

The talented artist fell into photography and has captured a number of landscape images around his Terang home and overseas.

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"My sister was actually studying photography and when she upgraded her camera I inherited hers," O'Connor said. "I started playing around and going to all the different locations around here.

"I went to New Zealand and took my camera and found myself just loving taking photos of the landscapes. I just kept it up on the weekends and I started taking photos for events at school."

Reconnecting closes at The F Project on March 28 and O'Connor hopes people find a sense of connection through his images.

"For me, this body of work has been a personal journey about reconnecting with myself, my photography and nature," he said.

"It's really hard to describe the images without seeing them. A lot of my friends have come to the exhibition and said they thought they were paintings.

"My sister loved it too. She came on opening night with our family and she has an exhibition opening in Bendigo soon."

The F Project is open from 10am-4pm at 224 Timor Street, Warrnambool.

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