ABOUT
Mitchell Burns
Australian photographer, filmmaker and author.
THE WORK
Built in the field, not behind a desk.
Mitchell Burns is an Australian photographer, filmmaker and author whose work is shaped by wild places, changing light and the time it takes to properly understand a landscape. Based in Far North Queensland, he works across landscape, wildlife, film and long-form visual storytelling.
The photograph is the foundation, but the story around it matters just as much — the journey, the weather, the wait, the encounter and the decisions that lead to a frame.
EARLY DAYS
Learning to slow down.
Photography started early. As a kid, Mitchell used disposable cameras around the farm; by his teens, curiosity had become an obsession with landscape photography and the technical discipline behind it.
A Fujifilm G617 panoramic film camera became an important early teacher. With no screen and no instant second chance, every frame demanded patience, careful metering and a decision about what really belonged in the picture. That panoramic way of seeing still runs through his work today.
BEFORE PHOTOGRAPHY
A decade in mining.
Mitchell grew up in a Queensland mining town and followed the path that was familiar. At 18 he entered the coal-mining industry and spent close to a decade working in it.
Photography remained the counterweight — something pursued between shifts, on days off and whenever he could get back into the landscape. In 2022 he left mining to pursue photography full-time.
TODAY
The frame is only part of the story.
Today Mitchell works across still photography, film, commercial campaigns, commissioned place-based projects and wildlife storytelling.
His approach remains field-led: spend time, understand the place, then make work that feels specific to it rather than interchangeable. Whether the outcome is a panoramic photograph, a documentary sequence, a brand campaign or a site-specific commission, the objective is the same — work with a strong sense of place, patience and story.
LIFE, CAMERA, ACTION
The story behind the change.
Mitchell’s memoir Life, Camera, Action traces the move from mining into a creative life and the experiences that shaped the work along the way.