Photographer Kickstarting His Way to the Outback

Babylon photographer Evan Reinheimer has taken photos at many local and international landmarks from the Robert Moses State Park water tower to the Coliseum in Rome, Italy. This time, he's aiming for a shot much further away from home – the land down under, Australia.

"Australia is a place I've always want to go to since I was a little kid," said Reinheimer, 29. "There's a vast variety of landscapes and places to photograph."

To help fund his way to the continent, Reinheimer started a campaign on the website Kickstarter, a website-based funding platform for creative projects including music, movies, art and technology.

And while funding a photographer's visit to the Outback is not a new idea, Reinheimer's style of photography does put a new spin – and perspective – on everything you think you have already seen.

Reinheimer, who attended Suffolk County Community College for photography, always had an interest in photography since he was a child. He took his first formal classes while attending Babylon Junior-Senior High School as a ninth grader.

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"I was interested in aerial photography, but didn't know any pilots or had enough money for my own plane," he said. "Then it just came to me one day – I loved flying kites. I figured out a way to attach the camera to the kite."

What he got was a brand new and relatively unseen perspective on photos using the same tool Benjamin Franklin had to discover electricity.

"I was able to reach a much more unique vantage point – higher than the ground-based shot, but lower than the planes can go. It's much more unique than any other vantage point," he said.

With this relatively simple technique, Reinheimer has produced beautiful shots at landmarks like Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Fransisco and even our own Argyle Lake Park here in Babylon Village. Now he wants to make his next stop Australia.

"I am looking forward to the Great Barrier Reefs," Reinheimer said. "It sounds weird because it's under the water. I want to go up and over the reef and shoot straight down. It's very abstract and beautiful." He also said he was looking to take as many shots around the continent as possible, including landscapes in the Outback and the white sandy seashores.

To get to Australia though, Reinheimer needs a bit of help on his Kickstarter. The goal for the project, $7,500, is roughly $5,000 short as of October 9th with about 20 days to go. If the project does not reach goal, the money does not get collected and no one is charged.

Funders will not return empty-handed, as is the Kickstarter tradition. Those who investors certain amounts will receive photographs, some hand-signed, from Reinheimer as a thank you for the support. A $25 investment could land you a 8x10 photo while the largest donation possible – $5,000 – would land that person a large 30x36 limited edition, hand signed photo from the trip face mounted in acrylic, ready to hang.

"I'm pretty confident we'll hit the goal," he said. "I get nervous – we're about a third of the way through. From what I've seen though, some other projects will see big bumps at the beginning and the end. We just want to keep it going."

• Visit Evan Reinheimer's Kickstarter Project page here.
• Check out more of Reinheimer's work on his portfolio.