From Spacey Jane to the spaceman: Our top WA photo picks from May

Australia Broadcast Center

01-06-2025

The members of Perth-based Wadumbah Indigenous dance group share stories of the Aboriginal Dreamtime, and taking park in a special performance this month for Reconciliation week.
Here is founder James Webb's grandson striking a pose for the camera, taken with a wide lens to exaggerate the movement and draw the audience into the centre of frame.
Volunteers for the STS Leeuwin II are captured here in their environment, a scene set by Fremantle's iconic cranes in the background, the morning sun hitting the container ships and the vessel's ropes.
Reporter Lily Kristanto snapped this photo on the docks while volunteers were on the boat in a much lower position, so she had to position herself strategically by getting down low to achieve a balanced composition.
The beloved sailing ship was on its way for major repairs after being damaged by a container ship last year.
This is a close-up image of sand near the Chapman River mouth 420km north of Perth, captured using a shallow depth of field to hone in focus on a specific part of the image.
The sand gets its colour from eroded rocks further inland that get carried towards the coast by the river.
Crew member Stefan Ivanov is part of a four-man team rowing from Carnarvon, 900 kilometres north of Perth, to Kenya on a 9,000km journey they're hoping to complete in 75 days.
The rowers, hailing from Bulgaria, Ukraine, China and the Netherlands will contribute to research at UWA, sending temperature, speed and GPS data.
Mr Ivanov is pictured here ahead of the gargantuan trip, in a low-angle shot typically used to convey strength.
At 74, retired psychologist Elizabeth Szczepanska has no regrets in her eventful life, which includes coming to Australia as a refugee from communist Poland.
She's also had a successful sporting career in the Australian Masters Games, specialising in discus, shot-put and javelin.
Her message: "Sh*t happens. Suffering is optional."
US artist Brendan Murphy stands in front of his 7-metre-tall sculpture Boonji Spaceman, donated to the City of Perth.
While many were excited for the astronaut's unveiling, the artwork faces opposition from supporters of the "kebab" sculpture that once stood in its place, but was taken down in 2021 after engineers deemed it unsafe.
After a period of festival drought for the region, it was all smiles at triple j's One Night Stand event in Busselton — which sold out all 15,000 tickets in less than six hours, the fastest in the event's 20-year history.
With band members hailing from Geraldton, Margaret River and Victoria's Wimmera region, Spacey Jane was keen to celebrate bringing live music to the regions and mark the start of their world tour.
In a fast-paced and low-light environment, reporter Bridget McArthur had to use a high ISO speed of 3,200 and shutter speed of fast 1/500 to capture the lively band in motion.
Perth woman Liesl Benecke holds a Guinness World Record for her 1,035-strong minion collection.
The overall-clad yellow characters are from the animated film Despicable Me, and have attracted a cult following in their own right.
The frame only captures a fraction of her minons memorabilia.
After Labor's landslide election win on May 3, successful WA candidates hold a media conference fronted by cabinet minister Madeleine King.
Among their ranks is Tom White, who snatched the northern suburbs seat of Moore from the Liberals and Josh Wilson, who kept his previously safe seat but faced a 16 per cent swing away from him towards Fremantle independent Kate Hulett.
Newly elected upper house Greens MP Sophie McNeill looks off into the distance not long after finding out that the federal government has approved an extension of Woodside's North West Shelf gas project until 2070, feeling "devastated" and "speechless".
The WA Greens were holding a media conference reacting to scientists' claims a report into the impact of industrial emissions on Aboriginal rock art was being misrepresented, and weren't expecting the news on the North West Shelf extension in that moment.
WA's last WWII prisoner of war, Arthur Leggett, is laid to rest at a state funeral at St George's Cathedral after he died in April, aged 106.
The veteran, a survivor of the infamous Lamsdorf Death March to Munich, was remembered as an Australian hero who radiated inner strength and stoicism.
Roughly 1,000 people lined St Georges Terrace as a military procession made its way to the cathedral for the funeral service.
Police Commissioner Col Blanch hugs the mother of deceased police officer Constable Anthony Woods after Reagan Chown was found guilty of manslaughter.
The court heard Chown was high on meth when he ran over Constable Woods with a stolen car.
Outside court, Commissioner Blanch described Constable Woods as a "hero".
Chanti McHenry is a runner who's been selected to join the Indigenous Marathon Project squad and will be taking on the New York Marathon in six months.
Ms McHenry chose Hearsons Cove in Murujuga, near Karratha in WA's north, for the shoot as it's a place she feels comfortable, and she met with reporter Mietta Adams at sunrise for the best lighting.