North-West Tasmania is a beautiful area to explore with your camera. From stunning natural landscapes to charming towns and villages, there is no shortage of photo opportunities in this exquisite corner of Tasmania.

In this blog post, we will look at some of the best photography locations in the North-West region of Tasmania that I have been lucky enough to visit. So if you want to capture some stunning images the next time you are in this area, this photography location guide is for you.

My list of North-West Tasmanian Photography Locations

I haven’t visited many photography locations in the North-West of Tasmania yet. However, most of these locations were researched online and chosen above others to photograph and include in this article for various reasons.

There are still many other spots I want to photograph and include, so this will be an evolving article as I get to more places and see if they are also worthy of a place on this list.

Speaking of this list, to better organise this article, I have categorised each North-West Tasmanian photography location into the following five categories:

Mountains:

Towns:

Lighthouses:

Waterfalls:

Rainforest:

At the moment, each location, except for some places in Cradle Mountain, are easily accessible and doesn’t require any significant hikes to reach.

Warning: I will constantly use words like stunning, beautiful, fantastic, etc., throughout this article! 🤪

Cradle Mountain

Dove Lake Boatshed in the North-West of Tasmania

Cradle Moutain is my favourite place to photograph, and I dare say, a must-visit if you travel to North-West Region of Tasmania. (HDR Image, Nikon D750, 19mm | March 2015 | Sunset)

  • Rating: 10/10
  • Best time to photograph: Anytime
  • Google Map: Link

Cradle Mountain isn’t just my absolute favourite place in the North-West of Tasmania but, in fact, the whole of Australia! 🤩

Places within Cradle Mountain to photograph

Cradle Mountain covers a large area and is situated inside the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park. As a result, it does contain many beautiful places within its boundaries to photograph. This includes many amazing lakes, peaks, huts and waterfalls, making it a wonderful place to explore.

Some of my favourite places within Cradle Mountain to photograph include the old Dove Lake Boatshed, Crater Falls and Marions Lookout. However, there are still so many places within Cradle Mountain that I am yet to see and capture, which is exciting! 😄

I have published a different location list, like this one, but dedicated to sharing amazing Cradle Mountain photography locations I have been lucky enough to capture with my camera. You should also read that article if you are considering grabbing your camera and heading to Cradle Mountain. ✌🏻

Cradle Mountain, Photography Locations

Penguin

Penguin boat ramp in the North-West of Tasmania

This isn’t a great photo of the high-tide boat ramp at Penguin, but I think there is so much potential here for a great landscape photo! The tide was at its midway point, and the sunrise didn’t give me anything nice to work with. However, I have scouted this spot many times now and know exactly where I will be standing when the conditions are good for photography. (HDR Image, Nikon D750, 16mm | January 2023 | Sunrise)

  • Rating: 7/10
  • Best time to photograph: Sunrise
  • Google Map: Link

Penguin is a stunning little beachside town between Devonport and Burnie in the North-West of Tasmania.

While picturesque and certainly a tourist destination, I don’t feel people would consider it a valid landscape photography location. This is just my opinion, but I didn’t see anyone out and about with a camera and tripod at the start of 2023, when I was lucky enough to live there for several months.

Photographing Penguin’s two boat ramps

The reason that Penguin makes for such a fantastic photography location is because at the western end of Watcombe Beach, just up from the skate park, are two boat ramps. One is for high-tide, the wooden jetty, and the other for low-tide, the long concrete ramp that heads out into the surf and has several support poles sticking up at its end.

I feel that the trick to photographing the Penguin boat ramps is visiting this location during sunrise when the tide is low. That way, you can capture the wooden jetty’s incredible textures and deep shadows and walk out along the cement boat ramp to the supporting poles. The other advantage of low tide is the shoreline does recede a long way and exposes lots of great rocks and channels in the sand. This scene looks great in the foreground leading up to the high-tide wooden boat ramp.

The reason for visiting at sunrise is that both boat ramps face east, which means you will have the sun rising in front of you.

To be honest, I am yet to capture a dynamic sunrise here at low tide. In that sense, it is a little frustrating as you don’t have a large window of days when the tide is low to grab your camera and head there, hoping to capture a lovely sunrise.

But there is an amazing landscape photo in the making here, so I am happy to keep waiting and trying. 🤞

Oh, and a happy snap with the giant penguin statue in the middle of town is mandatory!

Mersey Bluff Lighthouse, Devonport

Mersey Bluff Lighthouse in Devonport, Tasmania.

I took this photo on my first visit to Mersey Bluff Lighthouse during sunrise. Here, I like the various rocks and small shrubs that hug the peninsula, which adds different tiers to the location. I also like that from this position, with my back pretty much facing out to the Bass Strait, you get those dramatic red and white stripes that cover two-thirds of the lighthouse. Certainly, a must-visit if you are getting off or on the Spirit of Tasmania. (HDR Image, Nikon D750, 16mm | January 2023 | Sunrise)

  • Rating: 8/10
  • Best time to photograph: Sunrise or Sunset
  • Google Map: Link

If you are getting off the Spirt of Tasmania, and can’t wait to begin capturing amazing North-West Tasmanian photography locations, then turn right a couple of times, and you will arrive at the beautiful Mersey Bluff Lighthouse. 😀

Photographing Mersey Bluff Lighthouse

Mersey Bluff Lighthouse is a stunning tall lighthouse that is white with large vertical bright red stripes running along the side facing the Bass Straight. These stripes, which are its day markings, make it a unique lighthouse in appearance and, therefore, a fantastic place to photograph.

It is also one of those locations that can be photographed at either sunrise or sunset. For mornings, you will want to be on the left-hand side of the lighthouse. This angle gives you a full view of the red and white vertical stripes. I also enjoyed looking for different elements along the edge of the headland to fill the image’s foreground, with the lighthouse in the middle and the rising sun in the background.

At sunset, I recommend heading to the right of the car park, where you will see a path leading down the hill to a small raised platform. This spot is known as Mersey Viewing Point and not only provides you with a nice view of the boats entering the port but also provides a nice angle at which to capture the Mersey Bluff Lighthouse sitting atop the bluff.

If you are interested in photographing Mersey Bluff Lighthouse, check out my complete photography location guide for this spot.

Mersey Bluff Lighthouse, Location Review

Table Cape Lighthouse

Table Cape Lighthouse in the North-West Region of Tasmania

I didn’t find much of interest up close to Table Cape Lighthouse to work into a composition. However, I did enjoy moving back out towards the wooden gates and taking photos from there. It also helped that I was the only one at Table Cape Lighthouse for sunrise, so there were no cars in the car park. And no, the kookaburra wasn’t really sitting there on the fence. I had inspiration strike me when I originally opened the image in Photoshop and thought that it would be a fun detail to add. (HDR Image, Nikon D750, 35mm | February 2023 | Sunrise)

  • Rating: 7/10 (9 during the Wynard Tulip Festival)
  • Best time to photograph: Sunrise or Sunset
  • Google Map: Link

Table Cape Lighthouse is another large lighthouse on a flat peninsula but surrounded by beautiful farmland.

Photographing Table Cape Lighthouse

To be honest, there isn’t much to work with in terms of composition up close to the lighthouse. At least not that jumped out at me on my only visit to this spot.

However, I did enjoy photographing back at the entry to Table Cape Lighthouse, where there is an old wooden farm-style gate. Here, you can position the gate in the foreground of your photos and use the road to draw a viewer’s eyes towards the lighthouse in the distance.

That said, by far, the best way to photograph Table Cape Lighthouse is by visiting this location in October when the Wynyard Tulip Festival is in full swing. This way, you can have the rows of brightly coloured tulips from Table Cape Tulip Farm in the foreground and Table Cape Lighthouse sitting proudly in the background.

This looks incredible!! 🌷

While I have visited Table Cape Tulip Farm at this time, it was many years ago, and I didn’t think to capture the lighthouse in the background. It is a little disappointing as if you look online for these photos, they are stunning!

But it just means I will need to grab my camera and return this year, which I look forward to. 😊

Check out Table Cape Lookout

Another good place to photograph Table Cape Lighthouse is around the corner at the Table Cape Lookout car park. I was lucky enough to visit this lookout by accident, as it was just an afterthought, ‘oh, I wonder what is down here’, as I was leaving Table Cape Lighthouse.

From this position, you can photograph back across the large sloping paddocks and over to the lighthouse in the distance. When I visited, it looked like someone had mowed the grass recently, which formed these large lines of hay and created fantastic leading lines across the fields.

This lookout would be a great spot to photograph the sunset if that were the only time of day that you had available.

Guide Falls, Ridgley

Guide Falls near Burnie in the North-West of Tasmania

I enjoyed photographing Guide Falls more than I thought I would. If you only have a little time but want to see a beautiful waterfall, Guide Falls is a great spot to visit. Not only is this waterfall located near the main city of Burnie in Tasmania’s North-West, but once parked in the top or bottom car parks, it is only a short walk to the waterfall. Well worth the look. (HDR Image, Nikon D750, 16mm | November 2022 | Early Morning)

  • Rating: 7/10
  • Best time to photograph: Anytime
  • Google Map: Link

Near Burnie and on the way to Cradle Mountain or Philosophers Falls is a large waterfall called Guide Falls.

My first impressions of Guide Falls

I found Guide Falls after searching around online for good photography locations in the North-West Region of Tasmania. Guide Falls was one of the places offered up, and I took my young son out there for a quick visit to get a closer look.

The photos of Guide Falls made me think it was a lovely waterfall, but I was pleasantly surprised by its size. It was a lot larger and had a lot more water running through it than I had first thought when looking at the images online.

I quickly returned with the camera a couple of mornings later and spent some time walking around taking photos of it.

Photographing Guide Falls

There is a viewing platform at the top of the waterfall, which is easily accessible via the top car park. However, the best photo opportunities of this waterfall are from the bottom.

When you enter Guide Falls, the road does fork, and you can continue left to go to the top viewing area of the waterfall or to the right, which will take you to a picnic area. At the picnic area, you will see a small stream running around its perimeter. You can follow this back up the river and, after a short walk, will arrive at the bottom of Guide Falls.

For photography, I recommend turning right and starting downstream, although you can quickly get to the bottom of Guide Falls by the short staircase that leads down from the top area.

I say this because it allows you to stop and take photos if you see a scene along Guide River that captures your attention. If you arrive via the top car park, I feel you will miss this unless you walk down the stairs and along the river to the bottom car park.

Plus, there are way more opportunities at the bottom of Guide Falls than above.

When photographing Guide Falls from the bottom area, there is a small manufactured rock wall that directs the water to the centre of the stream. I can only imagine this was done to create a small rock pool for people to enjoy during the warmer weather. However, this element adds a nice visual characteristic to the photos you can capture here. I also liked the great big palms growing out of the valley walls. These plants look fantastic and provide additional points of interest to your photos.

Just be careful of your footing closer to Guide Falls, as there are many rocks sticking out and are pretty slippery.

Philosophers Falls, Waratah

Philosophers Falls near Waratah in the North-West of Tasmania

This image is a panorama that I turned into a rather large square composition. I did this to get the waterfall and giant ferns all in one picture. Plus, light rain was falling, and I wanted to capture that up high to include some atmosphere in the image. (HDR Image, Nikon D750, 16mm | March 2023 | Early Morning)

  • Rating: 7/10
  • Best time to photograph: Anytime
  • Google Map: Link

Travelling to Philosophers Falls

If you are looking for a photography location that you can photograph in a morning or afternoon, and includes a nice walk, consider visiting Philosophers Falls.

Philosophers Falls is only a short drive from the stunning little old mining town of Waratah. It also contains some lovely photography locations, including Waratah Falls, which can be found in the centre of town, and Waratah River, which has platypus that come out to scourge for food around sunrise and sunset.

I love Waratah! 😍

But anyway, back to Philosophers Falls…

Philosophers Falls Lookout

The rainforest you walk through to get to Philosopher Falls is stunning!

This short walk through the rainforest to the viewing platform at Philosophers Falls will take between 20 and 30 minutes, one-way. I timed myself and walked at a nice pace to enjoy the rainforest vibes and arrived around the 25-minute mark.

According to the Waterfalls of Tasmania website, there are 210 steps in the long staircase that takes you down from the end of the walking track to the viewing platform.

Once there, you will see that the viewing platform isn’t huge, so you are limited in the photos you can capture. I took what ended up being a square panorama so that I could capture the waterfall as well as the big fern trees on the right-hand side.

So while it is nice, you will only capture a few photos, put the camera away in the bag, and head back up the stairs.

Plenty of mushrooms (fungi) exist for those interested in photographing them. At one point, I saw the smallest blue mushroom, just to the edge of the walking track, which was pretty cool. 🍄

Please note: I believe that once upon a time, you could continue along the walking trek beyond the stairs that take you to Philosophers Falls lookout and down to the very bottom of Philosophers Falls.

Unfortunately, this isn’t an option anymore as the trek isn’t maintained and has many trees and debris covering it. I know this because I did attempt it, but after a few hundred metres, I thought better of it and turned around.

Trowutta Arch

A photo of Trowutta Arch in the North-West of Tasmania

This image of Trowutta Arch is taken just inside this giant rock formation. Taken with a wide-angle lens, I was thrilled with this image as it nicely captures the roof of the arch, sides, rocks embedded into the earth, and the nuclear green sinkhole in the middle. Such a wonderful photography location and a must-visit! (HDR Image, Nikon D750, 16mm | March 2023 | Early Morning)

  • Rating: 9/10
  • Best time to photograph: Early morning
  • Google Map: Link

Trowutta Arch is just wow!! 🤩

This is another fantastic natural wonder in the North-West of Tasmania that is like Philosophers Falls in that you have a short walk through a stunning rainforest to reach your destination. However, once you get to the end of the walking track and see Trowutta Arch, you will quickly see that it is unlike any other place you have ever seen!

Trowutta Arch was created as a result of two caves collapsing in on themselves, while the nuclear green pool of water is a sinkhole. The large limestone arch is spectacular and provides a beautiful natural frame for a bright green pool of water on the other side.

Photographing Trowutta Arch

When photographing Trowutta Arch, there are three main areas for you to explore with your camera. That being, before the arch, under the arch and through the arch. Each of these areas, while obvious, provides excellent photography opportunities with the many different rock formations, caves, ferns, etc. and can change considerably with every step taken due to the steep incline of this location.

I do worry about what this location would be like to photograph if there are others also visiting at the same time. So try to get there early, preferably just after sunrise, for your best opportunity to have this location to yourself.

If you would like to check out Trowutta Arch, hopefully, I have encouraged you to; I have a complete photography location guide written for this spot.

Trowutta Arch, Location Review

Please Note: In the opening of this blog post, I added Trowutta Arch to the rainforest category, but it is so much more than that. It was just the simplest way to categorise this location other than putting it into the ‘incredible natural wonders that you must see’ category.

That would have been too wordy. 😉

Download free ebook, My favourite Australian photography locations

Future North-West Tasmania Locations

I have a list of landscape photography locations in the North-West Region of Tasmania that I have made a note of to grab my camera and visit. This includes the Nut at Stanley, Marrawah, Mount Roland and Arthur River, to name just a few.

If you know of other fantastic photography locations in the North-West of Tasmania that I should photograph, please reach out and let me know. I would love to hear about them.

The best way to do this is to visit my Facebook page, leave me a comment, and even share an image of your recommended North-West Tasmanian photography location. 🙂

You will love photographing North-West Tasmania

If you’re looking for beautiful rural photography locations in Tasmania, the North-West region is a great place to start. From the stunning Cradle Mountain to the charming towns of Stanley, Waratah and Penguin, there is no shortage of photo opportunities in this area. Remember to check out the lighthouses and waterfalls too!

As mentioned, this list of photography locations in the North-West of Tassie will evolve. So make sure to bookmark this page and visit it regularly.

Enjoy photographing the North-West of Tasmania! 🤠

Thanks,
Rob Potter