In our recent episode of The Camera Life Podcast, Levin Barrett of Rare View Photography joined us to discuss his evolution as an acclaimed and awarded landscape, seascape, and astrophotographer. While Levin has been a highly acclaimed photographer for years, a recent guest on The Camera Life podcast brought his story to our attention. Landscape and astrophotographer Pinky Spencer joined us on The Camera Life in November 2024. During that show, Pinky described her love of photography tours and traveling to uncommon destinations to capture stunning wide expanses of land, sea, and sky. Pinky talked about her recent participation in a New Zealand workshop hosted by Levin Barrett. She spoke so highly of his contribution to her photographic pursuits that we just had to have him on the show!
Like me, Levin’s photography journey began in a home-built black-and-white film darkroom. In his early days, Levin shot analog film while processing and printing his best work. However, life and responsibilities saw his beloved passion project shelved to establish a career and life of his own. At this point, Levin’s life literally took to the skies! Putting aside his photography for the moment, Levin trained as an aircraft engineer and established a successful business over two decades. He worked for a leading airline to conduct essential service and maintenance on commercial passenger planes. Not satisfied with fixing aircraft, Levin once again immersed himself in training to become a pilot and Captain for a major Australian airline. He now flies wide-body passenger plains to interstate and international destinations. Levin continued to expand his industry knowledge and build upon the expertise of others as a ground service trainer for new pilots.
As a pilot, Levin’s work takes him to every corner of the blog and offers him the unique opportunity to explore his creative side in unique places. He discovered that while traveling for work, he could find the time to explore layover destinations and get out and shoot. Before long, Levin discovered the need for higher–caliber cameras and lenses and embraced Sony digital mirrorless cameras. While he started with an APS-C a6500, he quickly graduated to full-frame Alpha camera bodies and G lenses. Levin values the lightweight, compact, and powerful performance of the Sony Alpha series.
He currently shoots with a Sony A7 III (after migrating from a pair of A7 II bodies) and has recently upgraded his second camera to a Sony A7R IV. He has found the Sony Alpha platform incredibly reliable and capable of capturing high-res landscape, seascape, and astro compositions. He works with a minimal lens kit, including a fast, sharp 24-70mm f/2 G Master lens. For astrophotography, Levin equips a 20mm f/1.8 G series lens to gain a wide field of view.
Photography tours are Levin’s passion, and he has conducted regular tours to New Zealand and Tasmania over the past 3-5 years. His love of open spaces, natural vistas, and stunning natural moments inspire his work. He will take the necessary shots in many situations and then step away from his camera to admire the natural beauty. He also loves the peace and quiet of working solo at night to capture captivating astrophotography shots. He recalled his recent New Zealand tour, in which Pinky Spencer participated, where he had organised for a twin-engine prop passenger aircraft to land on a glacier. He allows his participants to capture stunning landscape shots from a location void of human interference.
As a long-time member of the Essendon Camera Club (Victoria, Australia), Levin discovered the joy of photography tours and joined many groups to explore and photograph incredible international destinations. With the impacts of Covid and global lockdowns, Levin’s role as an airline pilot was put on hold, and he took the opportunity to study photography at an online institution. As part of his education, Levin was required to build, promote, and facilitate a mock photography business. He opted to research a workshop and tour business that blossomed into an actual photography business that has allowed Levin to run education programs for like-minded creatives. His workshops and tours are designed to elevate willing participants' skill sets and experiences while delivering a complete travel package. Unsurprisingly, the scheduled Rare View Photography 2025 tours are already sold out! Beyond running his workshops, Levin is a passionate participant in workshops run by some of the best in the business. He loves to travel and make the most of the group dynamics, guided education, and stunning vistas presented during workshops.
If you’re unfamiliar with The Camera Life Podcast, be sure to take a look at our YouTube channel for the latest episodes and, of course, our back catalog of weekly shows. Our shows are also available on popular audio podcast platforms. If you like what you see, please give us a thumbs up, Subscribe to The Camera Life, and click on the bell icon to receive notifications of upcoming shows. If you want to take a closer look at Levin’s work or learn more about his upcoming workshops and tours, check out the links below for Rare View Photography.
