Alex Caerns of Houndstooth Studio, is a renowned pet and animal photographer based in Perth. She conducts photography workshops and trips away under the brand of Down to Earth Photo Breaks and one of these was a workshop on photographing the quokkas and their joeys on Rottnest Island. You have to get to the island by ferry from Fremantle or Hilarys Boat Harbour, so it is quite a Big Day Out, but the island is beautiful, so it’s well worth it.

Apart from a small group of quokkas on WA’s mainland, Rottnest is the primary living and breeding ground of these unique and very cute marsupials. They breed during spring, so September is the time to get out to Rottnest if you want to see them with their joeys. They are very habituated to humans, so easy to get close to for photos, but touching them or feeding them is forbidden.

We started the day with a coffee in the Dome Cafe on Rottnest, followed by a short introduction about photographing the quokkas. Then we went out and about to find them.

Alex is the Queen of Quokkas and has published a book and calendars featuring the happiest animal in the world! You can get her book from Amazon to see how quokka photography should really be done, but these pictures were my best attempt at it. I hope you have a few minutes spare to enjoy a bit of cuteness overload.