Tenacious drive comes easily to Perth photographer Frances Andrijich – her hard working Croatian parents taught her early that perfection takes just a little bit longer. Frances has earned her place as one of Western Australia’s finest photographers by striving to turn out beautiful, incisive and technically fine images.

An authentic Western Australian feel pervades her images, from the tiniest fleck of rusty corrugated iron to the vast grandeur of red ochre landscapes. She’s captured many famous faces – from writer Tim Winton, actors Ernie Dingo, Hugh Jackman, Bryan Brown, Jack Thompson and Heath Ledger, to sportsmen Adam Gilchrist and Steve Hooker.

But fame is not a pre-requisite for attracting Frances’ keen photographic eye. On the contrary, she is also drawn to the lives and pastimes of everyday people, much like her own migrant family. Father-and-son butchers stand proudly in their shop; a pair of sailors loiters at twilight down at Fremantle port, while a swimmer playfully upturns his mate in the City Beach surf.

Her philosophy is simple, if exacting – put your subject in the right setting and they will muster up the magic required for a memorable shot, like the spectacular leap by actor-dancer Trevor Jamieson or Heath Ledger’s jubilant kicking-up of his heels.

Her portfolio is diverse, grown out of her ability to be versatile, and her desire for the extraordinary and includes portraits, documentaries, dance, corporate, landscapes and food and wine.

Such arresting images have graced magazines, books and newspapers around Australia and the world. Frances’ pictures have featured in Australian Geographic, Good Weekend Magazine, The West Weekend Magazine, TIME, Gourmet Traveller, BBC Good Food, QANTAS Magazine and Weekend Australian Magazine. She had her eighth book, Kate Lamont Food and Wine, was published in September 2009.

Corporate clients include Lotterywest, Art Gallery of Western Australia, West Australian Opera, ABC Radio & TV, LandCorp, UWA Business School, West Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, West Australian Ballet and WA Tourism and Alcoa.

Wineries and restaurants have become a specialty – clients include Moss Wood, Cherubino Wines, Leeuwin Estate, Cullen, Howard Park, Flametree, Aravina Estate, Lamonts and Happs.

Frances has won numerous awards for her photography. Her pictures have appeared six times in the prestigious Fuji ACMP Photographer’s Collection. She also exhibits her work regularly, most recently: "Touching the Ground" at L&K Galleries in 2008, "Australian Characters" Scion Gallery, Culver City, Los Angeles in 2007 and "Mata Hati (The Feeling Eye) Festival of Nusantara" at The Powerhouse, Brisbane in 2007.

Frances has documented all manner of topics on roving assignments to Moscow, Croatia, Indonesia and South Africa. But the bulk of her work focuses on the extraordinary visual sights found in Western Australia and its capital city Perth, the place this overseas-born Australian has felt blessed to call home.