Tom Rae

Tom Rae had an extraordinary year in 2024, with the rising international star in landscape and astrophotography entering and winning five prestigious global competitions, including the Royal Museums Greenwich Skyscapes Astronomy Photographer of the Year Award. His outstanding work has been lauded around the world, featuring in a range of magazines like National Geographic, Forbes, BBC, NASA, and The Guardian, to name a few.

After a recent stint travelling and photographing in the United States, Tom is back home and excited to be teaching a four-day workshop in the Aoraki/Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve in September. When in Year 12 at St Andrew’s, Tom loved learning about film and traditional photography techniques, saying the “great conversations” he had with his teachers extended his philosophy and encouraged him to develop new perspectives.

Tom reveals a Scholarship portfolio he created in his final year at St Andrew’s is still one of his favourite creative endeavours, which wouldn’t have come to life in the way it did without the encouragement and support of his Photography teacher at the time, Jacqueline MacLeod; Head of Art, Mallory Swadel; and Physics teacher, Kevin Barron. With such incredible success at just 20 years old, Tom’s future in landscape and astrophotography looks extremely bright.