His project is in many ways a testament to the openness of those he encountered. “One cliché that rang true on my travels was genuine country hospitality,” he writes.

Adam also had a mission in mind — one that many Australians may find familiar. In a separate Q. and A. for Times Insider, he explained his motivation at the start:

“I find the international perception of Australia to be quite limited, especially that of the outback. The way it’s portrayed in pop culture — it’s so often a caricature, a parody. This assignment was an opportunity, after a decade spent mostly abroad, to go back to my homeland, to my own country, and to try to dispute some of those popular perceptions. In some ways, the outback isn’t Australian anymore. It’s become a kind of myth. And the point of the trip, for me, was to inquire what that myth has now become.”

Scrolling through Adam’s images once again this morning as the sun comes up over Sydney, Through the Outback is, to me, both a personal journey that reflects the experience of a talented Australian with a global photographic perspective; and also a reflection of how The Times thinks about its role around the world, including here in Australia.

A common refrain from Bill Keller, our former executive editor and a longtime foreign correspondent, comes to mind: “When in doubt... Go.”

It’s something he used to tell many of us who have spent our lives journeying for journalism, and Adam’s piece embodies that search for people and places that might be overlooked.

Below are just a few of the dozens of images that the project contains. You should really see the whole thing. While it’s impossible for any one photographer to capture the entirety of the outback, even those who know the interior well may find a surprising image or impression.