TOURISM AUSTRALIA
What do you get when you engage photographers, videographers, and producers to shoot 1000+ stories - simultaneously across Australia? A logistical nightmare! And, a tonne of print-quality content. Over a year’s worth, in fact.
That’s exactly what Tourism Australia did - engaging content creators to produce high-quality stills, videos, and interviews for tourism business' around the nation. I was one of the image-makers involved to capture stills within a three-hour radius of Sydney, New South Wales.
Together, we created a rich collection of imagery and stories covering events, orchards, producers, zoos, entertainment, and more – connecting them contextually into an intricate tourism tapestry showcasing each region. The finished collection will be inserted into the Tourism Australia image library and shared with the featured business' to use for their own marketing.
Scheduling so many creators, companies, and moving parts presented a huge production challenge. The focus was maximising productivity and travel time by scheduling at least two to three projects in one day. For overnight trips, four to six projects over two days was the benchmark.
Shooting content in winter, ready for the high tourism season, meant weather was also a challenge – with La Nina bringing more rain than ever before. But, as the saying goes, there are no cloudy days in tourism! So this required some creative thinking, clever lighting, and commitment to deliver stills that make travellers excited to hit the road and soak up some sun.
There is no stronger kudos that can be given to producers with foresight, the ability to plan (and to adjust on the many variables that confront us!), create strong relationships and have a good time on the job. This makes our subjects open and comfortable, resulting in strong, authentic images.
In addition to blue skies, the brief was to capture the experience – conveying not just visually, but also emotionally - how it feels to watch as a dolphin skims the water’s surface or pluck a juicy peach from a laden tree.
In addition to blue skies, the brief was to capture the experience – conveying not just visually, but also emotionally - how it feels to watch as a dolphin skims the water’s surface or pluck a juicy peach from a laden tree.
How were the ‘feels’ delivered? By:
1) Getting in close to capture intricate details (e.g. the scales on a fish, the glint of a filleting knife)
2) Zooming out to create a sense of place and context (e.g. the boat from above as it bobs about in a vast ocean)
3) Connecting with the humans who give it meaning (e.g. the fisherman who’s been fishing the waters for three generations)
Capturing this level of detail, layered with different angles and experiences, isn’t easy. It means getting wet, climbing trees, crawling on the ground to get close to animals in the wild. It’s about leveraging the right equipment – cameras on the ground and drones up above. And last, but not least, it’s connecting with the people who make it happen. Having a laugh, building genuine rapport to get the real story, and getting close enough to capture them in their element without getting in the way.
The end result? High-quality content and imagery that puts you in the scene, making it relatable and making you hungry to travel and experience it in the flesh. The open road, the unknown, the feeling of freedom and discovery.
That’s tourism gold.
More images on Portfolio
Team and Tools:
With Kent Marcus DOP | Vokyo Entertainment | Will Odillo-Maher Producer
Nikon D850 x2 | 20mm | 35mm | 70-200mm Nikkors
Coloured & Processed on Capture One | Retouched on Photoshop CC
