Where AI meets the real world in high res
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This project started with a simple question, how do we create something that’s not feasible to shoot for real within budget?
The answer was a hybrid approach.
The landscapes were photographed first. I used my own landscape plates to build AI layouts, exploring perspective and scale, while the lighting direction was always driven by the photography. Once that held, the real landscape was brought back in during post. It simply looked better, more grounded, more believable, and it holds up in high resolution.
The car and talent were always photographed for real. Properly lit, properly placed, with full control and proper usage rights. That physical anchor is important, it gives the image weight and something real to hold onto.
The advantage is clarity. You can resolve the image before you shoot it. Lock in decisions early, reduce guesswork, and walk onto set knowing exactly what needs to be done. It takes pressure off the shoot and puts the thinking where it belongs, upfront.
There’s also efficiency in it. Not because it’s free, it isn’t, but because it cuts out unnecessary complexity and keeps the production focused on what actually matters.
AI is a powerful tool, but it’s not the final image. It sits within the process. Pushed where it helps, held back where reality matters. For me, it’s another post-production tool, used with intent and control.
In the end, it’s still about building something that feels real. Advertising for grown-ups.
A hybrid approach, in service of something that still feels real.
A hybrid approach, in service of something that still feels real.
A study in combining photography, landscape, and AI
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The idea was simple. Create these R.M. Williams pop-up stores in the Australian landscape in a way that feels unexpected, but still entirely believable.
I’m not a fan of fully AI-generated imagery. It often lacks weight, presence, believability. So the environments are built from my own landscape references, shaping something familiar and then reworking it.
The structures are developed through AI, step by step, with a very controlled hand guiding form, scale, and detail.
I don’t really believe in fully AI-generated imagery. That sense of weight and presence just isn’t there. So the product is always photographed for real. Proper light, real materials, something tangible that anchors the image.
AI sits within that process as a tool. A way to explore and construct, not to replace what needs to feel true.
There are real efficiencies in using AI, no question. But the idea that it’s free or takes five minutes is simply wrong. A lot of work goes into it. For me, it sits alongside retouching and CGI, just another post-production tool, used with intent.
Clear, considered, and built to hold.
A pen, a ball, and an idea that goes a long way.
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One day, minimal crew, I ran the camera myself. We shot stills on the side. Talent, a cricket ball, a golden pen, a location. That was pretty much it.
But the idea was strong. A teacher can shift perspective, can push a kid to think bigger, to reach further. We turned that into something visual. The pen becomes a rocket, the ball a planet, and suddenly it opens up into something much larger.
What I like about it is the scale of the idea versus how we made it. It feels big, but it’s built out of almost nothing. A bit of fire, some movement, careful grading, strong editing, and it starts to carry real weight.
It’s a good reminder. You don’t always need a big production to make something work. Sometimes the constraint is the thing that sharpens it.
A playful integrated campaign for Narellan Pools film, and stills
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The idea was simple. A match cut between people who want a pool and people already enjoying one. Same moment, same behaviour, just a small shift in life, but actually quite a big one.
The campaign ran across a 30-second film, cutdowns, and a stills campaign. The tone stayed grounded. Light humour, very human, nothing overplayed. Not trying to be cool, just reflecting real people and real moments.
We built it as one system, shooting motion and stills together, keeping everything consistent from the start. I directed, operated parts of the camera, and captured the stills, staying close to the work the whole way through.
The production was substantial. Multiple locations, night shoots, drone work, all feeding into the same idea and keeping it cohesive.
At its core, it’s about people, not the product. The product is really the enjoyment you get out of having a pool.
I’m still dreaming of getting my own one, so clearly it works.
By running two assistant crews, we can move fast and stay efficient. More importantly, it keeps everything aligned, film and stills are developed together, which makes the tone more cohesive and consistent.
By running two assistant crews, we can move fast and stay efficient. More importantly, it keeps everything aligned, film and stills are developed together, which makes the tone more cohesive and consistent.
Chasing the sun
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Das Narrative, a production company from Austria, came to Australia in search of light.
We shot key scenes which made it into the 30-second spot, as well as a standalone 15-second cut. An Austrian director and photographer, living in Australia, shooting back for Austria. What a small world.
The agency had this beautiful image in mind, a 10 metre diving tower in an outdoor public pool, the bravery of jumping.
The shoot took us to Canberra. Colder conditions, long hours, and a demanding setup. Working with young talent, in and underwater, it was a full day.
It’s something I remember from growing up in Austria. Turns out, while we do have them in Australia, most are no longer in use. Concrete cancer, safety restrictions, closures. They’re simply not accessible anymore.
So we had to go further out. Canberra ended up being the place where we found one still intact and usable.
I ran the film camera and captured the stills, working with a very lean crew.
A cohesive production where I direct and shoot the stills alongside the film. Running parallel setups means we can move fast and efficient, but nothing feels rushed. It keeps the whole thing tight, consistent, and on the same wavelength.
A cohesive production where I direct and shoot the stills alongside the film. Running parallel setups means we can move fast and efficient, but nothing feels rushed. It keeps the whole thing tight, consistent, and on the same wavelength.
There was a push towards heavy VFX, but we chose to build it for real
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This 30-second film for Palmer’s came out of a really strong, simple insight. Most women don’t just have one product they trust. They have cabinets filled with half-used brands, different promises, different claims.
Palmer’s offers the opposite. Something straightforward that works. One simple solution.
The client and agency initially looked at a CGI route, but I felt it would land much stronger if we kept it grounded in reality. So we built a small tunnel in the studio. A real space, real atmosphere, real camera decisions.
Everything was kept simple, but very considered. That gave the whole piece a sense of weight and a tactile quality that’s hard to fake.
It was shot in a single day. Tight, focused. The kind of setup where clarity and decisions matter.
We also captured product stills alongside the film, keeping everything consistent.
Real space, real atmosphere, real camera decisions. Everything kept simple, but thought through.”
Real space, real atmosphere, real camera decisions. Everything kept simple, but thought through.”
Light Weight Without consequence
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These images started with a simple impulse. Why does everything always have to behave?
We’re used to things making sense. We want them to make sense. Gravity, cause and effect, politics, people in power.
There’s no drama here, no spectacle. Just a quiet shift that makes you look twice, and stay with it a little longer.
The boulders carry weight, and yet there’s a strange lightness to it. A calmness. It would be easy to make them move, turn it into motion. But they don’t need to. The idea holds in a single frame.
Maybe that’s the point. To just stand in front of something and look. Not on a small screen, but properly. At scale.
I find it’s often less about movement and more about presence.
I find it’s often less about movement and more about presence.
If it feels set up, it’s already lost
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Shot over two days for McCain, balancing clarity and honesty. The outdoor heroes are clean and readable, strong expressions that land instantly on a billboard. The wider library leans the other way, quieter, more intimate, the kind of moments you catch just before or after something happens.
Natural light, minimal styling, and a loose approach with the talent. Kids sharing, grabbing, reacting. Nothing pushed, nothing overworked. Just enough control to hold the frame, but still let it feel like it’s unfolding in front of you.
Clear when it needs to be, real where it matters
This photographic series explores the waterways of Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, a landscape that’s deceptively difficult to photograph
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This is a place I keep going back to. I absolutely love it.
The waterways of Ku-ring-gai, where the Hawkesbury meets the sea. It’s only about 25 kilometres from Sydney, but it doesn’t feel like it at all. It’s wild, but still accessible. That’s what makes it special.
I’ve been shooting here for the last five or six years, and it’s actually a really hard place to photograph. In daylight it feels harsh. Shadows drop into black, the water blows out. Most of the time, it doesn’t give the camera much.
But when it all aligns, light, water, mist, the smallest ripples, you get something really special. You can almost capture the quiet that’s been sitting there for thousands of years.
It takes patience, which I don’t mind. A lot of the time I’m just sitting on the boat, waiting. Mostly first light or last light. And I love that you can’t force it. If it’s not right, I go home with nothing.
I shoot a lot, then come back and delete most of it. I don’t retouch these images. If a boat goes through, that’s it, you don’t shoot.
Coming from the commercial world, where everything is built, controlled and fast, this is the opposite. It’s slower, quieter.
There’s something incredibly special about being out there. It still feels untouched. Ku-ring-gai is the second oldest national park in Australia, and was established in 1876 and you can feel that history when you’re sitting there.
Yes, boat traffic can get pretty busy. But head out on a Tuesday morning in winter and you’ve got a very good chance of having one of those beautiful bays in Ku-ring-gai completely to yourself.
There are places where you’re far enough away that you don’t hear anything at all. Down at Bobbin Head you might catch the highway if you really listen. But there are spots where it’s just quiet. Properly quiet. And it’s pretty special.
There’s a calm and a quiet to it, right on the edge of Sydney, and it’s been sitting like that for thousands of years.
Photographed in Hong Kong, adapted for different markets
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This was a campaign we shot for Standard Chartered in Hong Kong, but also across multiple regions. Every setup had to work in different markets, so we shot each image multiple times with different talent. Same frame, same idea, just carefully adjusted so it felt right for each region.
Standard Chartered is an international bank. They focus on private banking, wealth management, and corporate banking, mainly across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. A big part of what they do is helping individuals and businesses manage, grow, and move money globally. It’s quite a relationship-driven business, less about transactions, more about long-term financial strategy.
What I like about this one is the simplicity. It looks clean and straightforward, but there’s quite a lot behind it. We built a small set, used CGI for the background, and shot everything with a very controlled lighting setup. Everything designed to feel precise, but still natural.
That balance is always the tricky part. We wanted it refined, but not overworked. Polished and elegant but still real. It’s very easy to push it too far. I think we managed to hold it in the right place here.
In the end, these are big images, but built quite carefully. Nothing shouting, just everything sitting where it should. Clean, considered, and holding its space.
One of the best moments was seeing it take over Forbes Asia.
The campaign wrapped the entire issue, a proper cover wrap, hard to ignore, exactly where it should be.
That felt like a real sign it had landed.
