Hewlett Packard (HP)
Production Fortis
Agency Creative Drive (US)
Photographer Josh Kelly
Production Company Photoplay Photography
Executive Producer Ross Colebatch
Producer Dana White
Media Stills
Year December 2021
This was the first production we completed in the new creative format we had devised and honed in on. We were always searching for the authenticity and had been curating images with the various production elements (wardrobe, hair/make-up, props, locations, talent). We wanted the images to look and feel real but with the control that a production offers. But in bringing in the talent and props, in locations that they weren’t familiar with and put in clothes and hair/make-up that weren’t normal to them, the images still didn’t feel…right. So we devised a new way of shooting the HP stills that might lean into a more authentic image. We went to real operating businesses, with real people and formulated the HP Fortis shoot from there. This meant that the pre-production of the new creative format was a lot more intense but it translated through to stunning imagery. On the HP Fortis shoot, we photographed real professionals from DMS Surfboards, Koala Farms, Oakey Solar Farm and marine biologists from Sea World in their work environments, using a HP computer in the exact way that they would in real life. We interviewed all of the potential talent and utilised their normal working activities, following their normal day-to-day routines at work. We kept everything as close as possible to how it was when we first arrived to the location and simply replaced the business technology with the HP computers that we needed to advertise for the particular shoot. This five day shoot in Brisbane and surrounds seemed to be the start of a new creative method that would ultimately be extremely successful at creating super authentic and beautiful imagery. Our client and agency were based in the US at the time, and due to COVID restrictions could not come to Australia for the shoot so we therefore needed to be on zoom to them. I was in constant contact with the agency producer and creatives via WhatsApp who would pass through any feedback and they would all be watching via the zoom.
Behind the Scenes
Koala Farms
For the Koala Farm portion of the shoot, we battled extremely boggy conditions after some heavy rainfall, Summer weather meaning the risk of snakes and spiders, loads of flies, heavy and fully operating farm vehicles, UV exposure and storms. Safe to say, we were happy to have our safety supervisor on board for this one.
Oakey Solar Farm
This particular day, we had planned to begin a little later on in the day but when I woke up, I noted that there were several storms due to pass in the afternoon. We all quickly ate breakfast and headed out to the solar farm early because if any storms rolled through, we would need to halt the entire shoot due to safety. A solar farm is basically just one big piece of conductive material, meaning lightening strikes are much more likely if storms pass through. We were already aware of the muster point which was safe should a lightening strike be recorded nearby. Unfortunately for us, we began getting strikes as early as 11am. Between waiting for the storms to pass and verifying the property safe to shoot, we had a total of an hour and a half to capture everything we had planned to in the full day. We managed to pull of the seemingly impossible and captured some magic seconds before yet another storm was due to roll through and we called it a day.
Marine Biology
Pablo and his team are real marine biologists at Sea World who study jellyfish. They often head down to the shorefront to collect samples from jellyfish that have washed up on the shoreline and do data entry on their laptops. We decided to shoot them first thing in the morning during the sun rise, while they were doing their analysis. We then went back to Sea World and captured them at work in the laboratory and on the Sea World research vessel.
