...John Butler at Home
We just spent 7 days with Oxfam shooting the Close the Gap campaign in Western Australia. It was a fantastic trip full of highlights… Shooting portraits from Bunbury to Mt. Magnet (which is officially in the Outback!)
Photographing John Butler at his home in Freemantle, WA was definitely a high point of our trip…
He is a big proponent of Indigenous Equality in general – and more specifically, Close the Gap. So he invited us to his home where we filmed and photographed for about 4 hours. He spoke very eloquently about the need for equality and a true ‘fair go for all’. Here’s a little behind the scenes video I shot, edited by the phenomenal crew at Red Hat Films who have made the Close the Gap video for the past 4 years. http://youtu.be/wMwhU8LBjOE
I had loads of ideas for cool portraits when I arrived, but after we spent about 40 minutes with him – shooting all natural light just using a reflector – I knew I had it nailed.
Oxfam requires a very specific look that they use for their visual communication. So once I knew I had the ‘right’ shots in the bag, I started experimenting a little bit for a portfolio piece. The above shot is exactly the quiet, contemplative character John seems to be…
And as a little bonus, since his whole family was there when we arrived, I offered to do a family portrait since there was a perfect spot in their dining room. Their chicken is basically a full-fledged member of the family so I thought we could create something extra special if they would be willing to put the chicken on the table… They totally went for it!
Score!