Photography Matt Nettheim

Although the MABO shoot was plagued by misfortune and often exhausting, it just may have been the job of my life.  Shooting commenced on remote Murray Island, Eddie Mabo’s actual place in the Torres Strait Islands, closer to Papua New Guinea than Australia. I befriended a bunch of local kids soon after arriving and, after teaching them to play hacky sack, was privileged to a magical tour of some of their special places, eating fresh mangoes as we went and ending in a exhilarating swim amongst the reef sharks. The kids remained my friends and guides for the remainder of our stay. Filming then moved progressively down Queensland’s beautiful coast; Cairns, Townsville, Magnetic Island and finally Brisbane. I was kept extremely busy shooting not only the stills but also the behind the scenes video.

My Murray Island crew.

My father’s lifetime of work in Native Title and Human Rights, in support of Eddie Mabo’ historic land claim, was a remarkable asset. Garth Nettheim was well known and highly regarded by the indigenous community throughout the region and brought me much pride, as well as immediate respect, throughout the shoot. As he appeared briefly in the script, I successfully approached director Rachel Perkins for the job. Although I am an atrocious actor, I did my best with the small non speaking part resulting in my first credited acting performance. In truth, most of the crew had cameos at some point as we all pitched in to help get through each ambitious day. Rachel Perkins probably acted and had various body parts in a dozen different scenes, always looking stylish in a variety of period outfits.

My father Garth Nettheim with students at a recent Diplomacy Training Program.

The long days on MABO were made special by outstanding performances by all cast, but particularly our two leads. Deb Mailman (Bonita Mabo) was magical just to be close to and her remarkable acting skills were stunning to witness. I had not heard of Jimi Bani (Eddie Mabo) before the shoot, but the entire crew were mesmerized daily as this outstanding young actor completely embodied his complex character over four decades, in a demanding and emotional role. I am so excited for all the clever people behind MABO, which will screen on the 20th anniversary of the historic decision in June 2012.

Murray Island. The Mabo crew race to finish a scene as the tide comes in.

Although financially disastrous, 2011 had been an interesting year with fascinating little film projects, exotic travel, a few accolades and lots of time with my precious family. As usual my diary is empty as the 2012 kicks off, it is scary but also full of potential. Actually, my first job for the year was on stilts dressed as a mouse, on a scorching 40 degree (104) summers day, honest, real work, just to keep my feet on the ground.

The Blind Mice entertain post Christmas shoppers in Adelaide's Rundle Mall. (I am the tall one.)

In an encouraging sign, a busy period of interesting jobs directly followed my disaster work year. I spent two weeks in Sydney catching up with all my family, whilst working on the feature film Venice, Written and directed by Miro Bilbrough, Venice is being produced by my sister in-law Karen Radzyner in our first project together. It was a really lovely film to work on, I joined a small hard working crew towards the end of the shoot, Bonnie Elliot was behind the camera and having lots of fun and getting remarkable results once again with an Arri Alexa.

The women of Venice. Karen Radzyner (L), Alice McConnell, Bonnie Elliot and Miro Bilbrough.

My five minutes of fame on the back of my big brothers film The Hunter occurred when Dan came to stay with me in Adelaide. With his lead actor Willem Dafoe having completed his part of the Australian launch, Dan still had ongoing engagements. As a sign of support I nervously joined him him for a Q&A after the preview screening, something he was now fluent and confident at doing, but it was a wierd situation for me. We were also interviewed and photographed together, the brother’s angle seemed popular in my home town, and Adelaide’s only newspaper ran the picture large, so everyone I know saw.

The Nettheim brothers in The Adelaide Advertiser.

In other good news, I was accepted into The Society of Motion Picture Stills Photographers along with Jasin Boland, the first Australian’s to become members of this honorary organisation. The L.A. based SMPSP has only 35 members from around the globe, and new members must have at least 10 years of feature film experience then find sponsorship by 2 other members before submitting a portfolio for approval by the Society. There is not a great deal of official recognition for the production stills photographer out there, no awards that I am aware of,  a simple photo credit seems rare, so it felt great to be accepted into the society and connect with my colleagues working in this specialised genre of photography. I now get to put SMPSP after my name on all future film credits.

Discussing the SMPSP and stills photography with Robbie Buck Radio ABC 702.

I have never really pushed the circus side of my career, but  jobs continue to come in and I have a policy of always saying “yes” to work. Circus Elements is a new Adelaide entertainment company run by Juliette and Scott Griffin.  They are a lovely couple, and also very organised resulting in lots of work for their stilt and unicycle based characters. When dressed up as a 10 foot chef at a busy public event there is the constant threat of a nasty child getting too excited and tackling me to the ground, but it is fun challenging work, and perhaps not surprisingly, rather well paid!

As a giant chef at Cheese Fest, Adelaide.

My dream job tropical island manifested itself perfectly in the form of MABO. Produced by Blackfella Films, the project dramatises for the first time the Murray Islander’s life and historical native title claim. In our second production together, Rachel Perkins is directing, who’s work I love. The Eddie Mabo story is also a testament to the work of my father Garth, who as an academic and writer has campaigned for human rights and native title for indigenous Australians his entire career. On just a weeks’ notice, and with lots to get organised, I will be starting the shoot on remote Murray Island, in the Torres Strait off the coast of North Queensland, Australia. Pack goggles and snorkel.

My photography exhibition Upturned Discarded Televisions showed continually for 3 weeks as both a 7 minute video and printed 12 metre photographic panorama. The media release I sent out attracted very little interest, however Adelaide commentator Peter Goers invited me to discuss the exhibition on ABC radio which was fun. It felt good to have a little arty show again, and put closure on this earth shattering body of work.

Discussing my career and discarded televisions with Peter Goers on ABC Radio 891.

Upturned Discarded Televisions on display at Miss Gladys Sym Choon, Adelaide, Australia.

Over a couple of days two jobs came in that had me all excited again and packing my bags.Satellite Boy is the feature film debut of writer and director Catriona MacKenzie, the script was lovely. On short notice I flew up to Western Australia’s remote and incredibly beautiful Kimberley region for one week.  A hard working Aussie film crew, with many old friends, was buckling in for what was expected to be an intense shoot; 6 weeks of extreme weather, a tight budget with the minimal comforts of home. We were all accommodated in tents at a caravan park in Wyndam, that also boasted a 2000 year old Boab tree down the back that was breathtaking.

A 2000 year old Boab tree at Wyndam caravan park Western Australia

Master cinematographer Geoffrey Simpson was capturing stunning pictures on the new Arri Alexa camera and it was a pleasure to breathe in the dust and smoke with this lovely man. I was in my element with a stunning landscape as my background, fantastic indigenous actors to photograph, and even a bunch of kids to play hacky sack with at lunch. Satellite Boy was a great project to be involved with and a fun adventure, for me this is the film making experience at its best.

Arri Alexa camera in forground, Geoffery Simpson and Catriona MacKenzie line up a shot in the Kimberly landscape.

It was straight from the extremes of Australia’s far north to the very comfortable Sydney Opera House for 2 days of physical theatre photography. I formed a connection with the DV8 troupe, and their director Lloyd Newson, during the 2008 Adelaide Festival. The London based company had me photograph their show To Be Straight with You.  DV8′s latest work Can We Talk About This? was preparing for its world premiere in Sydney, and they invited me along. It was exciting to spend time with this amazing group of performers as they undertook the final rehearsals of another mesmerizing and confronting work ahead of its world tour.

Can we talk about this? DV8 Physical Theatre

My brothers film The Hunter has enjoyed a perfect run up to its release in Australia on October 6th. The world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival ignited a frenzy of sales to US and European distributers. Willem Defoe’s commitment and support of the film has always been more than generous, which he continued by returning to Australia to do a hectic media junket with my big brother that attracted enormous interest. Short featurettes using my behind the scenes footage have been appearing on-line, and an exhibition of my stills was displayed at the Australian premiere, which I was able to attended in Sydney. I am so excited for my big brother Dan on what should be an exciting and well deserved ride with this beautiful film that I loved.

The Hunter film stills on display at the Dendy Opera Quays cinema, Sydney.

The King is Dead! was a wonderful film to work on, it was a privilege to be invited back into the fold of a tiny Rolf de Heer crew. We filmed largely in Adelaide’s inner western suburbs, and the perfectly cast ensemble of actors brought the quirky script to life with wonderful performances, commitment and Rolf’s consummate direction. I was kept extremely busy shooting not only the stills but also the behind the scenes video, operating the films B camera, shooting the EPK interviews, being a utility stand-in for the actors and generally assisting Ian Jones’s one person camera department. Riding my bike to location each day and working with many old friends on an interesting project made The King is Dead! yet another great film-making experience.

The King is Dead! crew on location in West Croydon, Adelaide.

Financially it would have been perfect to have walked straight onto another film shoot, one with an actual budget, but despite considerable effort no other film jobs were forthcoming. Even with some rather exciting possibilities in the UK in September, it was time to put down my cameras, grab the shovel and stilts and keep the income flowing.

The Blind Mice make their debut outing in Adelaide"s Rundle Mall. I am the tall one.

Keeping me challenged over this next period will be preparing for my first non film stills photo exhibition in almost a decade. Upturned Discarded Televisions will showcase the results of many years of Adelaide street photography with my ever present compact camera. The photo exhibition fits nicely into what has grown into a series of quirky social documentary projects born out of the Adelaide suburbs. The Backyard Crop (1994), Old Men Who Get Around on Old Bikes (1996), Loft Beds of Share-house Adelaide (1998), and The Hydroponic Room (2000) also trod these streets. In what has become a tradition, the exhibition will be on 24 hour public display in the Rundle Street shop window of Miss Gladys Sym Choon, and is a registered part of the annual SALA arts festival.

An excerpt from my Upturned Discarded Televisions panorama.

I am keeping an eye on several of my recent films at the moment. Attack the Block has enjoyed amazing publicity and has been called a cult classic by many reviewers. It enjoyed a good UK box office and was competitive against other massive UK summer film releases, as well as all the football finals. It opens in the US in July and will kill it on the world’s DVD market, no doubt. Oranges and Sunshine also did good UK box office, but has done outstanding in Australia where it was very well publicised and reviewed. The Eye of the Storm is all fired up and ready to be released, a slick new web page uses many of my stills and the poster is a montage of six of my photographs, always a great outcome for the humble stills guy.

The Hunter. Willem Defoe and wet crew in Tasmania. Robert Humphries on camera expertly assisted by my friend Kevin Scott.

The 7 weeks in Tasmania working alongside my brother Dan as he directed The Hunter were a treat. Our lead actor, Willem Defoe, was a huge asset to the film; hard working, committed to his role and a pleasure for the whole crew to work with. We immersed ourselves in the beautiful and diverse Tasmanian landscape during the shoot, and I bush walked and explored further on my days off. Principal photography went very well and brother Dan is currently in the editing room working hard on what I believe will be a stunning  film. 

The Hunter editing room with editor Roland Gallois (L), producer Vincent Sheenan and director Daniel Nettheim.

With funds running low, and no new film projects presenting themselves, it became necessary for me to get some work happening locally. The ever faithful State Theatre Company of South Australia offered me the contact for their opening production The Misanthrope. I was also not to proud to pick up jobs as a wedding, garden and social photographer, and I continued to do gardening work for my friend Pete’s company Yardstick. Also, stilt walking work with the Knee High puppet company came up, this time I was a 12 foot android entertaining crowds at a street festival. My step father also employed me to work for one week on his wonderful flower farm on the New South Wales south coast. On the farm my stilt walking prowess also comes in handy as I am able to find and pick ripe flowers from the very crests of the larger Protea plants, on a pair of dodgy stilts that I threw together in the shed, strapped to my legs with tape. 

Stilt-walking flower picking, in the rain.

Four films I worked on will be opening over the next couple of months, and the publicity machines are starting to fire up. The Eagle opened this week in the US and the final poster is a montage of several of my images. In a rare treat, I am getting a photographer credit on all the photographs that get published in the US media, something that rarely happens in Australian and the UK. Oranges and Sunshine, Attack the Block and The Eye of the Storm have all released great trailers and new stills of mine are appearing on-line all the time. 

A collection of many of my stills in The Eagle display at the Arclight Cinema in Hollywood

It was late February before I finally secured  a next film project. Writer and director Rolf de Heer gave me my first feature film stills job back in 1999 and over our 4 projects together has definately given me some of my most memorable film making adventures. Having not been available for his last two productions, I was delighted that he contacted me again. My next film is now looking like now being The King is Dead, shooting in my home town Adelaide, but it doesn’t start for 2 months. Anyone need a wedding photographer, on stilts? 

What had started as an outstanding year for work suddenly came to an abrupt halt. My inbox sat idle and even spam seemed to cease arriving. A couple of international film projects slipped through my fingers and, even more disturbingly, two interesting low budget features films shooting in my home town decided to use other photographers. Crestfallen, I came to the conclusion that my portfolio was perhaps looking too smug, too many international features and celebrities and not enough actual photographic substance. My solution was to totally rebuild my web site to include more examples of my personal photographic projects, my experience as performance and festival photographer as well as samples of my video work. My good friend Joe Guario, web designer with his company 16 Animals, stepped in and together we started the time consuming and expensive process of constructing a completely new site.

My new look web page.

In the meanwhile I was faced with the real situation of needing to generate an income. The problem with running away on film jobs for months on end is that it is impossible to retain a freelance career in my home town. Local clients are forced to go with another photographer when they discover I am away on a job, and then you’ve lost them. I was fortunate that The State Theatre Company of South Australia offered me the photographic contract on their next production Gods of Carnage, a challenging mix of studio, documentary and performance photography.

God of Carnage, Kim Gyngell and Lizzy Falkland. Having the actor vomit on stage half way through the show presented an interesting challenge for the theatre's technicians.

A few other small performance based photographic jobs emerged, and I even found myself up on stilts, entertaining the public dressed as an android, but it was not enough to keep me busy, let alone pay the bills. Cinema projection had been my fall back job in the past, but it payed terribly and all the nice people had left. I contacted my mate Pete Adley, who’s landscape design business Yardstick needed gardeners and labourers on a regular basis. Thankfully Pete was busy and immediately offered me 2 to 3 days work a week. I threw myself into the digging, planting and lugging projects that often left me in pain, but I actually quite enjoyed.

Peter Adley and myself in our Yardstick Garden Services uniform with the $2000 Tree Aloe we installed at a house in Glenelg.

Whilst waiting for the next film job I embraced the time with my family and friends, and also undertook a 6 week course in Wildlife Rescue. Australian native fauna is been a passion of mine for as long as I remember. Each week the course dealt with the rescue requirements of different species and basic medical procedures. We handled snakes, lizards, baby kangaroos and practiced bird bandaging techniques on very patient pigeons. I loved the course and have confidently dealt with a few minor rescues already. Although my dream block of land on Kangaroo Island was sold to someone else, adding to the frustrations of this period, in my next life I will have a sanctuary of Australian animals, birds and reptiles in a pristine wilderness environment.

My big brother Dan is a talented artist and film director. I credit him with giving me my first job on a film set as well as sparking my initial interest in photography. His feature film The Hunter, has been in development for nearly 10 years, a wonderful script that he has largely adapted himself from a novel by his friend Julia Leigh. I have been an enthusiastic supporter of project from its inception, offering feedback on the various drafts of the script and taking photographs in Tasmania on an early location scout. The feature is now fully funded and finally, after a 3 month pause, will be my next film project taking me through to the end of the year. Described as an psychological thriller, the amazing Willem Defoe is playing the lead, with Francis O’Conner and Sam Neal supporting. I will be shooting the stills, filming the behind the scenes video documentary and generally assisting all departments on will be a challenging location shoot with a tight budget and minimal crew.

In the days before my departure to Tasmania, typically, I was offered another project, a quirky television comedy called Danger 5 shooting in Adelaide. The South Australian writer, director, musician and animator Dario Russo built a cult following with his highly stylized series Italian Spiderman, its episodes receiving over a million hits on You Tube. A parody of the action adventure films of the 60’s and 70’s, and their production techniques, Dario’s vision is confident and very funny. Although I am now only available for a few days, I am really looking forward to working on something interesting in my home town. I like to believe the new web site has done the trick.

My volcano stranding in London stretched on for a frustrating 6 days. Most of this time was spent on the phone on hold with my airline trying to secure the first available passage home. I also needed to find alternative accommodation, and moved in with my friend Alison Limerick, and her 4 cats, in Hackney. I was very fortunate that my next film in Australia, The Eye of the Storm, remained faithful to me, deciding to have producer Greg Read shoot stills in my absence, rather than employing another stills photographer who could have potentially poached the job.

When I finally arrived on set, a week late, it was immediately apparent that I was working on  a precious jewel of a project. Quality actors in wonderful costumes embracing a poetic script under the watch of a consumate director amongst beautifully dressed locations. We filmed mainly in Melbourne, but also shot in Sydney before finishing up on the beaches of the Gold Coast, on the N.S.W and Queensland border. It was director Fred Schepisi’s first film in Australia for more than a decade and I feel extremely confident that it will be a very classy and engaging piece of cinema. Fred’s next film is scheduled to be The Secret River, based on the book by Kate Grenville set in colonial Australia. I love this book and was very keen to  impress the director and his team and hopefully land this second prize, destined to be a classic.

Geoffery Rush checks out some of my stills on The Eye of the Storm set.

Most of the films I work now also get me to shoot their gallery/specials photography. Generally this requires me to build a studio on location and borrow some lights from the gaffers, usually for the standard cost of a slab of beer. Studio photography used to scare the hell out of me, my art school photography tuition neglected this area, but I am slowly gaining confidence and beginning to enjoy the challenge. All of the actors filed through my studio at some point during The Eye of the Storm shoot. The portraits of Geoffery Rush, Judy Davis and the lovely Charlotte Rampling, famous also for her erotic modelling work with Helmut Newton, will certainly become precious images in my future portfolios and publications.

Charlotte Rampling as Elizabeth Hunter, my location studio at Ripponlea, Melbourne.

Good times at the DVD store. It was amusing to find both Where the Wild Things Are and The Boys are Back DVD’s sitting together on the new releases shelf at my local. Where.. had gone with a new cover, using one of my favourite stills unaltered, as opposed to the heavily photoshopped cinematic poster. The Boys..now featured 4 of my stills on the DVD cover and I was delighted to also discover a 17 minute featurette in the specials section called A Photographic Journey. This proved to be a well made animated montage of well over 100 of my stills with narration by the director Scott Hicks. It doesn’t get much better than that for the humble on set stills guy.

Good times at the DVD shop.

It has been the most consistent year of employment that I have known in my career. Although I love my job I felt the need for some pure fun, and took advantage of a 4 day gap to take off on a bicycle adventure. Kangaroo Island of the coast of South Australia has to be my favourite place in the world, I want to live there. Over the last couple of years I have been fine tuning a bike route whilst inspecting blocks off land on the remote South Coast, which I can only dream of buying. Although it rained a bit and was very cold at night I enjoyed some fantastic cycling and camping amongst the stunning scenery and wildlife. I inspected a block that I love, so special that I am scared to tell anyone about it. To purchase it now, my career as precarious as ever, would be big, risky commitment, but I hope next time I update this blog it will be mine. You will all be welcome to come and camp, but only if you can get there on a bike.

My cliff face camping spot above a secret beach on Kangaroo Island's south coast.

Whilst in London I  have tried to make the most of my days off by organising few meetings and catching up with my growing number of UK friends. It was a pleasure to see Jim Loach again, busy in the editing suite with Oranges and Sunshine. My timing was good in that I was able to view an assemblage of one scene from the film, absolutely beautiful and very emotional, that confirmed my feelings that this will be a stunning film.

Jim Loach in the editing room at Air Post.

It also proved to be a good time to be in London in that I was able to pick up 2 extra days work on The Eagle of the Ninth which had 3 days of re-shoots at Shepperton Studios. With very little preparation time an amazing Roman era set was constructed and busy actors Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell and Mark Strong were secured. It was fantastic to catch up with the cast and many of the original crew members, and the filming went well, director Kevin Macdonald being able to polish what I am confident will be beautifully shot and epic adventure film.

Director Edgar Wright visited the Attack the Block set, emerging from the editing room where he has been putting the finishing touches on Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Part of the Big Talk Productions family, we worked together on Hot Fuzz, and he is good friends and occasional collaborator with my current director Joe Cornish. I was delighted that Joe asked me to take a snap of the two of them together which saved me the embarrassment of having to ask. It appeared on Edgar’s web site a few days later with a very complimentary thank you.

My snap of Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish as it appeared on Edgar's site.

The Infidel, a film I worked on in 2009, also had is premiere over this period and I was fortunate to get an invite. Although it was a small budget comedy by a first time director and a young international crew, the massive opening at The Hammersmith Apollo, with celebrities walking down a red carpet flanked by a pack of screaming paparazzi made it seem much bigger and more important than I was prepared for. With my friend, singer Alison Limerick as my date, we fought our way into the huge, but totally packed theatre. After a passionate organ recital and a comedy session by my hacky sack team mates, writer David Baddiel and lead actor Omid Djalili, we were treated to what was indeed a very funny and well made film, my cameo as a press photographer even made the cut.

Attack the Block has finished its night shoots and moved into the studio and my 5 week stint has come to an end. It was a brilliant film to have worked on, a fantastic cast, crew and aliens. With the weather just starting to warm up, I now head back to Australia for my next film project, Fred Schepisi directing The Eye of The Storm, with Geoffrey Rush, Judy Davis and Charlotte Rampling in the leading roles. The film shoots in Melbourne, Sydney and Queensland and I will be doing stills intermittently over 2 month shoot. The beautifully written script, based on the Patrick White novel, is set in 1970′s Sydney, an intense drama demanding some amazing performances from its fantastic cast. I am nervous as usual but delighted to be going home and being able to spend time with my family. My bags are packed, and if it wasn’t for a volcano erupting in Iceland, and all flights being cancelled from Heathrow, I would be leaving London tonight!

2010 seems to be shaping up as a super busy and very interesting year. Being appointed official photographer for the Adelaide International Arts Festival was a refreshing change to shooting film stills, which these days constitute the majority of my work load. I love documentary photography and the festival is as diverse as it comes. With my faithful cruiser bike as transport, I found myself racing between  gallery openings, opera, theatre, the writers festival, a fireworks spectacular and the festival club; all in one particularly busy day. It was a treat to be working on the second job in a row in my home town Adelaide, and definitely a challenge to juggle family life with an erratic work schedule.

Northern Lights building projections on North Terrace, Adelaide.

As the festival drew to a close several film opportunities seemed to be emerging at the same time, and I needed to play my cards carefully to ensure I was available for what I could only speculate would be the best project. It was the UK film Attack the Block that locked me in first and on the last day of the Adelaide Festival I delivered my hard drive of some 8000 images and jumped on a plane to London.

The first feature by writer/director Joe Cornish, and my third film with producer Nira Park and her company Big Talk Productions, Attack the Block is a very London film and far from the type of projects I tend to work on in Australia. The story centres on a gang of teen-ages who find themselves fighting for their lives and defending their tower block housing estate against an alien assault. The fast paced script uses London street jargon cleverly and has a moral story within its science fiction plot. I was fortunate to have the freezing northern winter break pretty much on the day I arrived, but it is still very fresh outdoors as we shoot all through the night in between showers, the crew a huddled mass of black, thickly clad, Gortex wrapped figures in beanies and scarfs.

Attack the Block crew outside an East London housing estate used in the film.

Once again I am staying with my friend Dan Mudford in the basement of his Tooting flat. It is always a pleasure to see him and his enormous and eclectic music collection is my companion through the countless hours of editing I make for myself by shooting over a thousand images a night.

This time last year I had needed to return to my cinema projection job, cursing the inconsistent film industry in which I am attempting to build my career and make a living. Fortunately 2010 has already got off to an amazing start as I wrap up my first feature film project and prepare to shoot a fortnight of the Adelaide International Arts Festival ahead of a possible film in London.

Oranges and Sunshine  is the first feature film by UK director Jim Loach. The son of Ken Loach, Jim had grown up in the world of film-making and has an impressive portfolio of  UK television and short film to his credit. He is the nicest person, as is his producer Camilla Bray, a positive energy that flowed down through the entire production making it a joy to work on. The film deals with the scandal of the English orphans forcibly emigrated to Australia between the 1950′s and the 1970′s and one social worker’s attempt to uncover the truth and re-unite families. The stellar cast is led by Emily Watson with David Wenham and  Hugo Weaving, in our forth film together. Set in the 1980′s, the film shot in Nottingham, England before coming to my home town Adelaide and then on to the rugged landscape of Arkaroola in the Flinders Ranges, South Australia.

Oranges and Sunshine cast and crew on a light plane to Arkaroola. Feburary 2010.

Discarded Inverted TV's.