Santos needed a single hero image to announce their new Queensland headquarters in Brisbane. The campaign was running nationally across major newspapers and outdoor billboards along the Bruce Highway. One photograph needed to do a lot of work.
The brief required a dusk cityscape where the building glowed against the skyline, the river reflected warm light, and the city felt alive. That moment couldn't be manufactured. It had to be found. Weather, cloud movement, traffic density, light balance, and seasonal atmosphere all influenced the result. Golden hour is brief, unpredictable, and never repeats the same way twice.
We returned to the location repeatedly over several weeks, tracking changes in light, weather, and atmospheric conditions. The final image was captured during a narrow dusk window where everything aligned: the building, the river, the skyline, and the movement of the city. Post-production grading preserved warmth in the skyline while keeping the architecture as the visual focal point.
The image ran nationally across newspapers and outdoor placements as the hero visual for the headquarters launch. What could have been a standard corporate photograph became something genuinely cinematic. Worth every return visit to that location.
More Mining & Resources work
Further reading
What it takes to get a crew onto a Queensland mine or gas site, and the credentials that make it possible.