Well here we are, at the end of 2011 and what an exciting year it has been!

I was lucky enough to have started my aerial photography this year, and from my first trip up in the air I managed to nail the front cover of Aviator Magazine Australia with a shot of Darius Pavry’s 300L acrobatic plane in their February 2011 issue. That was certainly exciting. While I was up there I also took a few happy snaps of our beautiful coastline which you can see in this post:  Perth Aerial Photography from a Helicopter. You might also want to check out the little behind the scenes video of it all here: Behind The Scenes In a Helicopter with Perth Photographer Brodie Butler. I couldn’t resist to use that music.

It’s been another successful year with Perth Street Car Magazine too for me. This year the magazine took an interest in my behind the scenes videos and we began officially shooting the videos for each issue, starting with this great video of Tims BLOONES Ute and Miss Motorvation winner Gemma Louise. Unfortunately since I am the photographer for the car & model features I can’t film which is highly frustrating. So I have had to put my assistants to work and bring fellow video shooters on board to help out. Big thanks to all of you; Liam Underwood, Kieran Herald, Elliott Vassila, Ralf Schubert, Luke Brooks, Peter Clarke and Ross Metcalf.  You can see the rest of my behind the scenes videos on my youtube channel.  (Latest Issue out now with Danny Williamsons 750HP S15 drift car and Australian beauty Kristal Hammond)

Photo By Ian Greenwell

Well I never thought Id say this but I officially became a Director of Photography in the filmmaking game this year. In 2010 I started getting heavily involved with HDSLR cameras and pushed my way forward into the industry and in 2011 I really managed to make a dent, working on a number of projects and even creating some productions of my own.  It’s an exciting time and I look forward to what 2012 brings. My favourite thing was probably something I filmed with Elliot Vassila and actually X Factor star Johnny Ruffo. We set out one Saturday for a few hours of filming and put together a very cool little action film, just to try out some special effects. Check it out here: Point Blank, A short action film with special effects. I also posted about my first official DOP experience with plenty of behind the scenes here: Becoming a Director of Photography PART TWO

My website and blog copped a fair bit of traffic around two particular occassions this year. It was the rise of Sam Schoers and Renae Wauhop when they hit our T.V screens on the amazing race. Renae of course being the Miss Universe Australia Runner up for 2011. I have photographed and known both these girls for quite some time so having previously featured them on the blog, caught the eye of all the internet searches from fans. See more here: Sam and Renae to race around the World on Channel 7

The second and largest traffic spike was of course from Johnny Ruffo, the X Factor Grand Finalist. I had actually been working with Johnny for a long time on his first music video production which unfortunately had to be sidelined due to X Factor commitments. We did some great photos together though which have made their way all over the internet and I look forward to working with him again. Check out Johnny’s photos here: A day with local Perth singer Johnny Ruffo

Only 1 workshop this year! Well I have to say I’m very sorry to all those people that have been emailing me begging for another one. Finding time for the workshops is difficult. I still cant promise there will be one soon, but I can promise you that I am always thinking about where I can fit another one in. Stay Tuned!

Certainly one of the most memorable moments for me was when a good friend of mine, Director A.J. Carter was hired to direct a piece featuring our childhood heroes James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger! While I unfortunately wasn’t there I did manage to get the whole scoop on the project and I must say provided a bit of technical help because the project was shot on the Canon 5DMKII which ofcourse is what I spend most of my time filming with! I spent a bit of time with the Director of Photography Guy Livneh and of course A.J. and put together an official behind the scenes post with all the technical bits and peices and with some photos courtesy of Rafael A Leyva. The resulting video went viral straight away and was a huge success, and the blog post I wrote went viral amongst the HDSLR filmmaking community which was good. Check out the exciting project right here: Filming James Cameron & Arnold Schwarzenegger with the Canon 5DMKII

Lastly, to wrap up this quick little reminiscing session, Its been another exciting year working with Top Shelf Entertainment. This year Top Shelf launched an amazing brand new website and I had a bucketload of photography and post production to do to fill the website. It was exciting for me because I got to explore my photoshop composite abilities a bit more and be a little more creative. Let me share a few photos with you to finish off the year…

There will be more of these released on the blog soon!

Finally I just want to send out a huge Thank You to my team and others that have been pretty influential in my photography/filmmaking this year.

First thanks goes out to Karl Pearce. An excellent shooter himself and an extremely helpful, thoughtful and very professional assistant.

Also to Jay Wells for the consistent motivation, inspiration and ideas. For the shoulder rubs, the witty remarks and for bringing me cider when its needed most. Thanks Jay you’ve been a tremendous help.

A new addition to the team that Id like to thank is Elliott Vassilla. I have been joining forces with Elliott on some film projects this year but he has also taken an interest in assisting me on photoshoots throughout the year too so thanks very much buddy I cant wait for the next project. I even made a n effort to spell your name right for once!

Thanks to Saul, Howard, Ash, Sam and the rest of the team from Camera Electronic for another supportive year and for also jumping on board a film as a sponsor and providing gear. If there’s anything you need call these guys.

A big thanks also to my fellow video shooters who contributed this year; Ross Wallace, Luke Brooks, Peter Clarke,Kieren Herrald

And finally a thank you goes out to Perth Film Network founder Debbie Thoy for believing in me and giving me an extra kick start in the film industry through a number of exciting projects.

I’m so worried about forgetting to mention someone, If I have forgotten you I’m really sorry and its my round, and maybe work harder next year so I remember. haha!
See you lot next year!

B.