A JOB THAT'S OUT OF THIS WORLD: Brisbane Product Photography
Every now and then along comes a job that is simply out of this world…. When we got a call from PFi in Darra to help them out with a commercial product photography project we suddenly realised that this would be one of them…. Quite literally!!!
You see PFi is a bit special…. Amongst lots of other things, this Darra-based company make rocket engines, work with organisations such as NASA and Northrop Grumman and are about to revolutionise STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) teaching across the world… and maybe a bit beyond.
Moreover they are about to become the only Australian company to export an Australian designed and constructed rocket engine.
The reason they called us was to help them with a project they are undertaking with their new business partners, Northrop Grumman, around an ingenious, desktop rocket engine designed and built by PFi’s General Manager of Defence and Aerospace Projects, Nick Green.
What is so ingenious about this new rocket is that it is designed to be built and fired by school children and their STEM or science teachers making rocket science understandable along the way.
Now Northrop Grumman, one of the biggest players in the world aerospace and defence industry, has thrown its weight behind PFi and the two are now planning to distribute the STEM rocket to schools around the global, helping to shape the next generation of Rocket Scientists and engineers.
PFi called LP Commercial Photography in to create professional photography for joint marketing material for PFi and Northrop Grumman. The job entailed two photoshoots. The first a set of product images showing the unit in various stages of construction, followed by a second commercial lifestyle photoshoot with students at Sheldon College using and interacting with the STEM rocket. Sheldon is a forward-thinking school near Brisbane which is already planning to prepare their student body for the latest stage in the Space Race by building Space Academy.
With Australia looking to become more of a player in the Space industry through the ongoing work of the Australian Space Agency, companies like PFi will be setting the standard and leading the way.
Personally, it was an absolute joy to be involved in this project and spend time chatting to Nick about his passion. Born the year before the first moon landing, space travel has always been a major interest of mine. As a child, the ceiling of my bedroom was covered in Space Shuttle wallpaper and the last thing I saw each night before closing my eyes was the stars above me with a multitude of space shuttles blasting through the cosmos.
Airfix models of the Saturn 5 rocket and the lunar lander were on my bookshelf and Space 1999 was simply the best TV show ever made to my mind. Then as a young man in my 20’s visiting Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Centre and actually seeing a space shuttle ready for launch (albeit through a massive pair of binoculars LOL) is a memory that stays with me to this day nearly 30 years later.
Knowing that there are companies like PFi right on our doorsteps here in Brisbane, helping mankind to push the boundaries and to get the chance to play even the tiniest role in that, just puts a great big grin on my face.
Andy
