What people say

“We run a Cadet program in our Newsroom, and for many years now our cadets have undertaken a week of training with Piet, which many have said to have been the highlight of their Cadetship”

Jacqueline Brophy

Business Manager, News & Current Affairs
SBS Television, SYDNEY

"It was practical and immediately useable training. From planning to delivery Piet was willing to cater to our unique needs, and this has continued after the training, offering advice and recommendations"

Heath Eddy

Multimedia Manager
The Telecommunications Ombudsman

"Piet's training has been invaluable to me as a cinematographer. He was able to customise my learning to fill in any gaps and I'm more confident and inspired than ever to make the films I've always wanted"

Adam Williamson

Cinematographer
AWOL Productions, SYDNEY

"Piet was a great teacher and took our team through three confidence-building days of insightful training, from theory to practical. Very engaging and professional throughout"

Tony Steeper

Team Leader, Content and Channels
Icon Water, CANBERRA

"Thank you so much for your amazing Lighting Masterclass in Darwin. I enjoyed very much for the content, style of your class, information and I found you a great source of inspiration"

Francesco Gaviano

Producer/Director
Mystic Media, KATHERINE NT

"Your presentation of the material, equipment know-how and theoretical in-depth knowledge is awesome. What's more you are happy to share and engage the creative gene"

Michael Abelev

Design & Engineering Manager
Miller Camera Support SYDNEY

"Every question you've ever pondered is answered, and always with good humour and enough repetition until you get it. It was the best, most confidence-giving training course I've ever done"

Justin Murphy

Producer/Director
Hobart TASMANIA

"Training with Pieter is highly recommended to all people working in the industry or even just wanting to be a better amateur videographer"

Graham Gall

Director
Jarbo Productions CANBERRA

"Pieter dynamically milks situations, turning ordinary events into extraordinary courses and it was probably the best training I have ever done, including my degree"

Paul Searles

Composer
The Gunnery SINGAPORE

"I completed a five day camera course. I can’t recommend Pieter's video camera training course highly enough. The only regret I have is that it didn’t go for longer"  

Scott Creswick

Managing Director
Cinema Advertising Australia

NEWS

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Training for SBS cadet journalists

I'm taking SBS cadet journalists through my Video Journalists training this week. We are all enjoying the great Sydney locations and this fabulous weather.

Italy, Greece, Israel, Egypt, Jordan & Oman

My most recent international photo and video tour was to Italy, Greece, Israel, Egypt, Jordan & Oman. I've included photographs of this tour here so click on each image to enlarge.

Photo/video tour Northern Europe

My most recent international photo and video tour has been to Stockholm, St Petersburg, Tallinn, Copenhagen and London. Thank you to everyone who attended my photo/cinematography talks over the past few weeks. I've included some photographs of that tour here so click on each image to enlarge it.

July 2019: Los Angeles to Guatemala Photo & Video Lecture Tour

A run down the west coast of the United States - LA to Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala. I presented three cinematography talks in the Royal Court Theatre onboard the stunning Queen Elizabeth cruise ship. Now back in Sydney and in the midst of training with clients in North Sydney.

July 2019: Advanced Lighting training

Cinematographer Joshua Marks, came to the North Sydney Head Quarters of the Australian Cinematographers Society recently for advanced lighting training. Josh shoots and produces documentaries for corporates, communities and campaigns. He is an accompliished cinematographer, however he engaged me to take him through a number of more advanced lighting techniques and lighting ideas which included;

Creating light and shade, creative use of window light, advanced uses of coloured gels and diffusion, using cutters with blacks with black wrap & gobos, using bounced light and lighting large areas.

May/June 2019: Photo & Video lecture tour of Alaska

I've just competed a fifteen day photography/cinematography lecture tour of Alaska, a trip that took me through the heartland of the 1898 Alaskan gold rush. Places like Hoonah, Wrangell and the launching pad for the stampede to riches, Ketchikan. Other locations photographed included, Kodiak Island, Seward, Hubbard Glacier, winding up the tour in Seattle. My cinematography talks have been well attended on board Oceania's Regatta. 

April 2019: photo and video tour to India

I've competed my three week tour of Singapore to Mumbai. My cinematography talks have been well attended on board the beautiful Silversea Silver Shadow. This voyage covered Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and India. The Indian ports of Cochin a port city in southwest India's coastal Kerala state was a standout plus also seeing New Mangalore, Karnataka state, one of the busiest and largest port in India and Mormugao in the Indian state of Goa. Finishing up in Mumbai.

March 2019: IMAGO International Cinematography Awards Belgrade

The IMAGO International Awards for Cinematography were held this week in the beautiful Jugoslovenska Kinoteka in Belgarde, Serbia. I had the pleasure of announcing and presenting the award for Best Cinematography in a Documentary to Brazilian Cinematographer, Adolpho Veloso for the documentary "On Yoga: The Architecture of Peace".

February 2019: Melbourne director/producer flies in for training

Topping off one of my busiest months ever, Melbourne based Freelance Documentary Producer/Director Rhian Skirving popped up to join me for some advanced cinematography training. Rhian is a collaborator with Australian composer/lyricist, musician, comedian, actor, writer and director Tim Minchin.

January/February 2019 video camera training

These past few weeks have been busy with training courses the HQ of The Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS) in North Sydney. Courses have been structured for clients using a variety of video cameras, from Sony FS7's, Canon C300's to the Apple iPhoneXS.

January 2019: around Australia cinematography lectures

Now wrapping up my cinematography lecture series on Regent's Seven Seas Mariner. This voyage was a circumnavigation of Australia - Sydney to Sydney, with a stop at Komodo Island then onto Bali to see in the New Year.

I looked out on a packed show theatre for all on my sessions and it was nice to be joined by so many guests interested in seeing and hearing about my work as a photographer and cinematographer. Soon it will be back to the ACS National Headquaters in North Sydney for a long run with training clients, all keen to explore aspects of the craft of cinematography.

Nov/Dec 2018: Busy times

This past week has seen filmmakers and videographers from around the country coming in for my One-to-One and small-group courses. In for three days this week for some advanced cinematography and lighting training, Adam Williamson, head videographer at Hoyne Design. Hoyne is one of Australia's top brand and marketing agencies. Henry and Bryn Williams, brothers who have a passion to tell stories.

There have also been quite a few travel bloggers attending my One-to-One training. I offer specialised camera and audio training in this area. Grace Hu was in for a few days last week. Sydney lawyer, Greg attended the weekend Still to Motion course.

So why not Upgrade your Skills, join me in the new year?

Oct-Nov 2018: Oman photography tour

I've finished my photo/video/lecture tour - from Muscat Oman to Hong Kong on the stunning Silver Muse. 

Oct 2018: This week at PDV - Stills to Motion training

Flying in for training this week, Matthew Cawood. Matt is the Communications Officer at the University of New England in Armidale. He has also worked for Australian Geographic Magazine as photo/journalist. Matt was in for the Stills to Motion training course.

Oct: The 2018 SmartFone Flick Fest Finals at the Opera House

Sydney Opera House. A perfect venue and perfect night for the SF3 SmartFone Flick Fest Gala Finals. I had the pleasure of announcing the winner and runner up in the Best Cinematography category.

Congratulations to cinematographer/director Rah Shama for his short film, "Restoration", shot on an iPhone X; to everyone up on that famous stage. Festival originators and pricipals Angela Blake and Alison Crew, you sure know how (and where) to put on a great show! Thank you to the other industry expert judges on the panel, including Jason van Genderen, Rebel Penfold-Russell, Alan Nurthen, and Christopher Stollery. Smart Phones pull in smart people!

Sept 2018: training for icon water media unit canberra

I've been in Canberra running a video production course for the media team at Icon Water, the city's major water supplier. Our location training shoot at the old Cotter Dam Pump Station delivered some rewarding lighting opportunities. It's one of Canberra’s oldest buildings. Construction started in 1914 and was completed in 1918.

Location training shoots are an essential aspect of my training.

August 2018: Location training & mentoring

This week I'm working in remote Central Queensland at Saddler Springs, a 30,000 hectre cattle station owned by Amanda and Lloyd Hancock. Amanda is my training client and she flies the drone and does nicely with her Sony PMW-200, Sony A7 Mk3 and a Mavic Air drone. Our filming/camping location, Battleship Spur at 1,200 meters, is no place for sleepwalkers! 

Amanda trained with me here in North Sydney during May, followed by six days location mentoring in Central Queensland and now she returns to my North Sydney venue to start training with the Sony A7 Mk3.

July 2018: SBS Cadet Journalists take on video camera training

I've recently been training up SBS Television cadet journalist in the craft of video news camera work. I'm looking forward to seeing their completed feature "news story" produced by them as a part of my Video for Journalists course.

Matters of Depth and Mood - Tips

A number of recent visitors have enquired about what they see as a certain "depth" and "mood" in my regular "Good Morning" series of sunrise images. Do I use software filters? It's a question that often pops up. So that you can achieve this, I can break it down into three key practices:

1. Using Manual settings, adjust the exposure level for the brighter regions of the composed image - the brightest cloud for example. Close down the aperture or increase the shutter speed to bring detail and colour saturation into these often blown-out regions of the image. Allow other areas to appear under exposed - don't be afraid of the dark! These shadowy areas can be lifted later, and besides, that's how it is when the sun sits low in the sky. This is how I can convey "mood".

Window light