DSS National Autism Strategy Photos - Federal Government | Case Study

In 2023 Lightbulb Studio was contracted through the Australian Government Creative and Digital Communications Panel to produce and photography a lifestyle focused image library to help market the release of the Department of Social Service’s National Autism Strategy. We exicuted a 3-day photo shoot across Canberra and Sydney, and delivered a final gallery of 250 photographs.

One of our key responsibilities as the project producers was sourcing a diverse range of talent for the photoshoot. We reached out to community organisations across Canberra and Sydney, such as Marymead (Canberra) and Autism Mates (Sydney),  to ensure we represented as many different facets as possible of the Autistic Community. Alongside ensuring appropriate representation, we completed Police and Digital Media Footprint checks for all potential talent. This is particularly important when working with the Federal Government – as it is critial that the talent are impartial.

Longside organising talent, we also arranged locations and location permits, styling, hair & makeup, and travel and accomodation for the Sydney portion of the trip.

Taking photos of autistic people required us to be aware of various sensitivities. We worked with the person being photographed, or family/carer if more appropriate, to understand their unique strengths, challenges, and preferences – including sensory sensitivities, so that we could tailor the shoot environment to their needs. This included ensuring a quiet set for those with auditory sensitivities, limiting the use of flash for those with light sensitivities, ensuring wardrobe selection considers textures and clothing tags for those with touch sensitivities, and being mindful of respecting personal boundaries for those with proprioceptive sensitivities. We created a talent brief to all crew members ahead of the shoot to ensure talent preferences were properly understood & respected.

Pre-production and production are a crucial element of large photo shoots like this one. We worked alongside our contacts at DSS at every step of the process to ensure maximum input from our client, while also eliviating them of the production responsibilities. We held numerous pre-production meetings, and provided the department with screenshots of shortlisted images throughout the shooting days, so we could make changes as needed.

To learn more about our production and photography process, be sure to check out our process page.