CLIENT /‍
Polly Dawson — artist, creative, all-round legend

LOCATION /
Barcola Studio, Gold Coast

SHOOT TYPE /
Branding / Product

SCOPE /‍
Half-day shoot, approx final 30 images

INVESTMENT /‍
From $1500-$2000 + GST.
Every project is quoted individually based on the unique requirements and deliverables of the shoot

Polly Dawson is a self-taught Gold Coast contemporary artist, and if you haven't seen her work yet, go have a look. Beautiful figurative pieces — simplified forms, bold colour, flattened space, faces deliberately left out so the work sits in a universal emotional space rather than being a portrait of anyone in particular.

She only picked up oil paint properly in 2025, and she's since been taken on by Fenton & Fenton, an Aussie interiors and art institution. Very big deal, very deserved.

So the brief was essentially: a variety of imagery for her newest artwork collection that worked for her website and socials, worked for Fenton & Fenton, and actually portrayed her artwork and vibe in an authentic way.

Think creative studio vibes, eclectic but curated, relaxed but elevated. The kind of brief I like because there’s enough direction to get excited about, but still plenty of room to play.

The shot list loosely contained:

— Stills of Polly — front and centre
— Stills of Polly — in her element, action shots, messier the better
— Stills of her artwork front and centre
— Some pared-back product shots
— And whatever juicy moments we found in between

The Brief

We worked backwards from Polly's budget and landed on a half day, which is a great way to test the waters if you've never done a branding shoot before. You don't necessarily need a huge production or a full day in front of the camera to come away with a really solid bank of content. With the right planning, a few good set-ups can go a surprisingly long way.

After chatting through some location options, we landed very quickly on Barcola Studio on the Gold Coast. It’s open and versatile, the textures and materiality are delicious, and the owner Jodie is an absolute gem. Plus, as a photographer who loves leaning into natural light, the north-facing bifold doors, other windows and skylights mean the light moves through the space beautifully, so you can follow it around rather than fighting it. I also love shooting in a studio with unique architectural features — it adds so much more interest to shots without always having to do that through styling.

Polly also did a lot of the prep and planning herself, which kept my hours (and her invoice) down. She sourced and booked the location after brainstorming options with me, hired the van, brought most of the accessories and her equipment, packed all her artwork and brought along outfit options.

When it comes to the pre-production stuff, I can be as hands-on or hands-off as a client needs. The important part is that we're on the same page creatively and have a plan, even if it's a loose one. In this case, we'd already talked through the brief and Polly was really open-minded about the outcome. She trusted that we'd create something great with the pieces of the puzzle we had, which meant I didn't need to over-plan every single frame before we walked through the door.

My pre-shoot to-do list was essentially to collaborate with Polly on the bits she'd organised, create a rough shot list to keep us on track within our timeframe, throw together a rough Pinterest board to reference if we needed inspiration, and obviously bring the camera. Priorities.

The Prep

I asked Polly to bring along some of her real studio bits and pieces for authenticity: paints, brushes, equipment, books and anything else that naturally belongs in her world. One of my favourite things about branding photography is the details that make the images feel real, rather than a polished version of what we think a brand should look like.

Hanging the artwork was a bit of a saga. The walls are lime render, so no drilling, no nails and no temporary hooks. Cue a lot of back-and-forth about tactics. In the end, we landed on mainly leaning and floor-based shots instead, which actually ended up being the better look anyway. More authentic, more layered. Sometimes a curveball does you a favour.

I also brought along one of my favourite chairs because I thought it was perfect. A random Marketplace find that I recovered myself. Is anyone else obsessed with finding random chairs? I feel like it might be a stylist thing.

The idea was never to make the studio look perfectly styled. We wanted it to feel like an actual artist's space, with artwork leaning against walls, pieces stacked and layered, works still looking like they're in progress, and all the slightly messy, tactile details that make a creative studio feel alive.

Polly is also hugely inspired by Picasso, so we worked a Picasso book and some of those references into a few of the frames too. Little details like that help the images feel connected to the person behind the work, rather than just showing the work itself.

The Styling

We agreed on a morning shoot to make the most of that gorgeous morning light streaming in, so we started bright and early. Polly pulled in with the van, we unpacked, and then quickly ran through the rough plan — taking into account the artwork, equipment, space and light. We went through the props while my stylist brain went into overdrive, then we got to setting up.

The first shot usually takes the longest to style and get into the swing of things, so I’m always keen to get the ball rolling, and I sometimes even try to avoid doing the hero shot first for this reason. But in this case, the light was perfect, the styling was already heading towards a hero landscape shot set up, so we rolled with it.

What we leaned into:

Following the light. We mostly shot into directional light for those moody shadows that my clients know I love. If you haven’t heard me yap about side lighting on a shoot yet, I’m shocked.
Layering and stacking. Polly brought a great range of artwork in a variety of sizes, so we could build depth and visual interest with layering rather than hanging everything in a row.
Leaving the work-in-progress in. Unfinished artwork remained taped to a piece of chipboard that Polly genuinely paints on. Some finished pieces stayed wrapped in plastic with corner protectors, ready to ship. Her easel made it into some shots. Working-studio vibes, not showroom vibes.
Posed and action. Stills with the work, plus Polly actually moving pieces and painting. Action is where people stop looking stiff, and doing what you do every day should help take some of the nerves out of being in front of the camera.
Angles and formats. Portrait and landscape throughout to allow the content to be used in a variety of ways. Some layered shots, some minimal, plus a few frames with negative space for copy and simple product shots.
Using the studio architecture for shot variety. We moved between the textured wall and the bifold doors to give the gallery some visual variety without completely reinventing the set-up every time.

The Shoot

We wanted the final gallery to feel like Polly: colourful, creative and considered, but not too overly polished or salesy.

We came away with a mix of branding imagery, portraits, artwork details and simpler product-style photographs, giving Polly a bank of content she can use across whatever platform she needs. The goal isn't just to make a handful of beautiful photographs — it's to create a visual library that feels cohesive, tells people something about the person behind the work, and gives a brand plenty to work with long after shoot day is over.

And have fun doing it, obviously.

The Result

Branding and product shoots like Polly's start from around $1600, quoted individually based on what you actually need — number of pieces, shot count, styling level, studio vs location.

If you're an artist, maker, founder or design-led brand on the Gold Coast, get in touch and let's have a chat.