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Eyes on the prize 👀
We set off this morning on our hero shoot.
It’s been a challenging season with a delicate snow pack and the good weather not favouring the weekends when we’re all free but we’ve found a gap and we’re going for it!
Third time’s the charm and we’re excited to get back out there together for one last big adventure of the season 👏
A big thank you to for making this one happen.
😎 by
📷:
💁♀️:
Ladies Behind The Lens is now set up as an official charity!
It took a lot of work to set this opportunity up, so figured why not work a little harder to ensure other up and coming talent get the same opportunity we had.
I’ve thought a lot about the future of Ladies Behind The Lens and my aim is that each year, another group of 5 females will be chosen to move through this programme and create their own adventure film - they can make it into whatever they like! Biking, climbing, pack-rafting… whatever adventure the group lands on, it’s theirs to take it by the reigns and make it happen, with the support, resources and contacts from the group(s) that have gone before them.
I’m excited to see where this goes.
For now, the current group of us are in full creative phase and are out in the field gathering content for our own project.
Watch this space!
Ladies Behind The Lens is now set up as an official charity!
It took a lot of work to set this opportunity up, so figured why not work a little harder to ensure other up and coming talent get the same opportunity we had.
We’ve thought a lot about the future of Ladies Behind The Lens and the aim is that each year, another group of 5 females will be chosen to move through this programme and create their own adventure film - they can make it into whatever they like! Biking, climbing, pack-rafting… whatever adventure the group lands on, it’s theirs to take it by the reigns and make it happen, with the support, resources and contacts from the group(s) that have gone before them.
We’re excited to see where this goes.
For now, the current group of us are in full creative phase and are out in the field gathering content for our own project.
Watch this space!
The past couple of weekends we were lucky enough to join for their MSC Avalanche Skills Level 1 Course.
We were led by two of the best in the biz and and feel so grateful for their expertise as they taught us the skills we need to head safely into the backcountry.
We’ll be using this knowledge as we plan our next two film trips over the coming weeks and we couldn’t have done it without them!
10/10 would recommend this lot
Some more Saturday snippets.
A big thank you to for leading our fifth workshop. A true professional and incredibly generous in sharing her experiences in shooting snow sports over the years.
Photos captured by
Photo dump from a fun little session out learning and playing with the big guns.
Channeling very New York alleyway vibes here (not a lot of skiing yet!)
🗽🚕🐈⬛
Session led by legend ._ Photo cred to the amazing
With daylight savings the other night, it feels like winter is truly on its way.
Cozy dark evenings by the fire, scheming winter trips into the hills and the chitter chatter amongst friends - "hope this season is a goodie 🤞" has begun.
We're getting a touch excited too and can't wait to see how this winter unravels.
Who else is starting to get the winter feels come on? ❄️
Photos by
We’ve been tucking into some series planning sessions lately.
Plenty of pizzas have been consumed, few wines, few beers and plenty of big ideas.
We’ll be sharing a reel recap of Workshop 1 in collaboration with tomorrow, so do pop back here around midday to check it out 👀
Wishing you a lovely Thursday wherever you are! 👏😌
A big shout out again to for lending us some of their latest gear for our last workshop.
We totally geeked out on all things camera bodies and lenses!
Here’s snapped in a quiet moment ☺️
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Last Friday, we all met for our first offical workshop led by the Aussie legend herself
Together we met at The Sherwood in Queenstown over a glass of red and shared stories of the work week behind us, beautifully set in their gorgeous wooden barn complete with fairy lights.
The perfect place for our first learning session, we got to it and Chloe led us through the basics from aperture, ISO and frame rates right through to what lenses and camera bodies to purchase and look out for.
We then got our hands on some gear and did a wee bit of experimenting with what we learnt.
It was just a small snapshot but the perfect springboard we needed to consider what gear we need as a team in terms of creating our own adventure doco.
A massive shoutout to for lending us some of their top end cameras for the evening including an FX3 and FX30. We were also spoilt for choice when it came to lenses!
We’re excited to see what’s next in Workshop #2 and get stuck into some of our own learning sessions outside of these.
📸
Last Friday, we all met for our first offical workshop led by the Aussie legend herself
Together we met at The Sherwood in Queenstown over a glass of red and shared stories of the work week behind us, beautifully set in their gorgeous wooden barn complete with fairy lights.
The perfect place for our first learning session, we got to it and Chloe led us through the basics from aperture, ISO and frame rates right through to what lenses and camera bodies to purchase and look out for.
We then got our hands on some gear and did a wee bit of experimenting with what we learnt.
It was just a small snapshot but the perfect springboard we needed to consider what gear we need as a team in terms of creating our own adventure doco.
A massive shoutout to for lending us some of their top end cameras for the evening including an FX3 and FX30. We were also spoilt for choice when it came to lenses!
We’re excited to see what’s next in Workshop #2 and get stuck into some of our own learning sessions outside of these.
📸:
We’ve had so much incredible support on our mission to help women into filmmaking and are particularly proud that QLDC have come on board. To have the support of those helping lead Aotearoa’s adventure capital means a lot!
Here’s what they had to say:
“Film Queenstown Lakes is excited to be supporting Ladies Behind the Lens. In our efforts to grow the local film industry, we want to develop local filmmaking talent and encourage a diverse range of stories to be captured on screen across the district. The project’s mission to get “more ladies behind the lens in the adventure and snowsports industry” is perfectly in line with that.”
Today we’re celebrating all our epic wahine!
But also, last but not least in our 5 days of sharing our applicants and their stories with you all is the wonderful Fran 😘
I’m chuffed this is my opportunity to translate all the moving images that are in my head, into film and being involved in what I love so much: Snow and Storytelling! I can’t wait to be part of this group of women, encourage each other and make cool s**t happen.
“My name is Francine. I’ve spent my early 20’s working in snowparks as well as becoming a photographer which I’m doing full time now. I’ve been in and out of NZ for 6 years but have permanently moved her two years ago and recently gave birth to our little girl Tove.
I grew up watching snowboard movies with my brother and that’s where my passion for snowboarding, music and storytelling began. Movies such as Saturation, Futureproof/Afterbang and Optimistic defined the direction I wanted my life to go to. I aim to one day be involved in creating (short) movies like these!”
Annnnnd that’s a wrap to meeting our team. We hope you all enjoyed getting to know us a bit better.
We hope through this journey we can inspire and encourage you all to show up and continue pushing boundaries in whatever it is you do. You got this and we’re right behind you! 👊💥
Come back for more on Friday as we go behind the scenes at our first official workshop with 🎥🤓
Meet Hannah Lowther! 🤗 - Yes there are two Hannah’s (we debated hard whether we could have two Hannahs in our crew but voted yes because Hannah Lowther is truly awesome 😉)
“I’ve worked in a range of industries and lived in various places chasing sun or snow but have always enjoyed the storytelling part of the journey, documenting the adventures through photography.
A dream of mine is to use my growing skills in storytelling to have a positive and lasting impact on people. I want to inspire, motivate and challenge people and I see this unique opportunity with Ladies Behind the Lens as the perfect pathway for that.
I have a passion to continually learn and grow, a thirst for adventure, so much stoke for the outdoors, snowboarding and epic people! I thrive in new and challenging environments and love pushing myself beyond what I originally thought possible. I know this is going to be a great chapter and look forward to new opportunities and experiences.
I am excited to be apart of this journey to learn new skills in filmmaking, challenge myself and push comfort zones, make new mates that are keen to get out there and go on some epic adventures!”
Meet Hannah Marshall 👩🦱
Ladies Behind The Lens is actually Hannah's wee initiative, which stemmed from her own desire to get into filmmaking.
She's spent countless Friday nights eating raspberry choc logs and watching adventure docos and after beginning to pay more attention to the film credits she was surprised at how underrepresented women were in roles behind the camera.
She's always had an interest in filmmaking herself but never saw a pathway to getting started.
She knew there would be a number of other adventurous women who were just as keen to learn, so she decided to go all in and set up a workshop and mentorship structure that would allow this.
When she's not eating raspberry choc logs and watching adventure docos, she's marketing ski fields and switching her skiing sticks out for painting ones ( is her sister side hustle 😉🎨👩🎨).
Hannah can’t contain how excited she is with the team of women she’s got by her side and is a big believer in collaboration so she cannot wait to see what the team produces together! (Stay tuned down the track for what might be one of the first female led adventure docos in NZ 😉🙌🏻🎬)
We’ve got our first official workshop this coming week!
will be taking us through gear basics from lenses, cameras, audio, media storage and grips.
Then, it’ll be all hands on as we get to play with some high end film gear 🤓🎥
Stay tuned on our story this coming Friday as we take you behind the scenes 👀
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Meet Jessie Byrne 💁♀️
“Originally from Nova Scotia, Canada, Jessie moved west after finishing university to chase ski bum dreams in Whistler, BC. What was supposed to be a six month stint turned into five years there (we all know how it goes) before jumping ship to move to Wanaka in 2018.
In amongst all this, Jessie always had an interest in filmmaking, but how she could make it a career always seemed to dodge her. Landing in marketing roles in action sports and running her own copywriting business, Jessie was able to get her creativity hits and often helped to coordinate commercial shoots, but always found herself frustratingly on the edge of the videography action. When Ladies Behind The Lens was announced, Jessie saw this as the perfect opportunity to cut her teeth in the industry amongst a group of women who probably share the same stoke, fears and passions, while learning some valuable skills along the way.”
Meet the lovely 🙌🏻🤗
"I hail from little ol’ Tasmania, Australia, but have called New Zealand home for 4 years now.
I originally came to Queenstown for a ‘quick 3 month’ winter season trip, but boy I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. The landscapes, the people and abundance of things to do got me hooked. I didn’t know how to snowboard, couldn’t wrap my head around riding something sideways, let alone sliding down a hill on it. Soon enough I got some skills and fell head over heels with snowboarding.
The QT snowboarding community is really one of a kind, we have this all encompassing love and respect for the mountains that surround us, but also all know how to have a damn good time.
I spent my early twenties working with a small tv production company which helped spark my passion for photography. After being in NZ for a while and some hesitations about getting back into photography, I decided to start again right from scratch and get into 35mm film. It was pretty challenging, definitely a humble beginning, but I quickly fell in love with film, and that little spark I had came right back.
Last year in 2022 I joined a whole bunch of rad girls for the weekend to shoot She’ll Be Right, led by . The weekend was so inspirational for not just the riders but those of us shooting content too.
After that shoot I was full to the brim with passion and Ladies Behind the Lens coming along almost seemed like it was too good to be true for where I’m at right now. I think it’s important to show others just how incredible it is to be part of a community like this, full of women who are welcoming, supportive and empowering.
I’m stoked to be a part of this project and to surround myself with like-minded women who are ready to tell a story. I can’t wait to see how everyone's skills flourish over time and more so see what we can all produce when we put all of our minds together!”
We’re still living on a high from our first team meetup last week!
🎥🎬
Proud to share we've teamed up with the legends over at
We're joining them in their pursuit for innovation as we embark on our own mission to get more ladies behind the lens in the adventure, ski and snowboard filmmaking industry.
We were sold on when we saw the work they recently did to bring on more female ambassadors with their 'Who Is She' campaign and this partnership felt aligned and right!
We're so excited to team up and can't wait to get out on snow here in NZ soon.
Let's do this!
Meet the team!
So many laughs, so much talent, so much good energy.
We're so excited to move through this project together and see what we can do as a group of creative ladies who each bring something unique to the table.
For some BTS of what went down at our first meetup last week, check out our story.
Feeling so grateful for this group already!
Well it’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for...
The announcement of the 5 lucky applicants!
Closing last Sunday, we received close to 80 applications for Ladies Behind The Lens.
We knew there was a need for an opportunity like this in our adventure community but initially said when releasing it into the wild that if we could get just 15 applications we’d be happy.
After pouring hours last weekend into reading through all 80 applications and watching numerous application videos, and then later conducting 16 phone conversations with a narrowed down group, we’re excited to share the top 5 with you all today (which was no easy feat!).
We’re welcoming to the team:
Amee Freeman
Hannah Lowther
Jessie Byrne
Hannah Marshall
Francine Boer
Congrats ladies!
They’ll be having their first meet up this Wednesday and moving into a series of workshops with some of the region’s finest females in filmmaking and on to capturing this story to share with you all later down the track.
We’re excited to see the growth of this group and can’t wait to take you all along on the journey.
Thanks for following along so far and do stick around because there’s more to come!
Decisions decisions 👀
We’ve conducted chats with 16 shortlists and will be narrowing this down to the final 5 soon.
Each applicant brings something different to the table and figuring out this final piece of the puzzle is harder than we ever thought!
Hoping to have the final 5 who will embark on this exciting filmmaking journey together by the end of this week.
We’ll be notifying them first than will look to share on our socials with you all because we know everyone is dying to know! 🫣🤗
Watch this space.
📸
And that's a wrap!
Applications close tonight 8pm.
We wanted to say a massive thank you again to every single one of you who put yourselves forward. This is the first step and we're so proud of you all!
We've been reading through the applications that have come in so far and are in awe of all the creative side projects, the small business, the mothers doing the mum-ing while also pursuing their creative passions and the general enthusiasm for getting into the outdoors and capturing adventure. You guys are a seriously awesome lot!
So... what's next?
Over the next day, some of our mentors and the team at Ladies Behind The Lens will get to know all the applicants through their written applications and supporting videos (e###xciting!).
We'll then look to reach out to each and every one of you who applied because we're incredibly grateful for your time. Please bare with us as we get back to you all (there are other 70 + applicants so this may take some time).
We'll also be letting those know who we would like to continue discussions and just ask a few more questions before narrowing things down to a final 5 applicants who will be joining on us on this exciting journey!
This won't be easy but we're ready for the challenge.
We know you'll all be excited to know who the lucky 5 applicants are too, so we'll look to hopefully share this towards the end of the week sometime.
This is really just the beginning for Ladies Behind The Lens with plenty of exciting things in the pipeline! Stay tuned and thanks again for watching along so far ✨🎥
Lots of aroha,
The team at Ladies Behind The Lens xo
Closing tomorrow!
Tomorrow is your last day to get your applications.
We're blown away by the interest and excited to sit down properly and look at all the applicants in more depth.
Thank you to each and everyone of you courageous wahine who have applied.
We admire you for stepping up to this challenge and we wish we could have you all along!
We will only be selecting 5 lucky applicants to come along on this epic journey and each applicant will be lucky enough to receive some funding to kickstart their film journey thanks to along with being paired up with one of our amazing mentors.
It's still not too late to apply. The link will remain open in our bio until tomorrow evening.
We'll look to share our lucky applicants with you all sometime next week and our first official meetup will be going down in Wanaka on the evening of February 15th.
Goodluck!👏
Applications close in just 2 days (this Sunday!)
Excited to see any undercover dogs that slide on in during the last couply days.
If you've been sitting on your hands unsure about whether to apply or not, it's not too late.
Don't let imposter syndrome take a hold of you.
Do the thing!
This is your year remember 😉
Get after it!
We’re super excited to introduce you to our fifth and final mentor on the team - Zyanya Jackson 🙋🏼♀️🎥🙌🏻
Zyanya's passion for film started watching bts on her favourite movies as a kid. After studying film at university she got involved in as many aspects of film making as possible - from assisting on a skate doco in Nepal and filming snowboard edits to training as camera assistant on a US horror film production.
She's spent the last 5 years shooting and now directing creative content full time, and we're looking forward to picking her brains on the technical skills needed for a role like this and how to see a project through pre-production, production and post.
Gosh we’re lucky! 🌟
60 applicants so far!
We're completely blown away by the number of applications we've received.
We'll be sitting down this weekend to read through them all (with a cold beverage in hand!).
We will be wittling applications down to top 10-15 and may look to reach out to gauge availability and chat through some expectations (this is a little bit like second round interviews... but we like to think of it more as a quick check in with a mate 💁♀️🙋♀️) so remember to keep an eye on your emails as we may need to grab a phone number from you 😃
Thanks to all those of you who have applied so far.
You're simply the best and we wish we could have you all on the team!
Applications still remain open and it is certainly not too late to put your hand up for this.
Link in bio.
📸:
Goodluck! 👏
60 applicants so far!
We're completely blown away by the number of applications we've received.
We'll be sitting down this weekend to read through them all (with a cold beverage in hand!).
We will be wittling applications down to top 10-15 and may look to reach out to gauge availability and chat through some expectations (this is a little bit like second round interviews... but we like to think of it more as a quick check in with a mate 💁♀️🙋♀️) so remember to keep an eye on your emails as we may need to grab a phone number from you 😃
Thanks to all those of you who have applied so far.
You're simply the best and we wish we could have you all on the team!
Applications still remain open and it is certainly not too late to put your hand up for this.
Link in bio.
📸:
Goodluck! 👏
What films we're watching and what poddys we're listening too right now 💁♀️ (save this post!)
If you're looking to feel inspired here's our top picks lately:
Watch:
- Facets (by ) - find it on Youtube
- - find Approach 1 & 2 in their IG bio or their website
- Fabric S1 Ep1: Knowledge - find it at Red Bull TV
- Nexus - find it at
Listen:
- Low Pressure Podcast (Ep 217 Shannon Corsi - Nexus Film)
- Low Pressure Podcast (Ep 222 Sister Summit w Hedvig Wessel & F***y Avril)
- Low Pressure Podcast (Ep 201. Tatum Monod Passage Film and Fishing)
- Out Of Collective (Care Less, Do More - E3 - Brooklyn Bell)
- Out Of Collective (Care Less, Do More - E1 - Shannon Corsi)
Happy watching/listening!
Team Ladies Behind The Lens xo
Drum roll please! 🥁
Introducing our fourth mentor in the Ladies Behind The Lens team Deanna (Dee, D) Gerlach.
like all our of our mentors, is adventure crazy 😜
D has spent the last eight years producing stills and motion with a range of lifestyle and big fashion brands, but her real passion is adventure and the outdoors.
She recently tramped/hiked Te Araroa - the length of New Zealand with her family (including her little ones!) and documented the six-month journey through her pseudonym, Noodles for Brekky (). We're excited to see this story come to life through motion soon and to learn from D how to capture moving footage on the fly plus other golden nuggets like storing data (because well, in filmmaking, there's a lot of it!).
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