Jai Courtney photoshoot at Camden Park Station
It all started with a phone call wondering the potential to have a GQ photoshoot on location out at Camden Park Station. Always open to anything, the reply back was “let’s do this”.
The next day a confidentiality report was sent through and the general feeling was things were getting serious and in no time, GQ was asking about certain locations and the shots that would be required.
In typical Outback Dan style, I left my phone in the car as I was only ducking into the shops to get some bread and milk. Getting back into the car, I had missed 10 calls in 5 minutes from when the plane had landed.
14 people, dressed in head to toe black and hailing from all parts of the work (Paris, London, New York) checked into their Longreach accommodation and soon relaxed as they started to have a better understanding how the town was in close proximity to everything they needed for the shoot.
Meeting the crew and taking them out to Camden Park Station was a real eye opener – all such different personalities and accents...there was so much to take in.
So, who is this Jai Courtney anyway that was going to be featured in the photoshoot I asked? I was soon told he had featured in many films such as Die Had and Suicide Squad, he was an Australian boy originally who was now making a name for himself in LA and Hollywood. It was there the budding bromance blossomed and I nicknamed Jai “Hollywood”, he in turn, nicknamed me “Dangerous Dave” (#bromancegoals).
Impressed with the location which portrayed that authentic, epic outback experience to Hollywood (not my newly founded bff), the photoshoot got the G.O!.
I was asked where the dressing room would be, to which I replied “well, my parents are away, I guess you could use their cottage”. The car and van housing all the clothing, clothing racks, makeup, camera equipment was soon transported into the makeshift dressing room.
The shoot was an early morning one as they wanted to capture the stunning Outback sunrise and our local bakery supplied the breakfast and some 24 coffees....Longreach didn't know what had hit them!
My funniest memory of the day was throwing dust on Jai'sto “roughen” his shirt and even gave him props to work with, like the stick out of his mouth (#yourwelcome).
I was still working on tours and was in and out for most of the shoot, but they had requested a carton of VB which I dropped off to them when I took them out some nibbles. Jai and I had a great chat and shared stories of our lives. I told him about how we ae connecting with the city and what we have achieved and Jai shared his childhood experiences growing up in Australia.
The whole shoot soon became like a giant party, Longreach were oblivious to the importance of what was happening in the town and the calibre of people it was hosting.....Richard Clune, GQ Reporter, Matthew Brooks - one of the greatest celebrity photographers going around, his assistant alone had a drone that was used on the shoot that was worth $15k!
Everyone had so much fun and I sent them to a pub famously known for its fighting and swearing (which thankfully didn't happen that night). We all ended up in town drinking powerade and vodka (what an genius combo #mindblown).
I have such fond memories of this experience – at the start, it was a case of so who is this Jai and by the end of it, everyone was relaxed and connected...we had all learnt so much.
Outback country replaced the head to toe black attire and I have a feeling that the warmth of the country really resonated with them and even though we are from different parts of the world and spectrums of life, we still made a connection which has certainly opened my eyes to a bigger and better world.
I even scored an invite to be shown around Hollywood....step aside Crocodile Dundee – Outback Dan is moving in!