Upping the exposure: a peek inside the ICG photography studio

There’s a door at ICG that’s almost always unlocked. There’s also some seriously cool stuff happening behind it.

Knock, and you’re likely to be welcomed in for a cuppa to watch Bryce – our one-man photography powerhouse – at work. In a quiet moment, he’s more than happy to chat about his art. And there’s more than enough to keep a conversation rolling.

Ask him to talk about something exciting he’s been working on, and he’ll ask how long you’ve got. Because on the one hand, he can “easily talk for four hours” … but on the other, “it’s hard to think of specific jobs to mention because I literally photograph everything.” His room with the open door is a working commercial studio. In addition, he’s fully geared up to shoot on location – or even make locations, if the job calls for it. Bryce assists the team behind Habitat magazine to build and shoot room sets, showcasing the latest styles and ideas in home interiors. Yep, that’s right … to get the room just perfect sometimes it’s better to build it yourself! With very few people in the country who can do this kind of work, it’s a part of Bryce’s portfolio he’s particularly proud of.

He probably won’t be able to show you what he’s been working on most recently – it’s always very hush-hush until the billboards are up or the magazines hit the shelves. Right now, however, he’s keen to talk up a job he did a little while ago with style sensation Kate Alexander. Enough time has passed, the photos have been published, and he can finally tell people. It’s this meticulous professionalism mixed with genuine enthusiasm for his craft that gets so much work flowing through the studio door. Plates and pans and platters of steaming food leap off the page for Dish magazine. Colourful cocktails flash vibrantly in dark, sophisticated spaces for Toast. A steady feast of images, high profile, aspirational and inspirational, all entering as ideas and exiting as beautifully finished pieces. After all – the artists and retouching team are just a stroll down the hall. Communication makes all the difference on the tricky jobs – and it’s easy communication that makes ICG different from other agencies.

So if you’re ever in the neighbourhood and have a photography job in mind, why not take advantage of Bryce’s open door policy? At a minimum, you’ll get a fascinating chat and a tour of the massive variety of things we create here at ICG.

On the other hand, you might just leave with a whole lot of new ideas – and a good idea of where to come to make them happen.