Highlights from Oceania include Jason Momoa in Queensland, Australia, for Nuii Ice Cream, and Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary with production partner Toast Studios. The new Hyundai Nexo was shot on New Zealand’s North Island with photographer Patrik Johall and B&A London. Kolon Sport, developed with Steven Yeun and New York agency C47 Creative, was filmed in Canterbury with Loupe Agency. A Kapiti Ice Cream campaign with Toast Studios took place in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand.

Over the past 25 years, AJ Films has delivered international productions for clients from Japan, Korea, China, the USA, Canada, Europe, and Australia, building strong partnerships and memorable on location experiences.

Producer Amanda Jenkins brings extensive knowledge and a collaborative, flexible, and transparent approach to cost solutions and logistics, ensuring creative goals are achieved smoothly. With diverse locations in close proximity and a new VP stage in Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand offers excellent value and counter seasonal opportunities. Summer is around the corner, so contact Amanda to support your next campaign.

Hannah Caldwell is a Melbourne-based food and still life photographer who combines artistic sensitivity with a strong commercial focus, creating imagery that feels both refined and purposeful.

With a strong eye for tone, texture, and composition, she creates evocative imagery that captures the beauty and emotion within everyday subjects. Her fine art background continues to inform her approach—balancing technical control with creative intuition to craft timeless visuals that feel both honest and elevated.

For Hannah, food photography is about connection—to people, place, and culture, whether she’s capturing the detail of fresh produce or the atmosphere of a restaurant at dusk, her work celebrates food as both a sensory and emotional experience.

Her clients include Atria Dining at The Ritz-Carlton Melbourne, Décor, Lemnos Foods, McCain, and Penguin Random House. Her photography has been recognised internationally by the Paris Photo Awards, the International Photography Awards, and Lürzer’s Archive Top 200 Photographers.

Hannah approaches each collaboration with curiosity and care, creating imagery that feels genuine, beautifully crafted, and true to the people and brands behind it.

Manja Wachsmuth has won awards and fans with her impeccable Scandinavian sense of elegant composition, recently listed as a Lürzer’s Archive top 200 Ad photographer for the third consecutive time. Manja creates masterful food photography, captivating product shots, expressive portraiture and lifestyle imagery that intrigues.

Danish-born but now resident in Auckland, Manja's work is a testament to photographic power. From darkroom beginnings to culinary artistry, she has become a master of precision and purpose in commercial photography. Manja believes in the profound impact of beautiful photos and compelling narratives.

"Beautiful photos last. They tell your story year after year, through trends and seasons, failure and success. They shine with you. It's easy to think that any photo will do, but that's as untrue as any meal or any wine will do. I believe in beautiful photos", says Wachsmuth.

Collaborating with top chefs, food producers, and lifestyle brands, her photography delves into the heart of her subjects with an unwavering commitment to authenticity.

Client list includes Heineken, American Express, Nespresso, Goodman Fielder, Fever Tree, Rosewood and Manuka Health.

Based in Brisbane, Queensland, Mark Lehn is a documentary photographer whose work explores the intersection of people, place, and purpose. With more than 20 years’ experience, he moves between commercial, industrial, and editorial assignments with the same curiosity and respect that define his long-term documentary projects.

Mark’s photography often reveals the quiet heroism in everyday work — from surgeons and midwives in remote communities to engineers and farmers shaping Australia’s future industries. His clients include UNICEF, Tourism Australia, the Royal Flying Doctor Service, Rio Tinto, Bechtel, Hort Innovation, and MDA National.

Whether on a mine site in the Pilbara or a rural hospital in Papua New Guinea, Mark’s approach remains consistent: build trust, listen deeply, and capture images that feel honest. His photography celebrates human connection, resilience, and the environments that define who we are.

Madeline McCormick is a London-based Australian photographer whose work spans fashion and lifestyle. Recently exhibited in Paris and London, her photography explores fashion as a form of visual storytelling.

Drawing on her background in design, she approaches each project with a keen sense of composition and movement.

Working across editorial and personal projects, Madeline has won British Photography People’s Choice Awards in the Fashion category and was a semi-finalist at the Bondi Head On Photo Festival.

Vilka (aka somm_bird) is a multidisciplinary creative with over 20 years in the fashion industry, specialising in visual merchandising and campaign direction. She has led creative execution and brand experience for iconic Australian labels, shaping how customers connect with fashion across physical spaces.

Expanding into UX/UI and AI-driven design in 2020, Vilka now blends industry expertise with emerging technology to craft digital experiences and future-facing visual concepts. Through somm_bird, her experimental platform, she explores the intersection of fashion, art, and technology, merging couture-inspired forms, abstract beauty and florals with digital experimentation to create surreal, fashion-driven visuals that embrace contrasts and the unexpected.

A brand ambassador for fashion apps Refabric: AI and FERMAT app, her work has been featured on WGSN, at Premier Vision, shown in LA, London, Tokyo, Berlin, and Spain, was named a finalist at the 2024 global AI design awards, and a winner in this year's Spotlight Awards.

Alex Wallace’s talent for photography was spotted early on, at his brother’s third birthday party no less. He captured the precise moment his little bro sneezed on the cake while trying to blow out the candles, icing sugar flying onto the unsuspecting audience. Fun times.

Alex no longer shoots birthday parties. He has instead honed his talent to capture other critical moments for businesses in the advertising and industrial world. He has picked up a few awards along the way, but that is not why clients keep coming back. And it is certainly not for his sense of humour or writing style either, which tends to wander off in odd directions. So it must be his ability to deliver great images in challenging situations within tight timeframes.

Lucas Allen is a photographer and director based in Melbourne and New York, known for his clean, graphic style and his ability to work with both natural and artificial light. He loves mixing things up, shooting stills and directing motion, with a focus on advertising, interiors, lifestyle, and travel.

Lucas has worked with top global brands like Marriott Hotels, House & Garden UK, Blackmagic, and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

Lucas brings creativity, energy, and a problem-solving mindset to every project. His collaborative approach and eye for detail always lead to striking results. With production teams in both the U.S. and Australia, Lucas is able to shoot all kinds of projects, big or small, around the world.

This once Salvation Army Citadel is now reincarnated as a space where ideas can flourish. Creative Citadel.

With carefully considered floor plans, Creative Citadel offers maximum space flexibility for designers, content creators, stills photographers, film makers, and more to work efficiently together. The spaces are also ideal for film and stills shoots, short run art exhibitions, events, workshops, meetings, even health and wellness classes, pop ups or activations.

"We like to think of Creative Citadel as a luxe space. A space that does not feel like an office or a bland white studio. A space that could be someone’s well-appointed home or a boutique city bar or hotel that has been instagrammed way too many times.

When you walk through the arched door you go on a small journey. Traveling from a cool bar reception to an open event space. Stroll a little further and you will find yourself in a shoot space. And if you look closely you will find hidden edit suites and makeup rooms.

The best thing about the Citadel is that all of the spaces can be whatever you want them to be. Or better yet: the spaces can be whatever you need them to be."

Welcome to our latest Showcase USA & Canada, where we celebrate the outstanding talent and services within the commercial creative industry across Canada and the United States. This edition features the work of renowned photographers, directors, full service production companies and production caterers. 

In this issue we highlight two recent winners of the Spotlight Awards in the Advertising and Still Life categories; you will also find covers for The Cut, lifestyle projects for Uber Eats, and two outdoorsy campaigns, one for Oros Apparel and another for Triple Aught Design, plus much more.

Our featured series is 'The Fast Take' by New York-based photographer and director Rick Wenner: celebrity portraits created in the fast moving studios of film festivals and awards shows. Often created in under two minutes, each session becomes a quick exchange that turns brief encounters into lasting impressions. Further explore our extensive North America Directory and past issues of Showcase magazines. 

Do not miss these events:

The Museum of the City of New York presents Robert Rauschenberg’s New York, Pictures from the Real World, celebrating the artist's centennial. This show explores his innovative integration of photography and found objects, reflecting his complex relationship with New York City.

At the de Young in San Francisco, Art of Manga showcases the world of manga from the 1970s to today. Featuring rarely presented original drawings by major artists, the exhibition explores manga as a powerful medium for visual storytelling.