Happy Holidays!

From all of us at BISON studio.... we'd like to say thanks for a great year, and all the best for a lovely holiday and of course, a wonderful 2007!

Looking forward to another exciting year ahead!

It's snowing this Christmas in Melbourne!

Who would have thought it possible? From bushfires burning across the state to heavy showers, hail and thunder! There was even talk all week of snow in the alpine region.

Choosing our Christmas theme this year we must have had some sort of unusual synchronicity with Mother Nature choosing a winter Christmas theme, captured in Austria last year. Premonition perhaps? Oliver seems to have had an impressionable warning of this freak future event.

"Premonitions... a vague feeling of disquiet suggesting impending disaster to actual visual or auditory hallucinations. Premonition is sometimes referred to as a "gut-level" feeling. The sensation tends to occur prior to disasters ... and other traumatic and emotionally charged events."

Checking the snow cams up at Mt. Buller, it appears that snow is falling on the summit! It's currently -3.0 degrees C with snow showers. A white Christmas - who would have thought?

And the winners are...

What a great fortnight it's been!

With the release of our Top 10 architecture folio for 2006 (see a few posted on this blog), to the publishing of a great article in the Australian Anthill magazine (check it out), to our DVD's being projected onto 20 metre warehouse walls, at would could have been one of the best secret party's summer will see... we're all reeling at what pushing a few creative boundaries does for our growth.

There's nothing better than standing back, and watching our audience interact with the work we produce.

We got quite a surprise as we watched party goer's reaction to the DVD which shone across the warehouse walls...

Who would have thought that someone would lie in front of the train tracks in our railyard photo? Or kissed the cuddly koala image close up? Or stare amazed at the mountainscape folio from St. Anton.

We just stood back and thought, this is why we love our work...

Retail explodes!

As retail sales explode over the Christmas period, we're struggling to keep up with all of the admin, delivery, point of sale, invoicing... not that we're complaining!

It seems that we underestimated the potential for sales of the DVD's in the retails sector and appear to be moving more into that sector.

Thanks to all of those useful tips from our retail store managers... Our brand (and product sales) seem to strengthen weekly due to their know how, tips and tricks. Gay's advice at Best of Souvenirs (Fed Square) has been instrumental in the not only the design and marketing of the new series, but also now also for our point of sale.

Oliver seems to have another talent we weren't fully aware of... graphic design, specifically poster design for POS, in addition to the packaging itself!

We discovered that successfully creating a prominently visible brand identity, including distinctive packaging size/shape/colours and signage that simply and powerfully communicates our brand is vital.
We're looking forward to the day that we can create our own retail outlets so that we can develop and control a superior point of purchase experience :)

Pecha Kucha a great success!

With the city's temperature still hovering around 31 degree's at 8pm last night, the organisers of Melbourne's first Pecha Kucha night couldn't have asked for a better way to kick off their event. Created by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham (Klein Dytham architecture) in 2003... it offers a place for designers to come together to discuss and show their work to the general.

The Blue Diamond Social Salon & Cabaret, Level 15, 123 Queen Street set the scene, with spectacular views over the city. Eureka Tower was fiercely debated, with a few passionate members of the audience arguing over the height of the penthouse floors! Could it really be 3.5 metres???

Within the stampede of architects, were tattoo artists, jewelers, photographers, cartoonists and some very unique fashion designers... With each speaker permitted to show 20 images, for 20 seconds - providing for 6 minutes 40 seconds - the next presenter was up before you had time to blink, keeping presentations very novel and fresh. Some complained this was too much time, other wanted more...

Pecha Kucha (Japanese for the sound of conversation) was undoubtedly a hit. We even saw one of our interior photos published in the new Melbourne Design Guide... funny we had never submitted it! Hmmm.... long live creative license!

Did someone say Christmas cards?

It seems that Christmas has snuck up on us once again...

With the Spring Racing Carnival now a distant memory, Melbourne is gearing up for what will be a great 2006 Holiday Season. The city itself is looking superb with Bourke St. Mall a flood of overhanging stars, and blazing colour!

Each year we've thought to create a catalogue of our favourite pics for gift ware... Limited edition prints, cards and calendars and this year it's finally happened!

With the recent success of our DVD and calendar series launched in September, it seems retail may indeed be the bread and butter we seek.

We don't need to tell you how much work goes into producing this series as any creative would know. But we're out and proud, as they say to be offering something uniquely different to our clients, friends and family this Christmas.

Oliver had free reign to design his personal favourite photography into these stylish cards, and the orders have been steadily increasing. We thought we'd missed the boat this year, but it seem Melbournian's love they're parties so much so, they've all forgotten Christmas is only 6 weeks away! Cheers to a very Merry Christmas :)

Royalty in Melbourne?

How often have you driven past the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton Gardens and not given the spectacular architecture and surrounding gardens another thought?

It is one of the few buildings in Melbourne that can be said to have truly maintained their original function of hosting exhibitions from construction through to the present day.

The famous 'Great Hall' has many typical features seen in exhibition buildings: a spectacular dome, great portal entries, fanlight windows and a cruciform floor-plan. Surrounded by carefully designed gardens, it still is as much of a pleasure to stroll through as it was when designed by Joseph Reed and built in the late 1900's.

This appointed World Heritage site is the first non-Aboriginal cultural site in Australia to win a listing. Defined as a place that is important to all peoples of the world, the Royal Exhibition Building is of special significance to Melbournians (even if they don't realise it!)

Little has been written about the sculptures surrounding the main building... however we did manage to find this tidbit of information.

"In front of the Royal Exhibition Buildings is the Hochgurtel Fountain, with its three colossal figures, half man, half fish supporting the first ledge.

Above the first ledge four boys dance hand in hand, representing commerce, industry, science and arts, with symbolic designs shown over their heads.

Hochgurtel’s design was selected by the Gardens Committee in 1880, who invited designs for a fountain to be built for the Exhibition. It is made from Portland cement on a frame of stone and iron."

Oliver captured a few sculptural details that many would not stop to notice.

To be dammed!

We'll be dammed if this folio looks anything like the Junction Dam & Spillway, in Bogong Village!

The Kiewa hydroelectric scheme is the largest scheme in Victoria, and was built over more than 20 years from the late 1930s until 1961.

Construction was said only to be interrupted by the Second World War.

Located in the Australian Alps in north-eastern Victoria, about 200km from Melbourne, the scheme has been developed solely for power generation.

The scheme diverts and harnesses the Rocky Valley and Pretty Valley branches of the East Kiewa River, which rises on the Bogong High Plains, and the West Kiewa River, which rises near Mount Hotham.

The Kiewa scheme utilises the water from some 310 square kilometres of the Kiewa River catchment. In addition, 32km of aqueducts transfer water to the scheme from adjacent catchments, with much of the water coming from snow, which covers the area for up to five months each year.

For those of you that haven't visited the area, we definitely recommend you stop in on your way to Falls Creek. Beautiful gardens, bbq's for a picnic and a slow, peace pace make this Village a must see - not to mention great photo opportunites!

Wandering down the steep slope to the base of the dam, we went off the beaten track to capture these quite unusual perspectives.

Surrounded by masses of granite, it was interesting to examine the common white variety, was surrounded by black, also pink and dark gray.

As I explored the ground, looking for rare gems of nature, I kept one eye on Oliver who fearlessly sat a few metres perched on a boulder, face on to the dam wall.

Looking at him quite content there, I began to wonder had he considered that on the other side was a lake filled with megalitres of water!

A magical 2nd Birthday!

It's our 2nd birthday! From humble beginnings of producing koala Christmas cards on the lounge room floor, to shooting major construction projects, releasing a DVD series, having our photography feature in calendars, on pay TV, licensed corporate gifts for the State Government, blogging for one year, framed photos for Walt Disney's office... ahhhh - how rewarding! The hard work is all worthwhile :)

A big thanks to our family, great friends, and wonderful clients who have supported us, we couldn't have done it without you!

Number one question asked this year... Why the name BISON?

In a few words - Magical 15 000 year old Stone Age (Paleolithic Period) paintings discovered at Altamira in northern Spain.

The cave paintings depict mainly bison which lived during the ice age. The paintings were made using natural pigments such as yellow, red and brownish ochres as well as black manganese earth and charcoal. In places, they were also engraved into rock... colours that are gradated into such a vast array of shades that the creatures appear three-dimensional and amazingly realistic.

How were the works painted 45 feet long without light?

What sort of magical rites did they hold? We all shared the continuing fascination with, and curiosity about creativity of that period and found the parallels that exist with what we do... Hence the name, hence the symbolism.

From the magic embedded in cave paintings, to the quality of enchantment produced by our photography and multimedia... a tangent, a giant leap perhaps - it's a step closer than you think ;)

What makes a city of tomorrow?

Film Victoria describes Melbourne as a futuristic city. With the development of Southern Cross Station, Port of Melbourne's face lift and famous Fed Square, it's not hard to see why.

Is Melbourne really a futuristic city compared to the rest of the world though? We thought to check out the competition and came up with some interesting results.

Introducing Victory City.

The website claims that our present day cities are obsolete and are threatening to engulf the entire countryside (I doubt anyone disagrees), and is set to permanently destroy vast areas of our best food-producing land.

Victory City™ promotes itself as the wave of the future. It's an entire city built all under one roof, and operated by private enterprise alone. They claim that there will not be just one, but many such cities throughout the entire world.

Boasting no crime (hmmm... how so?), no pollution, and no over-crowding, Victory City is a veritable utopia for those who've grown weary of trying to find solutions to today's urban problems.

Utopia or a bad dream? You decide http://www.victorycities.com

Network Sabotage

What is it? And why would a studio blog about it? One day offline in a multimedia/photography business can result in major revenue loss, not to mention incredible frustration and panic.

We recently experienced a hack into the network which prevented online access; or access at a very slow rate if at all possible. Frustrated to say the least the research begun; someone had set up a firewall... share the love and make sure it doesn't impact on your business.

A firewall is a piece of hardware and/or software which functions in a networked environment to prevent some communications forbidden by the security policy, analogous to the function of firewalls in building construction. A firewall is also called a Border Protection Device (BPD), especially in NATO contexts, or packet filter in BSD contexts. A firewall has the basic task of controlling traffic between different zones of trust. Typical zones of trust include the Internet (a zone with no trust) and an internal network (a zone with high trust). The ultimate goal is to provide controlled connectivity between zones of differing trust levels through the enforcement of a security policy and connectivity model based on the least privilege principle.

Proper configuration (or reverse engineering) of firewalls demands skill, and requires considerable understanding of network protocols and of computer security. Don't become a statistic of network sabotage, protect your most valuable asset.

"It's all about the music," she said

"It's all about the music," she said. Its more a case of what came first the chicken or the egg.

Is it the photo that sells the DVD, or the music... or really, it could also be the animation. An argument ensued, both were passionate that they were correct.

We thought it's about time to really blog about the musicians behind BISON. Ben Hense, Musical Director for BU leads a star studded group of talented musicians.



Ben successfully took his studio work which he developed onto the live music scene, testing the tracks with success that had been garnered from punters moving to the sounds of groove based tunes played live. He then fused into new heights with a full scale live music ensemble of local Melbourne musicians.

His work for BU incorporates vocalists, bass, guitar, percussion, drums, flute, keyboards, analogue synths and samplers to provide an captivating sound quite unlike anything the corporate sector has seen!

Sales and Success

With the release of the DVD series just over a week ago, we've been flat out fulfilling requests for samples (go online), taking and delivering orders and best of all getting it into the market. A friend recently commented on how much he loved multimedia and would have preferred to get in to the field (rather than working in marketing)... but it was 'too hard' to get to the commercialisation stage. Too hard or too exhausting ;) We say:

If you feel fear, plunge ahead!

Who says your first order can't be for the Victorian Government for export to India, Asia, China and Japan? We did it :)

At BISON we have a sign in the studio spelling out: "We persist with the knowledge that each failure to sell will increase your chance for success at the next attempt." Bring it on!

BISON's new DVD series is a hit!

Congratulations to all that contributed to the first animated still photography DVD on the market! Original, dramatic soundtracks, spectacular photography and technical brilliance. A big pat on the back to BISON's core team of talented artists Darc, Oliver and Ben and of course, a big thanks to all family, friends and our great business network. Without your input, it would not have been possible.

The feedback, endorsements and overall good energy around this project has been overwhelming. We made the deadline one day early (who would have thought?) got the DVD's uploaded for the www to view, and had our most hits ever ;)

Check out BISON's new DVD series, and let us know what you think!

Still the best...

BISON sets sail for India!

What is this about India you may ask?

Yes India... the second most populous country (after China; although some say, India is set to overtake China as the world's most populous nation by 2050). India is also the largest liberal democracy in the world.

Karnataka's capital, Bangalore, with a state seal ripe with colour, is a diverse, rich culture, with a population of more than 6 million. Bangalore is home to Victoria's new Government office. Speaking to our Indian Commissioner at an export conference last week, possibilities of BISON exporting to India became all the more real. Exporting our DVD's to promote business in Bangalore, creating a DVD series over there featuring the famous Taj Mahal... the options are endless.

The next step? We've signed up for an "Expressions of Interest" for Victorian ICT Trade Mission to India in October... This year our State Government will sponsor an exhibition stand to showcase the capabilities of the Victorian ICT industry (of which we are part) to a worldwide audience at Bangalore IT and at TiEcon India 2006.

You never know what's around the corner!

2 weeks and counting!

Sneak preview!

One of 3 DVD's in the series, this title, 'Melbourne's Famous Landmarks' is sure to be a favourite for Aussie locals and tourists.

2 weeks 'til release and counting!

The musical genius behind BISON.

A lot of you keep asking, "Who creates the music on your DVD's?"

Keeping it all in the family we have partnered with Ben Hense and his creative, very talented team of musicians at Mr. Jigga to produce all original soundtracks to accompany our wonderful postcard DVD's.

Having Ben write the music specifically for the photography and animation, not only avoids licensing issues (which most people producing DVD's seem to have), but more importantly allow the BISON team to adjust, create and refine just they way we like it.

Also a big thanks to Cherry, the very talented violinist in our new series. Her work truly is uplifiting, and many of our clients have commented how interesting it is combined with the 'electronic beats'.

All recorded live in the studio, this is an invaluable asset to the BISON united team. Well done!

Fed Square DVD Promo release!

BISON present the Fed Square DVD promo! Hot off the hard drive ;) The first of 3 DVD postcards, the Fed Square promo is an example of the great things yet to come. With originally composed music, crisp photography and the best in animation, all that's left is to TURN UP THE VOLUME, sit back and enjoy!

Well done Ben, Darc and oL - superb achievement, we can't wait to see the final cut.

Construction Art

It's interesting to note that more and more organisations are interested in buying our photography, especially the iconic city shots, to 'blow up' and frame for their offices...

It's more than showing off to their clients their successful projects, it's more than creating an inspiring workspace.

These are a few of the construction photos from our new Spencer Street Station folio (Southern Cross Station) shot last week. Evoking curiosity and emotion; they're serious power shots, have great symmetry and pure colour.

Who's ever seen machinery look this good?

We call it construction art.

Multimedia in the limelight

It's interesting how your niche finds you, rather than the other way around as so many marketing texts and experts proclaim, 'Positioning... it's all about positioning!'

We think it's actually reversed, you become positioned.

A lot of you have now viewed our DVD produced for the National Geographic Channel in May.

Thanks to your feedback, we've gone out on a limb and are in the middle of producing a series which will be available for sale in retail outlets across the state. We're keeping the details under wraps for a little longer.

In the meantime these are a sneak preview of some of the superb new pics that will be animated in our new series. Can you guess their location?

PS. It's all about risk and hard work... of course! On the flipside it seems the rewards will be great ;)

The world is moving faster

The world is definitely moving faster and getting smaller for us here at the BISON studio.

We now are a united front, working with two of the most talented creatives. Introducing Ben (our new musical director) and Darcey (chief animator).

Welcome to the BISON UNITED team!

Last month we joined the AIBC (Australia India Business Council), chatted online to our creative friends in Canada, got IT advice from North Carolina and were on Global Consciousness.

What has this got to do with photography and multimedia you may ask?!?

We're reaching for the next rung, drawing in likeminded people and just starting to realise the internet is not about searching but building global communities.

Our dream of a virtual office is slowly taking shape ;)

The wait was worth it...

Absolutely gorgeous.

Oliver has had one of the most challenging photography commissions yet... Last month we were asked to produce a koala folio for one of Australia's leading tourism operators.

Having researched the 'koala photography scene', we now know why the same photo has been used by EVERYONE for the past 20 years.

Let me fill you in on a secret... koala's sleep for 20-22 hours a day, that's why it's so hard to capture them on film animated. So for all of you wildlife enthusiasts, we challenge you to send us a few koala photos!

These three pics are the results of hours of patiently waiting, and waiting.

The wait was worth it.

Interested in helping save our koalas? Consider supporting the greta work the Australian Koala Foundation do (our link is left)... foster a koala.

Thanks to this program, koalas in captivity are now able to help save their cousins in the wild. For as little as $20 a month you can foster a koala and in doing so help to save Australia’s wild koala population.

They also have a great section on what you can do in a practical way to help preserve our precious planet.