Brian Purnell is an experienced festival video producer and photographer. His folio of artists shot includes Paul McCartney, Drake and Ed Sheeran. We caught up with him over lunch to find out how he got started in the industry.
I’ve loved cameras since I was a wee little boy. I remember as a kid walking around the house with old toilet paper rolls and pretending it was a camera. Then as a teenager I used to shoot all my friend’s parties with my parents’ camera and upload photos on MySpace the next morning. I guess it was around that time, in high school, I thought, “Yeah, this could be something I could do in my life.”
After Year 12 I sold off my Marshall guitar amp and bought myself a DSLR. I had no idea what I was really doing with it, but the opportunity came up to cover a regular nightclub event called TwelveAM in my hometown of Geelong, so I went along and just winged it.
Through a bit of trial and error, I got the hang of it. With each gig I learnt more about shooting in low light, how to get the best out of people, and how to avoid beer spilling onto your camera and that sort of thing. I also started playing around with the camera video function too, and taught myself how to use iMovie. Not too many people were doing nightclub videos back then so it became of point of great difference. After a while I got a bit of a name for myself, which led to other opportunities.
Early on I really wanted a unique identity as a way to be memorable, and I liked the idea of having an artist name like a band does, so I borrowed the name “Brianstorm” from an old Arctic Monkeys track and it’s stuck ever since.
Facebook was pretty important early on to get the name out there. I used to upload my pics soon after events and encourage my followers to tag their friends. Back then Facebook showed your posts to everyone but they make you pay these days to get reach so isn’t as good.
I also used to promote myself by giving these Brianstorm stickers with me wearing a rabbit-costume head to friends heading overseas to stick around famous landmark areas like Brooklyn Bridge and Trafalgar Square. I also used printed business cards with a photo of me wearing the rabbit-costume head on one side, and on the other side it said, “I will shoot you” – I gave it to pretty much everyone.
In my early 20s I took up an internship for a few months with a Melbourne-based magazine SPOOK and did event videos for them. This was really a great opportunity because it introduced me to a lot of industry people – and fortunately, some of them gave me work after it finished. After that I started covering festivals.
I was shooting Falls Festival Lorne one year and had a chance meeting with a Mushroom employee. I must have talked myself up a lot because a couple of weeks later I was invited to their office to discuss potential work. I remember going into the meeting thinking they needed a photographer – even had my little iPad with a photos slideshow. However I quickly realised that they were interested in an in-house videographer. Luckily I had a couple of videos to show, and unexpectedly I was offered the job.
On tour everyone who’s not in the industry seems to think it’s all partying and trashing the hotel room. There is some partying but it’s basically us sitting in the green room on our laptops until the show starts and then once the show ends it’s straight back to the hotel.
There are many paths to go reach the career you want. For some people it’s going to Uni, for some it’s making their own path. As cliché as it sounds, just keep at it and refine your skills. Say yes to any opportunity because you never know where it will lead you.
Take up any internships as well. If I hadn’t done the hard yards with that internship and taken the train up from Geelong to South Yarra four times a week, I don’t think I would be where I am today.
Every day is always different. The people in the music industry are a very fun bunch and most days it really doesn’t feel like working. I love the fact that when I capture people it’s when they are having the time of their lives, sometimes I pause and watch people enjoying a moment and that’s something I’ll always appreciate.
People get caught up with having the best and latest camera equipment, but I like to remind myself that, “You don’t compliment a chef for his oven.”
Brian Purnell is a video producer at Mushroom Creative House
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