Perth Photoshoots

Locations

Where to shoot in Perth

Kings Park sits on the escarpment above the city and is one of the largest inner-city parks anywhere. The lookout gives you the skyline with the Swan River curving behind it, and the bushland behind that is native rather than landscaped.

Cottesloe Beach faces due west, with its pine trees, the Indian Ocean and the best-known sunset in the city. The Indiana teahouse on the sand is the landmark.

Elizabeth Quay and the Swan River foreshore give you the modern city — the bridge, the inlet and the towers reflected in the water.

Fremantle is the other half of a Perth shoot: a working port with a remarkably intact nineteenth-century streetscape, the markets, and the harbour.

Scarborough and the northern beaches are wider, emptier and good when Cottesloe is busy.

Rottnest Island, a ferry ride offshore, gives you white sand, clear water and quokkas, and it needs the best part of a day.

Timing

The Fremantle Doctor sets the afternoon

Perth has a famously reliable afternoon sea breeze, known locally as the Fremantle Doctor, which arrives from the south-west on most summer afternoons and drops the temperature noticeably. It is welcome in the heat and it is strong enough to shape a shoot — hair, fabric and anything loose will move.

Mornings are calm, and that is when the river and the beaches are glassy. If you want still water, shoot early.

Summer, December to February, is hot and very dry, with long evenings. Sunset over the Indian Ocean is the whole point of a Perth shoot in those months.

Spring, roughly September to November, brings the wildflowers to Kings Park and is the most comfortable time of year to be outside all day.

What to wear

Sun first, then the wind

The UV here is genuinely severe for much of the year and there is very little shade on the beaches. Hats and cover work as well in the pictures as they do on the skin.

Flowing fabric suits the Cottesloe sunset and the Doctor will animate it. If you want it still, that is an argument for a morning session.

Against white sand and turquoise water, saturated colour reads strongly. Against Fremantle's limestone and brick, warmer and softer tones work better.

Before you go

Wildlife, heat and ferries

The quokkas on Rottnest are protected native wildlife. They are approachable and famously photogenic, but touching or feeding them is an offence, and the pictures that work are the ones taken at a respectful distance.

Kings Park and Perth's public reserves can require a permit for commercial photography depending on the shoot. We check what yours needs beforehand.

Summer heat is not a detail. Midday sessions in January are unpleasant and unflattering, and we would steer you to either end of the day regardless of what is available.

Rottnest is reached by ferry on a fixed timetable, so it is a planned day rather than an add-on.

Arranging it

How a Perth shoot gets booked

Perth shoots are arranged directly with our team rather than booked online. Tell us your dates, how many of you there are and whether you want the city, the coast or Fremantle, and we will confirm what can be arranged and what it will cost.

If you want Cottesloe at sunset, say so early. It is the most requested hour in the city and the light does not wait.