Lee Herbet is a cinematographer with an impressive resume of work, including countless large-scale and big-budget projects for some of the biggest brands in the world. While this isn’t the first time I have shared the podcast airwaves with Lee, it was great (as always) to catch up and hear his stories.
Lee and I (Greg) were part of a different photography podcast we ran during the COVID-19 lockdowns, which were quite extensive here in Australia. In Melbourne, Victoria, where Lee and I reside, we experienced 262 days of lockdown. One of our many coping mechanisms was to catch up once a week for our photography podcast. Lee is a natural storyteller and educator, and any conversation quickly ascended into a humorous pursuit of knowledge and understanding. With a history in stand-up comedy and a love of travel, it’s no wonder Lee can spin a yarn, build a narrative, and make it funny in the process.
“Everyone's got a great story but not everyone's great at telling it. That's where I come in.
I run a globally-based video production company passionate about telling your story to your customers and building your brand and business. I don’t just create beautiful videos; I understand business and marketing. A beautiful video is, well, beautiful, but if it doesn't achieve what you need it to, then it's just a pretty face. Beautiful videos AND customer engagement? That's why you come to me.”
While Lee is never far from a camera, and began his visual journey taking shots while travelling, video proved to be his calling. As his interest in video grew, so too did his client base. With a knack for tech, media, and education, Lee’s ability to understand, master and train others in the process extended his client base and opportunities for unique storytelling content. Today, Lee’s company, Capture.Inc, is a global player in the videography/cinematography industry. The impressive list of corporate clients includes Fujifilm, Pfizer, Sony, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Canon, and Apple. Given Lee’s knack for storytelling, his corporate cinematography and filmmaking passion projects lean into the narrative elements of the craft. Lee’s work sets the scene, captures the vibe, and tells a compelling story or builds an impressive vision. With the impressive global clients Lee has attracted with his work, it’s easy to see the quality, care, insight, and skill involved.
During our conversation on The Camera Life podcast, I asked Lee how he interprets or differentiates between the terms videographer, filmmaker, and cinematographer. These are the three most common terms used when discussing video content and its creators. In Lee’s view, a videographer is someone who shoots video and creates videos. The role of a cinematographer is more complex in that the cinematographer works with a larger crew and numerous stakeholders before, during and after the video has been shot. Cinematographers work in a contained and controlled environment where they must consider everything from colour and lighting to leading a support team to meet the client's brief. He also indicated that cinematographers typically work on bigger productions with larger budgets than videographers. Unfortunately, Lee got lost on a tangent, and we never found out what a filmmaker does or why it's different. I believe filmmaking is more creative and builds upon narrative and character development to tell a story through moving images.
Lee’s innate ability to capture an audience and tell a story is inspiring and was evident throughout our conversation. Lee’s animated charisma, energy, and prowess shine through the most. It was an absolute pleasure and lots of fun catching up with Lee on The Camera Life Podcast. If you’re unfamiliar with The Camera Life Podcast, be sure to take a look at our YouTube channel for the latest episodes and, of course, our back catalogue of weekly shows. Our shows are also available on popular audio podcast platforms. If you like what you see, please give us a thumbs up, subscribe to The Camera Life, and click on the bell icon to receive notifications of upcoming shows. We host two shows weekly, the first being every Thursday at 9am AEDT (Australia), where we interview amazing guests. The second show, The Random Photography Show, airs every Monday at 7:30 pm AEDT. The Random Photography show is a little random, a little loose, and a lot of fun! Be sure to check them out.
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