QFES NAIDOC Stories
Documentary photography celebrating First Nations voices in emergency services
Photography and interview project capturing the stories of six First Nations employees and volunteers within Queensland Fire and Emergency Services for NAIDOC Week 2022.
The Challenge
NAIDOC Week celebrations can feel performative. Corporate photo ops. Generic messaging. Checkbox exercises that don't honor the people they're supposed to celebrate.
QFES wanted something different. Real stories from real people. First Nations employees and volunteers talking about their work, their culture, their experience within emergency services. Authentic recognition, not corporate gloss.
The challenge was creating something genuine. Six different people across different roles. Firefighters, volunteers, officers, support staff. Each with their own story. Each deserving respect and authenticity.
The Solution
We took a documentary approach. Candid photography. Real conversations. Let people tell their own stories in their own words. No scripted corporate messaging.
Six participants. Operational firefighters. Rural Fire Service volunteers. Officers in leadership roles. Support staff keeping the organization running. The diversity of voices made it authentic. One spokesperson wouldn't have worked. Six real people did.
The photography matched the tone. Documentary style, not staged portraits. People in their environments. At their stations. In their uniforms. Doing their work. The images showed who they are, not who a brand manager wanted them to be.
The interviews became the heart of the project. Stories about culture. About family. About why they chose emergency services. About what NAIDOC Week means to them. We captured those voices and preserved them.
The final materials went to NAIDOC Week events and digital channels. The stories reached both internal QFES staff and the broader community. Recognition that felt real because it was real.
The Stories
Six people. Six different roles within QFES. Each with their own story about culture, family, and why they chose emergency services. We captured those voices through documentary photography and open conversations.
The Participants
Six people across QFES. Firefighters, volunteers, officers, support staff. Different roles, different backgrounds, all First Nations. Each brought their own perspective on emergency services work and what NAIDOC Week means to them.
The diversity mattered. Six voices, not one corporate spokesperson. Real experiences, not manufactured messaging.
Documentary Approach
Real moments over perfect poses. We shot people at work, in their stations, doing what they actually do. The interviews were open conversations, not scripted talking points. Their stories, their words, their voices.
