Applications Opening Soon
Register your interest for 2022 Explorer's Grant!
Are you an Australian photographer or filmmaker?
Do you want your work to make a real, positive environmental impact?
The CameraPro Explorer’s Grant is your chance to make it happen.
Established in 2018, the Explorer's Grant empowers Australian photographers and filmmakers to support causes and tell stories that make a difference.
2021
Explorer's Grant
We know there’s power in creativity. That’s what fuels our purpose – to inspire and empower people to create a better world – and it’s why we founded the Explorer’s Grant.
To help creators like you change this world for the better.
Cause
Communities or organisations making a positive environmental impact
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Grant
Financial support for both the cause and the story
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Project
Your story, told via photos or video – presented, exhibited or roadshowed (with help from CameraPro) to gain exposure for your cause
Categories & Funding
Eligible entrants may apply for a choice of three categories: photography, video, or junior (newly introduced for 2021).
The Explorer’s Grant judges will select one winner from each category, who will share in $12,500 funding.
Photography
$5,000 funding
($3,000 for project + $2,000 for cause)
Open to photographers aged 18 and over
Videography
$5,000 funding
($3,000 for project + $2,000 for cause)
Open to videographers aged 18 and over
Junior Photography / Video
$2,500 funding
($1,500 for project + $1,000 for cause)
Open to photographers and videographers aged 13 to 17 years
2021 CameraPro Explorer’s Grant Recipients
Jannico Kelk
(2021 Recipient)
Jannico Kelk is a wildlife photographer and videographer at Natural Australia Expeditions, co-founded with Jonathan Lucas. He has won and been shortlisted in several wildlife photography competitions and works alongside conservation NGOs
Jannico's project, Natural Australia Expeditions: The Mary River Turtle, seeks to shed light on the critically endangered Mary River turtle and Tiaro Landcare, the grass-roots community group dedicated to protecting this unique reptile from extinction.
Paul Daley
(2021 Recipient)
Paul Daley is specialises in regenerative storytelling. Paul’s keen interest in ecosystem restoration and regenerative culture led him to work on grassroots projects throughout Indonesia. He is inspired to deepen local connections and create content that supports solution-focused storytelling.
Paul’s project, Fire Lore: Indigenous Cultural Burning, continues his work with the Githabul peoples and local fire ecologists to raise community awareness on the crucial need for indigenous land management through cultural burning.
Nicholas Carmichael
(2021 Recipient)
Nicholas Carmichael is inspired to pursue documentary filmmaking and wilderness photography as a medium to create societal change. A winner of several competitions, he would like to explore how editing choices can improve the audience engagement of documentaries
Nicholas’ project, Saving Tasmania's Kelp Forests draws attention to the alarming decline of Tasmania’s giant kelp forests, and the research and action being taken to save and restore this very important marine ecosystem from extinction.
Previous Recipients
Martin Stinger
(2019 Recipient)
Martin Stringer is a Melbourne photographer, filmmaker, and cancer survivor whose love of nature has inspired his work with numerous environmental NGOs from Australia to remote Nepal.
Martin’s project, Replanting a Rainforest, sets out to raise awareness, funds and seedlings to help restore, protect and buy back the Daintree, Australia's most ancient and biodiverse rainforest.
Sarah Osborn
(2019 Recipient)
Sarah’s project, What remains here now?, continues her work with Forgotten Australians, giving voice to survivors of institutional care as they seek justice against their abusers.
Natalia Mroz
(2019 Recipient)
Natalia Mroz is an Australian photographer, writer and audiovisual producer. For more than 15 years Natalia has documented social and environmental issues for the UN and assorted NGOs all over the globe.
Natalia’s project, Samburu Tribe and the Grevy's Zebra Trust, engages indigenous African communities to maximise conservation outcomes for endangered species.
Jimmy White
(2018 Recipient)
Marine biologist and National Geographic expedition leader Dr Jimmy White has dedicated his life to understanding and conserving the natural world.
His project, Meet the Ocean, is an educational non-profit using virtual reality to teach and inspire the public about marine conservation, and to help rehabilitate kids in hospital.
Jolyon Hoff
(2018 Recipient)
Jolyon is an Australian filmmaker who's fascinated by subcultures, identity and community. The Staging Post, his critically acclaimed 2017 film about Afghan refugees stranded in Indonesia, helped spark a refugee-led education revolution.
Jolyon’s project focuses on Cisarua Refugee Learning Centre – a refugee-run school in West Java teaching 2,000 refugee children unable to attend schools.
Marcus Wong
(2018 Recipient)
Marcus Wong is a Perth-based photographer, filmmaker and graphic designer who was named the 2019 WA Young Volunteer of the Year. Through his work, Marcus is dedicated to voicing the untold stories of people in developing countries.
Marcus’ project focuses on Rafiki Africa Ministries, Buwooya Mission School, EthiopiAid and Action Ethiopia – locally run Ugandan and Ethiopian aid organisations assisting disadvantaged children, women and local farmers.
“This grant allows me to continue a project that is really important to me, to [survivor of institutional abuse] Margaret and to the Forgotten Australian community.
It will allow me to…raise awareness of Forgotten Australians, be with Margaret as she undergoes her court case to seek justice, and also…give back to a charity that is helping vulnerable children in our society.”
“So grateful to CameraPro who funded this trip to be able to tell the stories of small organisations who often don’t have the resources to be able to tell their story to an international audience”
