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PAN Report: MEDIA MODE photo agency – New site, Covid and shooting Australian floods

Last week PAN spotted Australia based entertainment photo agency MEDIA MODE had launched a new website. Having not been in contact for a while we had a quick catch up with the owner SJ McKay – here’s SJ’s report covering the Covid years and turning to news photography to reporting on the recent major flooding in Australia!


Hi Will, I’d be happy to give you a 2022 update on MEDIA MODE, it’s been quite an eventful start to the year…

2022 marks MEDIA MODE’s 12th birthday, having started the Agency back in Feb 2010.

To mark our birthday, we had a face-lift, launching our new look website (front end).
It was quite a significant upgrade to our look, with a focus on not only what we produce, but who we work with – as a little nod of appreciation to our clients.

After making it through the last two roller-coaster years (aka the pandemic), it felt like the right time to have a brand refresh. Along with the website, MEDIA MODE had a total rebrand, complete with new website, logo and brand design. I couldn’t be happier with the end result! We’ve had a lot of positive feedback from both clients and contributors.

As you would know – and as was the case for most (all?) photo agencies & photographers worldwide – the pandemic was a rough ride! Down Under, we experienced the loss of a few major magazine clients, both in Australia, and in New Zealand. Alongside this, we saw the merger of our two largest magazine publishing houses, Bauer Media and Pacific Magazines. This merger resulted in the loss of some valuable competition between major magazine mastheads, who are now all under the same publishing umbrella. That competition was what used to drive the success of major exclusive picture set sales.
Throughout it all, we’ve adapted and All was not lost!
We are still able to place exclusive sets with the right clients, for respectable fees. We do this consistently and frequently, while also effectively managing the value in our increasing “all-round” sales environment.

In 2022, we have contributors all across Australia, producing mostly exclusive, entertainment-focused content (of the paparazzi genre!) And now, post Covid, we have the return (albeit slowly) of Events!
We also have a team of experienced photographers, who regularly supply coverage of the major (and minor) Australian red carpets, parties and the like.

“News” content has never really been a focus for MEDIA MODE, as we operate mainly, and most successfully, in the Entertainment sector. But, that being said, we work with many well-respected photographers, who have the experience and professionalism to cover major breaking News events in Australia. None more so than Brendan Beirne (co-founder of MEDIA MODE).

Brendan has just spent the last month or so photographing the devastating floods that hit Australia, specifically in Northern NSW & Queensland. The worst hit location of these floods was a Northern NSW town, near Byron Bay, called Lismore. Incidentally, Lismore is where Brendan and I live Lucky for us, our home was not affected. But, devastatingly, most of our home town (the entire CBD and approx 3000 homes) has been decimated by this natural disaster.

Brendan has worked every day to expertly cover this tragedy. His photographs have helped bring much needed attention to the plight of Lismore, and its surrounding areas. We’ve been able to supply a vast amount of imagery via MEDIA MODE, as well as working directly with a few clients on specific assignments and commissions.

As an agency, we’ve placed the coverage in multiple Australia news outlets, including newspapers; The Daily Telegraph, The Courier Mail, Herald Sun, Australian Financial Review, The Australian and the West Australian News. There was also much use across digital publications like, Daily Mail Australia, News.com.au, The Guardian Australia and Australian Geographic.

It’s been a frantic few weeks since the February floods. In truth, it’s been a complete contrast to the regular content produced in this region; it’s usually focused on the many celebrities enjoying their life, or on holidays in Byron Bay! But that just goes to show how valuable it is to have experienced contributors in your team – Those who have the knowledge and expertise to shoot well in any scenario they are propelled into!

In other MEDIA MODE news, we are now the exclusive reseller for Shutterstock’s “The Newsroom” editorial collection, for the Australian and New Zealand market. (This partnership began in November 2021). Working with Shutterstock is definitely an exciting opportunity, and greatly aids us in providing an even more extensive and exclusive agency service to our customers. Shutterstock’s partnership is our newest re-seller role, but certainly not the only… We are very proud of our years-long partnership with Splash News, having acted as their exclusive re-seller since 2018.

All of our contributors, whether it be a global partner agency or a local freelancer, make MEDIA MODE the success it is, helping us to continue to expand our editorial content service to the Australian and NZ media marketplace.


• License and commission MEDIA MODE here.

Thanks for the update SJ – speak again soon!

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