DOP · Camera Operator · Australia & Worldwide

Cinema
in the elements.

I'm at my best where most cameras don't go — open water, hard weather, remote coasts. Drama, documentary and high-end TVC, finished cinematic wherever the conditions land.

ACS Gold — Best Commercial, Surf Abu Dhabi
BADC Gold — Cinematography, Branded Content
Netflix AU Top 10 — Primitive War
Best DOP — Sydney Short Film Festival

Selected work

Fewer projects.
Bigger frames.

The water unit

The call to make when a shoot has an ocean day.

Water days sink productions that treat them like land days. I've spent a life on and under the ocean — sailing, swimming, diving — reading conditions and holding the frame while everything moves.

Underwater, surface and topside — swimmer, housing, boat, sail or ski
RED cinema package in dedicated underwater housing, with directors split
Jetski licensed & open-water scuba certified — self-sufficient on any water day
Water-unit DOP and operator for features, doco and TVC second unit

About

Jay Button

I'm a DOP and camera operator based at Cabarita, between the Gold Coast and the Northern Rivers. I grew up on the water — sailing it, swimming it, diving under it — and it shows in the work: the frames I'm known for come from inside the conditions, not beside them.

Producers hire me for the days that can't go wrong — the ocean unit, the weather window, the remote location where the moment happens once. The craft is documentary at its core: watch, anticipate, hold the frame while everything around it moves. I slot into your crew and serve the vision; the elements are my department.

"My job is to make the hard day look effortless — on the screen and on the call sheet."

In 2025 the Surf Abu Dhabi campaign took ACS Gold and BADC Gold for cinematography. In 2026, Primitive War hit Netflix Australia's Top 10. That's the road ahead: drama and natural-history documentary, with high-end TVC, fashion and tourism in between.

Selected clients

National Geographic · Netflix (Primitive War) · Destination NSW · Tourism Queensland · Surf Abu Dhabi · Coca-Cola · Marie Claire · Spell · Seafolly · Billabong · Roxy · Witchery · Men's Health

Services

Four ways to work together.

01

DOP & camera operator

On your production, serving your director's vision — TVC, drama, fashion, tourism. Creative input from prep, execution on the day.

02

Water & elements unit

Specialist unit for the days that can't go wrong — underwater, open ocean, sail, weather, remote. Self-sufficient crew and kit.

03

Drama & documentary

Narrative features and natural-history documentary — patient, observational camera built for long-form. Primitive War (Netflix AU Top 10).

04

Post & edit

Editorial and colour through my trusted post roster, finished to the same standard as the shoot.

Start a project

Tell me about the brief.

Five things and I can tell you straight away if it's a fit: what it is, when, where, the budget range, and what you need delivered.

Direct: film@jaybutton.com Mobile: +61 481 143 374 Button Media Group Pty Ltd · ABN 35 684 767 940