Luke Bakhuizen is a world traveller and professional photographer, his travel-focused Instagram account @lukebakhuizen has over 190, 000 followers. He’s known for his dreamy photographs of the most scenic places on Earth and is admired for his incredible short films. Luke Bakhuizen has built an impressive portfolio of past work with Tourism Australia, Sony, Corona & Parley to name a few.
We asked Luke some questions about his background and lifestyle as a travel photographer
What do you love most about what you do?
I get to travel the world and see some of the most remote and magical places all while earning a living along the way. I love working with brands that bring awareness to big issues around the globe, I have recently worked with Corona to bring awareness on a major plastic epidemic around the globe and I have had great joy in seeing people join beach cleanups to do their part in cleaning up the mess we have created. I love every minute of what I do and wouldn’t trade my job for anything else!
Where is home to you?
I was born in South Africa, moved to New Zealand at the age of 15, and settled in Australia at the age of 21. I have been on the road so much in between it’s hard to call a place home, but deep-down I’m most at home on an African safari!
How did you grow on social media and what are your tips?
I persisted to capture as many unique perspectives as possible, I love creating something that has never been seen or done before. Before I uploaded anything to my social channels I made sure that it had some sort of “wow” factor and I would be happy with the content on my profile for years to come. I had the approach of quality not quantity for my social channels and never uploaded something that I wasn’t 100% happy with, resulting in plenty of video and photo edits that have never been uploaded. After tagging similar Instagram pages and relevant hashtags I started to get noticed and with the assistance of large profiles with millions of followers reposting my content such as @australia, @queensland I started to build a following. My advice to others is, try to be unique, capture what you love, be a perfectionist and most of all persistent! You will start to get noticed and most of all enjoy what you do along the way.
How do you edit your content and how long does it take you?
I edit all my content on the Adobe CC apps, Lightroom and Premier. I enjoy the ease of use and well-built products Adobe creates. For photos I usually spend 30 mins – 1 hour playing around and for short 60 second Instagram videos, it can take anywhere from 1-2 days before I am happy with the final video. I know this is longer than most spend editing, but I am perfectionist and keep adjusting things till I am 100% happy, this normally takes forever and drives me crazy but at the end it pays off!
How did you get started in photography and filmmaking?
My father was an artist, so I’ve always had an interest in art and photography, at the age of 13, I bought my first DSLR camera and used it to photograph everything from wildlife on my African safaris to travels across Europe. One of my biggest interests in life has always been aviation, along my journey to become a commercial pilot and paraglider pilot I used my camera to capture the views from above, as this was long before drones every image from above had a different perspective and a wow factor that engaged my following over social media and inspired me to pursue filmmaking and photography as a career.
Your most used equipment?
Apart from my camera and trusty action cameras my most used piece of equipment would be my DJI Mavic 2 Pro, the image and video quality pared with the compact travel size allows me to use it on almost any trip!
Your top travel destinations? Your travel essentials?
Indonesia, Japan and Italy are some of the most picturesque and unique countries I have visited! Travel essentials – Sony noise cancelling headphones, DJI Mavic 2 and my paraglider.
