COMPOSER - FILMMAKER
PHOTOGRAPHER - IMMERSIVE ARTIST
ross calia
I work across image, sound, motion and space — not because I couldn't choose, but because the most powerful creative work often lives at the intersection of all of them.
What connects everything isn't versatility — it's creative instinct applied across each of the senses. Each discipline informs the others. The rhythm in a photograph, the music in a moving image, the light in a score.
Featured Project - Our Starry Night
Everything I do lives somewhere in this two and a half minute work:
Our Starry Night was created when every part of my practice came together in service of it: original concept, creative direction, filmmaking, photography, music composition, sound design, immersive audio production, and immersive visual design.
The resulting work spans over 3,000 square metres of multi-surface walls and floor — walls rising four storeys high — driven by 150+ state-of-the-art projectors and 60+ speakers, with an original immersive surround-sound composition woven through every moment of it. Exhibited at The Lume Melbourne, The Lume USA, and the National Museum of Australia in Canberra, the work has been experienced by around one million people worldwide.
The work explores the profound connection between Indigenous Australians and the stars — a story I approached with awe and reverence, not ownership. At its heart is a collaboration with Wiradjuri dancer Ella Havelka and Kamilaroi astrophysicist Krystal de Napoli. Rather than ask Ella to dance to a finished score, I invited her to move freely — and composed my music to her choreography. The result reflects the beauty of what can emerge when assumed roles are quietly set aside.
Featured Project - Ritz Carlton, Costa Rica
Original Score · Sound Design · Production · Mix · Master
Featured Project - Hazel
A short film by Ross Calia
Written · Directed · Filmed · Edited · Original Score
Featured Project - Emergent Melbourne
Collaboration with Digital Artist, Simon Burgin
Original Score · Sound Design · Production · Immersive/Surround Mix · Master
SELECTED AWARDS
Awards matter less to me than the work that earns them, but I've been fortunate to receive the following recognition across the breadth of my practice.
Winner — Lume Immersive Artist Award
Finalist — Reg Grundy Award, Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA)
Winner — Sony make.believe Award, Projections
Winner — Canon Photo5 Award (Australia & New Zealand)
Winner (x2) — Best Documentary Photograph, Kodak Salon: Centre for Contemporary Photography (CCP)
Winner (and x2 Finalist) — Australian Video Producer Awards, Best Commercial Soundtrack
Colour Factory Award Winner — Bowness Prize, Museum of Australian Photography
Aesthetica Creative Works Annual (UK, International)
Shortlisted — Beers.Lambert Contemporary Art Prize (UK, International)
Shortlisted — Percival Photographic Prize
Finalist — Olive Cotton Award for Photographic Portraiture
Finalist (x2) — Head On National Photography Prize
Semi-finalist — Moran Contemporary Portrait Prize
Semi-finalist (x2) — Moran Contemporary Photography Prize
Winner, Merit Award — BSG National Photographic Prize
Silver & Bronze — International Loupe Awards
Bronze — International Aperture Awards, People & Portrait
CLIENT CAMPAIGN RECOGNITION
The following awards were won by clients whose campaigns featured key creative work I conceived and made.
Golden Award of Montreux
Hermes Creative Awards
World Luxury Awards
Telly Awards
Vega Digital Awards
Muse Awards
TOURING IMMERSIVE WORK
Original music and immersive audio production for touring immersive experiences featured at:
Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Círculo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, Spain
Palazzo degli Esami, Rome, Italy
Maag Halle, Zurich, Switzerland
NOVA Spektrum, Oslo, Norway
Malmömässan, Malmö, Sweden
Kensington Gardens, London, UK
Winchester Science Centre & Planetarium, Winchester, UK
Monumento a la Madre, Mexico City, Mexico
Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Colorado, USA
The Lume, Newfields, Indianapolis, USA
The Dali Museum & Dali Museum Dome, St Petersburg, Florida, USA
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, USA
National Museum of Australia, Canberra
Royal Hall of Industries & Grand Pavilion, Sydney
The Lume, Melbourne
Dewey Center, Beijing, China
World Expo Museum, Shanghai, China
Shinagawa's Warehouse Terrada, Tokyo, Japan
ICONSIAM, Bangkok, Thailand
BGC Arts Center, Manila
EDUCATION
B.Mus (Hons), University of Melbourne. Associate and Licentiate of Music, AMEB.
SELECTED GRANTS & SCHOLARSHIPS
City of Melbourne Arts Development Grant
Florence Bradford Scholarship, University of Melbourne
Rosemary Kenny Prize, University of Melbourne
DAAD Scholarship, University of Melbourne / German Academic Exchange
If you're interested in working together, I'd love to hear about you and your project.
Contact
Disciplines and Services
Photography
Commercial photography. Executive and team portraiture. Editorial photography. Documentary photography. Studio photography.
Film & Video
Filmmaking and direction. Videography. Branded content. Corporate films. Documentary films. Video editing.
Music
Music composition. Film scoring. Soundtrack production. Songwriting. Music production.
Audio
Sound design. Dolby Atmos mixing. Immersive audio production. Surround sound production. Binaural and ambisonic audio. Podcast production. Sonic branding and identity. Location sound recording. Studio recording. Live concert recording. Audio system design.
Immersive & Experience
Immersive experience design. Immersive visual design. Projection mapping. Large format projection.
People & Process
Interview direction. Media training. Corporate communications. Creative Direction.
Melbourne studio [Fitzroy North] — by appointment