From the Road to Film School
Ash Mines didn’t arrive at filmmaking through a direct route. Originally from South Australia, he spent years traveling the country in his four-wheel drive. It was on the road that he got inspired to tell stories of his journey through images.
“I’ve always been inspired by storytelling,” he says. “I grew up with this idea of wanting to explore and travel and see the world, and tell stories about that.”
Video followed photography, and when the trip wound down, so did any uncertainty about what came next. Ash enrolled in the film program at SAE University College‘s Byron Bay campus—a small, close-knit cohort where, as he puts it, the work you put in is exactly what you get out.
Learning on Set, Not Just in the Classroom
At SAE, Ash found that the most valuable parts of his education happened in two places simultaneously: inside the classroom and on professional sets. “SAE for me kind of went hand in hand with work that I did on set during my degree,” he explains. “I was learning a lot of the up-to-date technical stuff through people on set teaching me about the newest equipment.”
Access to industry-standard Sony cameras at SAE gave him hands-on familiarity with professional kit. But it was SAE faculty, Laurence Adalian’s emphasis on structured process; disciplined pre-production, careful planning, a methodical approach to every project, that quietly shaped something more lasting than technical skill.
“That’s something that I feel like is part of my style,” Ash says. “Not visually, but kind of the way that I walk through a project.”
His entry into professional work came earlier than most students expect. An industry liaison at SAE connected him with a local filmmaker, and a five-day surf competition shoot turned into a three-year freelance relationship with Byron Bay production company Value Imagery. “That was one of the opportunities that came through SAE,” he says. “Otherwise, I’ve just been very passionate about it—I’ve just hit up people and tried to get on set as much as I could.”
Finishing Strong: Final Projects and Festival Submissions
Ash graduated alongside his close friend and creative partner Jasper, the two of them having collaborated on nearly every project across their time at SAE’s Byron Bay campus. Their final exhibition piece—a music video called All My Life, made for a local artist—screened to an enthusiastic audience just weeks before this interview.
“It’s the best work we’ve created so far,” Ash says. “It really gave us the opportunity to practice our cinematography and push some limits with that.” The video is held back from public release pending the artist’s upcoming album, but it’s already circulating as a portfolio piece among industry contacts. Film festival submissions are next.
How Format and SAE Support Emerging Filmmakers
For emerging filmmakers, the gap between graduating and getting hired is one of the most vulnerable stretches of a creative career. A strong portfolio website doesn’t just display work—it communicates professional identity, builds credibility, and opens doors.
That’s the thinking behind the partnership between Format e SAE University College, one of Australia’s leading creative media institutions. Through the collaboration, SAE students receive free access to Format’s professional portfolio-building platform throughout their studies and for six months after graduation.
As SAE’s Executive General Manager Matt Evans says about the partnership: “This Collaboration with Format highlights SAE’s commitment to providing our students and alumni with the tools and experiences they need to thrive in the creative industries.”
Each year, Format awards a portfolio prize to a standout SAE student whose portfolio website best demonstrates creativity, intentionality, and professional readiness. This year’s winner is Ash Mines—a filmmaker, cinematographer, and storyteller whose work is as grounded and unhurried as the landscapes he loves to shoot.
2026 SAE Portfolio Prize Winner
Winner: Ash Mines—https://www.ashmines.com/
Finding a Visual Style: Grounded, Authentic Filmmaking
Ask Ash about his aesthetic, and he’s refreshingly honest about still working it out. But the through-line is already visible.
“I’m very inspired by the human element of filmmaking—the real, grounded, authentic type of films,” he says. He names Into the Wild as a touchstone and cites cinematographers Roger Deakins and Greig Fraser alongside adventure filmmaker Scott Secco and Renan Ozturk, founder of Expedition Studios, whose documentary work in climbing and the natural world sits close to Ash’s creative north star.
“I want to kind of capture just what life is—the reality of it, the authenticity. In today’s age, I’m not very inspired by heavily effects-driven work, VFX and AI especially. What I would like my style to be is just that kind of natural, grounded cinematography.”—Ash Mines
Documentary is where his passion lives, and outdoor adventure is the specific territory he’s staking out. His dream project, he says, would be working with a brand like Patagonia or National Geographic—somewhere outdoors, somewhere remote, camera in hand.
Building a Filmmaker Portfolio That Works
Winning Format’s portfolio prize came with a lifetime Format subscription—but Ash had already been thoughtfully building his online presence on Format before the award arrived. His philosophy on the online portfolio reflects his philosophy on film: lead with the work, and let everything else follow.
His current portfolio website spans events, documentary, commercial, and branded film. His plan for his portfolio is intentional: build toward outdoor adventure content, upload it, and gradually let the portfolio evolve to reflect where he’s going, not just where he’s been.
“I definitely spent a lot of time looking at other people’s portfolios for inspiration, which is great—you get a lot of ideas. But your website is your own. I eventually just stopped trying to make it like everyone else’s and just tried to make it what I wanted.”—Ash Mines
On Format’s tools, Ash found the experience straightforward from the start. “Format feels very user-friendly and simple,” he says. “You just put the information in there, pick a theme, and kind of lay it out the way that you want.” He’s taken advantage of direct YouTube and Vimeo linking to avoid large file uploads, used client galleries for delivering photos, and recently started experimenting with FlexBlock to bring more video into his homepage. SEO is also on his radar as a way to generate leads—he’s already had clients find him through simple location-based searches.
What’s Next for Ash Mines
After a few months of client work and passion projects in Byron Bay, Ash is planning to move to Canada’s West Coast in early 2026. Vancouver, he figures, is the center of the kind of filmmaking he wants to be making: mountain biking, climbing, big landscapes, and the brands that love them.
For now, he’s being intentional about carving out time for personal work alongside contracted shoots—because, as he’s learned, that balance doesn’t happen on its own.
“Prioritizing my own projects is always the hardest thing,” he admits. “There’s always other things. So I’m going to be really intentional about making time.”
His advice to students just starting their portfolios is characteristically direct:
“You get out what you put in. No one’s going to hand you opportunities. And having a great team, great collaborators, is so impactful. I was really lucky that I landed with someone who became my best friend and my collaborator. It’s just so important to collaborate with other people in this industry.”—Ash Mines
Any day with a camera in his hand, he says, is a good day. Based on everything he’s built so far, there are a lot of good days ahead.
View Ash’s portfolio website, created on Format.
Learn more about Format’s partnership with SAE University College at sae.edu.au/format.
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