According to photographer John Hay, "Shooting Outback was one of the most difficult assignments I have ever done."

The first decision Andrew and John made when planning to shoot the photos for Outback, was that everything had to be authentic, which necessitated shooting in situ in the desert. They also wanted the food to be real, not tricked up in a studio, but genuine, honest food that would look the same in the photo as when it was cooked at home.  Food that could be eaten after it had been photographed.  In an era where most food photography is in a studio with a white background and the food tricked up with devices like hairspray,  Outback is a refreshingly honest take.

To utilise the safari kitchen facilities of Diamantina Touring Company, they had to wait until the touring season was over, which meant shooting in October, when the hot outback summer had returned and the flies were thick.  Two shoots were arranged each day. The first was at dawn, to catch the warm colours and low angle of the sunlight, and the next in the late afternoon. A typical day would begin at around 3am, raking over the coals and putting new wood on. Then Andrew would prepare several dishes, timed to be ready when the first rays of sunlight appeared. At dawn there would be a frantic effort to plate the dishes and catch the light. After the shoot they would do the dishes (special thanks Krystyna), pack the Landcruiser and head to another site. In the heat of the afternoon a fire would be lit, and they would start preparing meals, tormented by squadrons of flies, to be ready for the late afternoon shoot.  Over a period of two weeks they cooked and shot over 100 dishes on the iron shod plains of Sturt’s Stony Desert, in the sandhills of the Simpson Desert, down on the lower Cooper and in the Flinders Ranges.

John shot Outback on a Digital Nikon D2x and a Nikon f5 film camera
Film choice was Fuji Velvia 50 asa