A focus on the bizarre and beautiful

Merging Arts and Science has paid off in a spectacular fashion for Fraser Johnston.

Ghost fungi, glow worms, luminous oceans and rarely seen animals from the inky depths – these are not organisms you can see in a zoo!

So begins Tasmania-based Fraser Johnston’s teaser for his science-communication production company, Spectral. Bringing rarely seen sides of nature to light has earned Johnston (BSc 2013, BA Hons 2014) an Emmy Award nomination for his work on David Attenborough’s Life that Glows.

Working in Attenborough documentaries was a dream come true for the Arts-Science graduate who specialises in conveying natural history, science and adventure.

Using his understanding of the natural world and his love of exploring little-known extraordinary places, Fraser’s work has taken him to Australia’s deepest caves, to the Torres Strait, and on the RV Investigator surveying seamounts around Tasmania. A highlight was the seamount research conducted through the Marine Biodiversity Hub, he said.

Deep-sea life forms photographed by Fraser Johnston during research of Tasmania’s seamounts. “To see all the weird creatures pulled up from the depths, and to see the researchers’ excitement. Normally they would only see such animals in specimen jars, but here they were in the flesh, from 1000 metres deep,” Fraser said.

It’s not the regular, market-driven fluffy animals or predator scenes that fascinate Fraser as much as “anything weird or a bit removed from humans”. Things that glow in the dark, like glow worms, which he describes as looking like aliens, adding, “There’s nothing like them.”

And then there was the unique access provided to Tasmania’s Junee Florentine cave system, which boasts Australia’s deepest caves, and the experience working with a group of cavers who broke Australia’s cave depth record in 2019. The four-day expedition near Mount Field National Park set a new depth record of 395 metres.

“It was a privilege to be part of the team,” Fraser said. “Documenting their achievement was a career and life highlight.”

He said similar unique and privileged access is afforded when he accompanies researchers on field trips, whether diving for Reef Life Survey off Rottnest Island in Western Australia or working on the Netflix program Night on Earth filming bioluminescent fungi. Good friends come from such opportunities. While studying at the University of Tasmania, Fraser did work experience with film producer Nick Hayward, who recently co-produced Quoll Farm. The opportunity ended up in a friendship and a new project together.

“It’s a case of work and life blending together,” he said.

Fraser studied a combination of Arts (journalism) and Science at university, a marriage he finds useful in describing the natural world.

“Arts is about communication and science provides a nice framework to write about the natural world,” he said.

“I get to work with amazing people who are doing really cool research. I have to pinch myself about the places I’m able to access with researchers who have spent years building up to that moment.

“I hope that by presenting fascinating research in an understandable way to an audience who usually wouldn’t read scientific literature will help increase the public’s understanding and engagement in science.”

Katherine Johnson

Fraser Johnston in the field. Photo: Rob Blakers