Tasmanian Oyster Farming - A Day In The Life

In 2017 I was backpacking Australia and worked for a stint on an oyster farm while living on Bruny Island.

I filmed this at Cloudy Bay (aka Bad Bay) Lagoon, Bruny Island, Tasmania. Shout out to Far West Oysters (now in northern TAS) for letting me get all up in your biz with a camera.

I shot this crudely on my 5Diii with a cheap 50mm lens, sometimes sketchily freehanding while standing in the water. I still love the feel of it. Sometimes I regretted traveling with heavy gear, but I’m glad I came away with shots like this. I ended up losing most of my images from Australia in a hard drive smashing accident. This video is one of the lone survivors.

Farming is one thing, farming in the water is a whole other beast. The physical demand of lifting heavy baskets full of oysters in and out of the water to a platform above your head - day in day out, exposed to all elements year round - is incredibly difficult - and it all happens because we are obsessed with these little boogers.

I’m fascinated that this humble little sea blob evolved into a symbol of prosperity. I love that they end up served on marble countertops to folks sipping orange wine and talking terroir. I wish they knew that mere hours before they were having seaweed picked off them by a burly man in leaky waders smoking 2 cigarettes at the same time.

I came out of the experience with a deep respect and gratitude for all farmers and the work they put in to feed us. Believe it or not there’s not a lot of money in it, and most are driven by passion for what they do. So please support your local farmers and remember where your food comes from!