Month: November 2026
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Wildlife Photography, Brand Marketing, and Shooting Billie Eilish’s Album Cover with William Drumm
In episode #64, host Brett Stanley talks with underwater photographer, filmmaker, and content creator William Drumm about building a career between wildlife photography and brand marketing, and the story behind shooting Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft album cover shoot. William shares how a childhood obsession with holding his breath turned into a marine biology degree, a stint as a cell biologist in Seattle, and a string of press trips that convinced him to go all in on photography.
They discuss working in Monterey Bay, shooting for PBS’s Big Pacific documentary, and moving from stills into video as the licensing math changed underneath him. William walks through how a set of whale images from Tonga led to Billie Eilish’s team reaching out, what it took to recreate the open ocean inside a Hollywood studio tank, and how that one shoot reshaped his business toward brand marketing through Drumm Media. They close out talking about AI’s growing presence in wildlife and commercial photography, and what it means for authentic work going forward.
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