New South Wales has over 800 national parks and reserves, offering a diverse range of natural wonders from World Heritage-listed sites to beautiful beaches, subtropical rainforests to Australia's highest mountain in the alps. These protected areas play a critical role in conserving biodiversity, as well as natural and cultural heritage. The diversity of these natural and cultural environments provides endless opportunity for filmmakers and photographers to New South Wales.
NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) encourages visitors to NSW national parks and reserves to photograph or film their experience. If you intend to take photographs or film for commercial purposes, you are required to get permission from NPWS before the photography or filming activity.
Filming or photography activity is taking any photographs, video/digital footage, or motion film for the purposes of sale, hire or profit.
When considering applications to film, we consider:
- environmental impacts the filming may have
- the benefits the filming may bring to parks, the public and New South Wales in general
- the park values, visitor amenity and cultural values.
We keep a public register of filming approvals.
Types of filming and photography approval applications
NPWS offers 3 types of filming and photography approval applications for commercial filming and photography:
- Small-scale filming and photography by a professional photographer or videographer for –
- weddings or family portraits
- commercial use and resale to photographic libraries
- location scouting.
- Commercial filming and photography for –
- production films, television network or streaming service productions, documentaries, educational films and government-sponsored filming
- advertising
- private events by a professional photographer or videographer
- magazines, postcards, commercial websites, promotional material, books and advertisements.
- Travel and lifestyle filming and photography for –
- travel programs
- tourism promotion.