Built by creatives, for creatives

Find Creatives is an independent Australian network for photographers, designers and filmmakers, started by two working creatives. No commission, no bidding wars, no duds.

No commission

If you have ever tried to find work as a freelance creative online, you know the drill. You make a profile, you bid against hundreds of strangers, and the platform takes a cut of whatever you win. Find Creatives was built as the opposite of that.

It is a network of Australian creatives (photographers, designers, videographers, illustrators, writers, producers) that businesses can search by place and by skill. Hirers contact creatives directly. The platform takes no commission on the work.

Its own manifesto doesn’t hide where it stands. It describes the big global marketplaces as places that “treat freelancers like disposable commodities”, and sums up its alternative in six words: “Absolutely Australian. 100% Verified. Zero Nonsense.”

“Absolutely Australian. 100% Verified. Zero Nonsense.”

Two working creatives

What I like most about Find Creatives is who made it. It isn’t a startup that discovered creatives as a market. It was started by two people who do the work.

Ryan Baldwin is a photographer based in Byron Bay. He describes his approach as documentary, “capturing authentic stories across food, science, and adventure”, and has shot for Destination NSW, Australia Post and Grill’d, among others. He also runs a creative agency, and, if his profile is to be believed, was once a Bollywood stuntman.

Nicolás Boada is a web developer who runs the studio TALKK, building sites for creative businesses. Between them they cover the two things a platform like this needs: knowing what creatives want, and being able to build it.

No duds

The part that makes Find Creatives different from a directory is that not everyone gets in. Profiles are reviewed before they go live, and the site is blunt about why: “We only accept the best creatives. No duds.” They have even published a guide called Why Your Profile Wasn’t Approved.

For hirers, that is the point. For creatives, it means the people you are listed next to are people you would be happy to be compared with. Getting listed takes three steps.

Local, on purpose

Find Creatives only connects creatives and clients in Australia. That sounds like a limitation until you think about how a lot of creative work actually happens: on location, in a studio, across a table. Their manifesto talks about the frustration of remote-only arrangements and the value of working with people you can actually meet.

More than a directory

The journal is where the platform shows its personality. Alongside regional round-ups (photographers in the Northern Rivers, graphic designers in Melbourne, film photographers in Byron Bay), there is a piece on what creatives should actually be charging, built on Aquent’s 2025 salary data. Its line on pay is one every freelancer should read twice: “This isn’t about being greedy, it’s about being valued.”

The stated ambition goes further: education, services and real-world events for an industry where a lot of people work alone.

“This isn't about being greedy, it's about being valued.”

Why it matters

Ordinary Giants is about everyday people doing extraordinary work. Most of the people we film are independent: one-person studios, small workshops, freelancers who make a living from their craft. Platforms built by and for people like that, without taking a cut, are worth paying attention to.

If you are an Australian creative, it is worth putting your work up. If you need one, it is a good place to start looking: findcreatives.com.au.