Franck Gazzola
Get ready to be blown away by the incredible images and insight of International Adventure & Documentary Photographer Franck Gazzola.
This presentation is visually stunning and captivating.
Franck will take you on an incredible journey from his life in a corporate suit to his life in a wetsuit.
Franck has explored under the polar ice, lived for 4 days and 3 nights on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean in a tiny underwater habitat, sailed the Northwest passage in the Arctic in a small expedition schooner and documented our fast-changing environment and its impact with some of the world’s most renowned scientists in very remote locations.
Franck gives a transparent insight on ‘’how he got there’’. Opportunistic mind, curiosity, hard work, passion, and determination have all contributed to shape his life.
But Franck will tell you, he is no super-hero, he is an ordinary guy who does extraordinary things. He is very relatable.
Franck won’t preach to you, he won’t lay out the rules, he’ll just give you an honest view of how he achieved his dream life, how he broke the shackles to show that change is possible.
Keynote Topics
Change management / Being brave is not what you think
For Franck Gazzola, the only constant is change. He has gone through many changes, some radical ones more than once, some more subtle. Over the years his willingness and ability to change became a skill. Whether it is to reach a long shot inspirational goal, to learn to new ways of working, adjust to a new team or adapt to new processes, Franck Gazzola will take you through several pivotal changes that allowed him to travel the world and document some of the most extreme projects. Whilst taking the audience on a visual journey with some breathtaking images from his different expeditions in the most remote places on Earth, Franck will share stories and anecdotes, as well as reflect on his decision-making tools and the often-ignored various support mechanisms that can support us through changes.
Risk Management / Take risks to exist, manage risks to survive
Through breathtaking images taken during his missions around the world in some of the most extreme and remote environments, Franck Gazzola will give his take on his approach of risk-taking and more importantly risk-management. Through his experience and personal story, he will help reconcile ‘’risk’’ with ‘’reason’’. He will explain the actual type of risks he is exposed to and how teamwork, training, and processes help mitigate unfavourable prospects. Franck Gazzola will also talk you through some exceptionally threatening situations he has been involved in, including a shark bite 80M under the surface, and will talk through the methods and tools that allow him to work with on-going risks. Whether you are a risk-owner or a risk-taker in your own working environment, what Franck Gazzola will cover will be applicable to most industries or to our private life too.
Teamwork / Live together not die alone
Franck Gazzola has worked on some incredibly difficult or harsh environments and participated in highly technical project like living underwater for several days in a light portable habitat. Whether it’s sailing the infamous Northwest Passage on a 60ft schooner and diving along the way, sleeping in the bottom of the ocean or ice-climbing in Nepal, none of this work would have been possible working alone. In such conditions, where any small issue can become a life-or-death ordeal, teams are a lifeline to safety. Of course, it is not always as extreme and Franck Gazzola will paint the picture of what teamwork actually means in a context of pioneering expeditions, when something has never been done, often in remote and isolated locations. Whether the team is about managing safety, bringing different sets of skills to the table, managing complex logistics or simply bringing social comfort and laughs, Franck Gazzola will depict how working in expeditions can help break down the silos that often get in the way of good communication and excellence in execution. In his world, colleagues and acquittance mostly become friends for life, living with such intensity that no team-building event is ever needed, and growing a common sense of pride on what has been achieved. However, teams are a make-or-break in such a high-pressure/high-risk environment, requiring strong visionary leadership and an acute recruitment instinct. Franck Gazzola will cover all the aspects of the teamwork he has witnessed over the years working on remote expeditions and how it compares to his 15 years working in a Corporate environment.
Who is Franck Gazzola?
Franck Gazzola used to wear a suit & a tie in the corporate environment but after 15 years he left this life behind to become an Adventure & Documentary Photographer and filmmaker, working on some of the most remote and hostile environments.
Franck was born in France and has an International Business Masters’ degree. His corporate career started in New York, but Germany and Amsterdam followed before being head-hunted to Australia, where he always wanted to live.
It was in Sydney in 2011, a fortunate series of events involving famous explorer Jacques Cousteau led him to make a Cchange in his life: he left the corporate life to become a Documentary Photographer, specialising in ocean exploration and extreme adventures, starting this new chapter by joining “UNDER THE POLE”, a pioneer expedition specialising in deep-ocean scientific exploration. But Franck will tell you that he is no super-hero, he is an ordinary guy who does extraordinary things.
Franck Gazzola has won multiple Awards for his photography work and is regularly published by some of the most prestigious international media (National Geographic, GEO, Red Bulletin, etc.).
He also works today as a documentary filmmaker for some major TV channels internationally. His first book, called ’‘BETWEEN TWO WORLDS’’ (cowritten with the Under The Pole founders) was published in 2021.
