"Chasing the Sun" is Australia's theme for this year's World Expo in Japan, and Chris Tangey's aerial photography reflects just that. The Alice Springs filmmaker's sweeping, majestic landscapes entice visitors to experience Australia's stunning natural environment from a bird's eye view. World Expo 2025 — which opens on Sunday Australian time in Osaka — carries the theme "designing future society for our lives" and is centred on designing a sustainable society. Tangey's nine short films will be screening daily on 12-metre by 6-metre screens, setting the Australia Pavilion experience for the millions expected to pass through the doors over its six-month tenancy. Among those films sits Tangey's proudest work so far, titled Living in Australia. "It's the first wildlife film in the world that I know of that's shot entirely by drone and even though it's only four-and-a-half minutes long, it was very challenging," he said. "It makes you a little bit humble trying to work with wildlife and being respectful of the approach you take to it." Tangey said a drone brought out different reactions from wildlife. In 2021 a drone was eaten by a crocodile while filming in Darwin and Eagles have also been known to try to attack them. "It is cerebral and it's also arty," Tangey said. "[You] have to use both sides of the brain at the same time, and we call it shooting with both eyes open, so you've actually got one eye on the screen and one eye on the drone." Reinventing yourself in Alice Springs So how does a kid from a small farm go from being a drivetime announcer in Melbourne to one of the most sought-after drone cinematographers in the world? By moving to Alice Springs. "I got into cameras and out of radio because of Alice, Alice is a great place to reinvent yourself," Tangey said. In his past 15 years in Alice Springs, Tangey has won more than 50 international and Australian awards for his cinematography in numerous films, his biggest shoot featuring in the foyer at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. His love for the outback makes it easy to keep on top of his game in remote central Australia. "Whether you realise it or not, you eventually get a passion for the Northern Territory," he said. "You get a passion for the colours, you get a passion for the light, I didn't know anything about light until I got here." Tangey is now the go-to guy for drone cinematography but he remains grounded. "You're only as good as your last gig," he said. And if the World Expo is anything to go on, his street cred is safe.