WILDLIFE

As is the world of high end wildlife documentary productions, my work is often only shareable several years in arrears.

For the last couple of years I’ve been working mostly as the in-house cinematographer on one of the newest BBC Landmark Productions “Frozen Planet II”. Whilst this has taken me to Antarctica, the wild east of Russia, and high in the Canadian Arctic tundra amongst many other wild, beautiful and frozen places, it’ll be late 2022 at the earliest until I can share anything of my most recent work.

Until then, here are some ‘Case Studies’ from a few of the sequences & programmes I’ve worked on from BBC’s “Seven Worlds, One Planet“, to Apple TV+’s “Earth at Night in Colour”.

(Full extensive credits list available on request)

Sequence One : “Grey Headed Albatross”

seen in Episode 01 “Antarctica” (Director: Fredi Devas)

Seven days hard sailing across one of the roughest oceans on the planet takes a team of 6 of us boat & film crew to Bird Island, a part of the wild and inaccessible group of Islands that make up “South Georgia”. Seeing it rise out of the mist after such an intense journey is something absolutely unforgettable, and the place and my time there shooting for this sequence is far beyond what I could hope to summarise here, so I’ll keep it to the work…

Director: Abi Lees | D.O.P: John Aitchison | Second Camera, Gimbal, Aerial: Olly Jelley | AC: Erin Ranney.

During our 7 week long shoot, we worked to tell the tale of the beautiful Grey Headed Albatross and their struggle against both direct and indirect human impact. From parents lost to long line fishing boats, to weak chicks being blown off their nests by the increasingly extreme weather that circumnavigates the Antarctic Continent triggered by the rise in global temperatures, the population is being decimated.

I was in charge primarily of shooting the gimbal work & aerials, working against strong winds and terrible weather it was a challenge, but with enough time we found the weather windows to make it work. I also assisted as second long lens for a large part, and shot a sync film with John Aitchison for BBC Digital, which I’ve embedded just below.

For the full sequence, please go and watch the episode on Iplayer, it’s currently available until the end of 2021 : CLICK HERE

Below is a small gallery of photos from the shoot.

[ Prints Available ]

Sequence Two : “Fireflies”

seen in Episode 06 : “North America” (Director: Chadden Hunter)

Somewhere in the herb rich meadows of southern Ohio in the United States lies one of the best spots in the world for a variety of species of firefly. I was lucky enough to head there with Director Sarah Whalley, and Macro cinematographer of legend Alastair MacEwen.

We spent a month living in a proper back-country cabin in the woods, dodging Copperhead Snakes and tic infestations in the long grass, to have our minds blown night after night by the incredible world of Fireflies.

Our goal on this shoot was to film a story to continue the tale from the Synchronous Fireflies filmed a few months prior to our trip.

Alastair built a small studio on location and would work tirelessly learning and recording the complex flash patterns of fireflies looking for love, and the plans of spiders looking for a meal. My role on this was largely when we headed to the field each evening. Using A7sII low-light cameras and fast cine lenses (along with a few special bits of kit from Alastair’s box of tricks), we spent the twilight hours intensively hunting for spiders weaving webs at the perfect place to catch the fireflies unawares, whilst trying not to get distracted by the light show going on around us.

A huge part of this shoot as well was to film a real ‘never seen before’ behaviour of some unbelievable kleptoparasitism, which against ALL the odds we did indeed, but alas we filmed the rest of the story too well and there wasn’t space in the final programme! A rarity in natural history, and what an outcome… but who knows, it might well show up soon in some kind of a plant themed programme?

Sadly, I don’t have many stills from this shoot as our filming window was SO narrow each day, but below are a few from the meadows. And CLICK HERE for a link to the full sequence in the North America Episode of Seven Worlds, One Planet (around 15mins in, but watch it all!).

Sequence Three : “Polar Bears & Beluga Whales”

seen in Episode 06 : “North America” (Director: Chadden Hunter)

If you’ve never been caught in a lightning storm out on the water in Hudson Bay, on a metal boat, with a camera jib sticking out the top, I can highly highly recommend against it.

This was my first shoot for Seven Worlds (thanks Chadden, forever owe you a beer), 6 weeks out at Seal River lodge just outside Churchill, Canada, to film the last 15mins of the entire series. I arrived a short way into the shoot to join the team and assist alongside shooting the ‘Making Of’ for the North America episode.

I worked alongside John Shier & Bertie Gregory, assisting with GSS & Drone duties, and shooting some long lens whilst we were working on the shoreline. As well as trying to film a brand new behaviour with no previous experience to draw upon in terms of finding and predicting when and where it might happen, we had to deal with some insane tides, and horribly unpredictable weather to boot. Lightning storms would roll out of nowhere in the afternoon haze, and the shallow and rocky shoreline of the Hudson bay got us stranded, miles and miles from the lodge, several times (the panic you can see in the “Making Of” is very real.). There’s no walking home if you get stuck here, the willows were hiding countless hungry polar bears, and as we saw, they knew how to hunt much more difficult prey than us.

You can watch the Sequence and the “Making Of” HERE

APPLE TV+ / Offspring Films

“EARTH AT NIGHT IN COLOUR”

I headed out to the Southern Pantanal in Brazil, with Director Joe Stevens, and D.O.P Mark Payne-Gill, on one of the first shoots for this brand new series for Apple TV plus / Offspring Films in order to film what Jaguars get up to at night.

Whilst studio camera tests etc had been done long before, it was a baptism of fire for a lot of our equipment as we headed out to attempt to film these huge but elusive cats for 6 weeks of some of the hottest, most mozzie infested nights I’ve ever come across. Full spectrum Infrared cameras, HUGE low light long lenses, night time drones and everything else vs the 40c heat (even at 2am) and 100% humidity.

My role supporting Mark Payne-Gill was as Second Operator, and also all things grip/tech. I designed and built some custom lighting grip to go onto a second vehicle so that we could balance the moonlight just perfectly when needed, as well as dismantling a 4x4 to install a full door mount, and mount for our Ronin 2 in one system. This way both Mark and I could operate, covering things as well as possible during our tiny windows of shooting possibility when the moon at its brightest aligned with Jaguar behaviour.

Available to watch on Apple TV+ now

Please message me if you want to chat more about the equipment designed and used on this production.