Happy 100th Sir David.
His narration has given a voice to the natural world throughout my life, and it has been the greatest of privileges to have my work narrated by him over the years.
Filming urban Elephants in Zimbabwe was my first full sequence to be graced with his narration, and watching the sequence play out for the first time is a feeling that will live long in the memory.
#cinematography #davidattenborough #naturalhistory #wildlife #documentary
Secret Garden - airs on BBC One on Sunday 5th April
I worked mostly on the Western Highlands ep, plus a few little bits in Bristol and The Lakes - thanks to a lovely team for bringing me on, very excited to see how all that hard graft has come together! @bbc@plimsollproductions@bbciplayer@snacklessbill@_mattclements@alexdanielminton@eeeeuan@alexmgodfrey
#cinematography #documentary #britishwildlife #naturalhistory
Slow growth.
Here’s a few shots from an ongoing project with my bro @edharrison
Sowing of seeds, and watching the swallows returning - scenes like these are just a few weeks away now.
#cinematography #documentary #chasinglight #zeiss #shotonred
Over the years I have filmed in the Forest of Dean for a number of different projects, and I recently took the time to put some of these clips into one film. My aim was to convey the same peace and immersion that I feel whilst spending time there, and I hope that comes across in the film.
For a better viewing experience, the film is also up on YouTube - link in bio
#wildlifefilm #britishwildlifephotography #britishwildlife #forestofdean
It was an eventful but overall very fun trip to film the Galapagos tortoise migration for The Secret Lives of Animals, directed by @_mattclements . Though these wonderful creatures are pretty obliging when it comes to being filmed, an abundance of bitey fire ants, rolling our ankles hiking over loose boulders and a sketchy hike halfway up a volcano kept us on our toes. Here’s some frames I liked the look of from the sequence - with some sillier clips to follow. You can watch the full sequence over on AppleTv
Some of my favourite frames from filming Baboons and Nile crocs along Uganda’s Black Nile for BBC’s Mammals.
The light (as well as the temperature) got harsh very quickly, so there was a lot of dawn starts, followed by dipping into the woods to follow the Baboons hiding out in the shade.
You can view the sequence on my website or watch the full episode over on iPlayer.
Director: @lill.t.j
Frames from a recent campaign film for @wwf - Think Deeply
Full film now up on the website.
Agency: @playingfield.agency
Producer: @jakeowenmcgowan
Director: @jgrfletcher
Gaffer: @joesampson_dop
Grip: Sean Wright
Grade: @cheat_it
Orbital rig: @feralequipment
“The deep sea is a realm of wonder and mystery.
But climate change, overfishing, and plastic pollution wreak havoc on our ocean. And now, this mesmerising underwater world is facing another threat: #DeepSeaMining.
Together, we can stop this threat before it’s too late.”
BBC Mammals | Episode 3 - Water
We spent 5 weeks out in the coastal waters of Western Australia for the Orcas and Humpback sequence. Elusive Orca mixed with some hefty swell meant that we had pretty limited time shooting with the whales on the GSS vessel, but with a predation behaviour as brutal as that, I’m quite glad it was over quickly.
Shot on the @gyrostabilizedsystems mini rigged to an excellent @terrafirmaoffshore vessel, with the supreme jib operating skills of @jake_parker_imagery and an excellent wider team. Shoot directed by ma boi @kylemswann
BBC Mammals | Episode 3 - Water
Some frames our shoot following the coastal Coyotes of Baja California Sur.
Very little is known about this particular Coyote population, but with over a month in the field we were able to uncover how these ingenious mammals make a living - mainly by hunting seagulls and munching on rotting whale carcasses.
Long lens work with the @reddigitalcinema Helium 8k + Canon CN20, with a bit of drone using the Mavic 3 pro.
Thanks to the excellent team of @jo_haley88@moralcoral@hectorskevingtonpostles@erick.higuera - and to @daniel_raz_rasmussen for getting me involved.
BBC Mammals | Episode 2 - The New Wild
African Bush Elephants need space to move, food to eat and water to drink, so when a town popped up on their historic migration route filled with tasty plants, the Elephants didn’t pass up the opportunity.
Myself, @howisharry and @ollie.grainger spent 3 weeks following these sneaky giants as they headed into town each night. Rigging a stabilised low light camera to our Land Cruiser we saw how the Eles are making the most of their world being rapidly altered by humans.
I’m pretty happy with how the sequence came out, but the Daily Mail decided that the rushes were so unbelievable that they were fake - which I’m going to take as a compliment 🤣
BBC Mammals | Episode 1 - Dark
Small, nocturnal, timid, fast. Four adjectives that sum up the inaccurately named Large Hairy Armadillo, and capturing their “antics” on camera was tasked to to myself and @jo_charlesworth , directed by @tomparry93 & Stu Armstrong, with the help of scientist @esoibel .
The sequence was shot over 3 weeks on a cattle ranch in the pampas region of Argentina, and using an infrared-modded low light camera with fast lenses, I used moonlight to follow their behaviour. As the moonlight faded I switched to artificial lighting at a distance, simulating the moonlight without disturbing the animals.
About 2 weeks of sitting in a field filming basically nothing ensued, but persistence eventually paid off, and we got what I think is set to be a pretty memorable sequence.
Watch the whole episode from 7pm BBC One 31/03/24
Cutting about in South Africa trying to film a pretty much unfilmable subject on my last shoot of 2022. Wicked crew and lovely locations made up for a tricky species though!
