JULY 2020 - Visit Cairngorms welcome back film

Well it seems apt that my first few days of work since the 16th of March on “The Crown” is a promotional film called “ We miss you!! We are preparing to welcome you back” all about welcoming people back to the Cairngorms National Park, where I live:)

The film was organised by www.visitcairngorms.com and I had two days to shoot it and get round 18 businesses spread over the large park. I came up with a script giving each business one line to say from the message Visit Cairngorms had. This would allow me hopefully quicker filming at each place as I wanted some action shots with the drone also. Mark at Visit Cairngorms luckily did all the logistics and timings on a spread sheet so I could just travel round to people who knew I was coming and knew their line:) We wanted to keep the message positive with a brief mention of COVID as everyone gets plenty of the rules through the media and press to educate everyone on the best practices, and it keeps changing depending on where the country is at while fighting it.

Enjoy:)

We can't wait to share the place we are so proud to call home with you again soon. #CairngormsTogether 💜Get planning ➡️ https://www.visitcairngorms.com/ Like...

SEPTEMBER 2019 - TAG Heuer advert

Spent a few amazing days filming aerials for a TAG Heuer advert that included Astin Martins , helicopters and social media influencers. It was a superb crew to work with on this busy few days with many different activities. Filmed in Cine DNG on the DJI Inspire 2 with X7 camera. I piloted while Richard Elliot did an excellent job camera operating the drone. Mountain and Water Safety specialists were on hand doing the safety for the kayaking, walking and tyrollean too:)

A few pictures below of the days:)

JULY 2019 - Filming with Plant Life

A few days filming with Plant Life in the Cairngorms. Was super interesting meeting the different people here and learning several new plants and flowers. One of the rare ones below, the Twin Flower which the guys are helping to protect and become more spread out before it goes extinct!

Filmed with GH5 and Cosmo pocket on the ground and the Mavic 2 pro for the aerial footage:) Down to the editing bit now, although one day out with a mountain leader who hs had training from Plant Life.

The Twin Flower:)

MAY 2019: 24 Days as director of photography on a documentary

Had an amazing time travelling around Scotland for these 24 days days with Gerry Moffat making his new film, the second in a trilogy.

The film looks at coming home, connection to people, places, adventures and the wildernesses affect on people and several other themes. One theme is looking at the fact that many adventures are on your doorstep at home and Scotland shined for us with amazing weather during this month of May.

A common theme linking the film together was kayaking as Gerry is a well known kayaker so I took back to my boat to carry my camera kit into the wild for several parts of the film. We got a lot of fantastic footage and it was great to get too know Gerry better and he definitely influenced my outlook on life:)

A few pictures from the iPhone below. The film will be released next year after they have shot in America and the Kingdom of Bhutan. Fantastically I shall be travelling to Bhutan to be the DOP there too:) Can’t wait!

MARCH 2019 - ITV filming about the wilderness link to mental health

Great day out filming for ‘This Morning’ ITV with Simon (ex Blue Peter presenter) and Will Thomas the director and Ross the sound man:) We filmed in Glen Tilt part of Atholl Estates with several Teenagers. Super interesting hearing everyones stories.

SEPTEMBER 2018 - Salmon fishing film

It was great to film some fly fishing on the River Tay and spend some time with the Gillies and fishermen. Filming from the air here was great and the drone always works well with the fly cast.

The film will be up soon on the website: https://www.salmon-fishing-scotland.com

Great review from Jock Monteith who runs the company:

“Having vast experience of some of Scotland's brilliant TV producers on the riverbanks of Scotland it was a true breath of fresh air to gain the professional eye and experience of Kirk Watson who is indeed a 'true' master of drone flight and has 'real' flair for creating true masterpieces at a reasonable cost. Any of my future salmon river filming requirements will be directed only to him and I cannot recommend Kirk highly enough.”

SEPTEMBER 2018 - Mink Camper Advert

I spent a few Days with Steven and Lisa who run Mink Camper Scotland. We had a brilliant time travelling about the west coast of Scotland in these cool little campers. The job was to get a large variety of landscapes and different situations for the campers to be in over a few days and obviously make it all look beautiful and interesting:) We involved, kayaks, mountain bikes, beaches, mountains, bridges, swimming, ferries…….The film will be out later in the year and some short clips for instagram too.

A few clips from the film above:) The Ferry Captain, Q, said personally he hated drones. But my drone and my paperwork and flight planning which took into account, licence, insurance, RAF, Sea Eagles, power lines, buildings, boats, airports etc made him love mine. Always good to change folks opinions on these craft.