AUGUST 2020 - ITV 'This Morning' with Nigel Havers

Had a few days with Nigel Havers from ‘Chariots of fire’ as we filmed in Edinburgh and St Andrews for a few days. We even gave a wee visit to the Chariots of Fire beach. It was good banter with Nigel and Phoebe (The director/producer). Lots of good stories from Nigel.

I was doing the main camera, sound and drone. Had to fly in a military zone which is always different as need to unlock your drone, get a police incident number and get permission from the RAF and let their air traffic control know when you are flying and when you’re finished:)

Phoebe, Nigel and myself on West Beach St Andrews.

JULY 2020 - ITV 'This Morning' Caledonian Canal

Great week working on the Caledonian Canal. My first ITV job since lockdown so great to be back out there. What a fun crew too, all new to me.

Josie Gibson was the presenter with a great West Country accent, she was great fun. Sam Palmano as the producer/writer who was also great and laughed and looked like Mike Myers:)

Then we had Brian driving the boat and Rachel from Le Boat who were also awesome and great fun. So all and all a great trip. I shot with the GH5 and the Magic drone. Always fun flying from the boat:)

APRIL 2020 - The Great Mountain Sheep Gather

Tonight at 7pm on BBC 4, Easter Monday. Well there has been no filming or work for 5 weeks now due to the Virus for me. But tonight I have some footage on TV at least. 100 minutes of filming of sheep being gathered in from Englands highest peak. This was an awesome job to be involved in. Perfect for me being a mountain instructor and a drone pilot. 6 drone crews were involved which was what made it so special for me working with so many people and learning bits from everyone at some point.

Normally filming as a drone pilot you are looking for a 10-15 second long shots. But the format of this show by Windfall Films is known as slow television and tries to film things real time with no presenter etc. So we were asked to get as long a shot as possible for each shot. That doesn’t mean hold the same framing for ages. It meant getting a shot framed and filmed and in a nice way move into a re-framing and new shot then do this again and again as long as you can without messing up your framing or flying hahaha. I was using the DJI Inspire 2 with X7 camera on wide angle, solo operator. We all got long shots but I was lucky and got the longest shot of the program that made the cut with 7mins 30seconds in there:)

Can’t wait to do some more jobs like this in the future.

The Shepherd Andrew and a helper and the all important dogs. 4:30am walking up the hill. Man he walks fast even when rolling a cigarette!

MARCH 2020 - Plantlife Scotland film

Had a great time in the summer filming this film for Plantlife Scotland about the plants in the Cairngorms and especially the endangered ones. I love the fact with filmmaking you keep meeting knew people and learning lots about new things. As a Mountain Instructor I know a fair bit about the mountain plants but I learned so much more out with these guys:)

Filmed over three days with my ground cameras, steady cam and drone and then added too with my aerial archive and a few wildlife shots from Beluga Lagoon Films and also some music from Beluga Lagoon Band:)

JANUARY 2020 - New drone showreel for the start of the year:)

Been a while since I have done a little showreel, as last year was so busy I never got time. But as it’s January I have a bit of time.

So here is a selection of aerial filming from jobs this past year in Scotland:) With Ocean Swift the self built catamaran at the start into kayaking, Kelpies, Springwatch, fly fishing, surf kayaking championships, Cairngorms trees, Devils Pulpit, steam train, Astin Martin, helicopters, VW camper, Cawdor Castle, maze, Kenmore and Beluga Lagoon team in Doug's boat.
Filmed with the DJI Inspire 2 with X7 Camera and the DJI Mavic 2 pro.
Enjoy watching:)

JANUARY 2020 - Thunderdragon kickstarter project hits goal

Gerry and Pia Moffat of the Thunderdragon fund who I worked for in Scotland, Nepal and Bhutan last year started a fundraiser for the 11th step film and it hit its target of $25000 plus a few extra thousand which is great. Now the project and hundreds of hours of footage from myself and a few other DOP’s (Ben Figueiredo and Tyler Allyn) will go into post production to produce a finished film for around easter time, where it has its opening night at a festival near New York.

To follow how the film is going goto: https://thunderdragonfund.org

Trailer for the upcoming film is below, with music from Beluga Lagoon:)

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:)

SEPTEMBER 2019 - Two weeks filming with NHK Japan for an 8K drone show on Scotland

Spent a few weeks travelling all around Scotland for an NHK Japan (like a Japanese BBC). This was all shot on Cine DNG RAW 6K and will be ramped up to 8K for Japan’s 8K channel. The program was shot entirely by drone.

It was a great tour of history of Scotland and a great bunch of people to work with. We flew in remote parts of Scotland (Skye, Orkney, Cairngorms) and right in city centres and also inside buildings. Amazingly for September we filmed in 40 locations and got all our shots!! Unheard of in my experience with Scottish weather especially when lots of sites were programmed in for certain days and could not be changed. Often filming at Historic sites before visitors arrived or after they were closed.

We shot with the DJI Inspire 2 with X7 camera with Jordan summers camera operating for me and Takashi on focus pulling (Takashi is a world expert on 8k shooting and has been to the BBC HQ to teach people how to work with 8K formats). It was great to have him there and did an amazing job of keeping things in focus. Riwa was our director, Junku the producer and Cosmo the Sound man.

There were some real money shots from this program with amazing light early morning and late evening. A few pics from the shoot below.

AUGUST 2019 - Filming Whisky and Distilleries for WOW Scotland

A tour of some of Scotland distilleries on a tasting tour. Fun day out filming and got to see a barrel of whisky worth £1.2m! It was only a third full as the rest had evaporated! Also got to visit a cooperage where they make whisky barrels. My grandad did this all his life so it was pretty interesting to see. They fairly graft!

The 1953 barrel is worth £1.2m and is only a third full as the rest evaporated:)

AUGUST 2019 - Aerial filming Cawdor Castle for WOW Scotland

Had a great day at Cawdor Castle getting some aerial filming and ground shots of the Castle for Gordon of WOW Scotland. A beautiful Castle near Nairn in Scotland.

AUGUST 2019 - Aerial filming for Bearsden band documentary of their tour through Scotland

Fun time on this with director Michael and DOP Sam and myself on the DJI Inspire 2 with X7 camera shooting for this documentary/music video. Bit of filming with the band in the morning then with their landrover later. Weather played ball for us which was great:) A few screen grabs below.

The band walking over Feshie Bridge

AUGUST 2019 - Drone work tonight on BBC 1

Tonight at 7.30pm some of my drone work from filming on the Isle of Bute with the Syrian refugees will be on.

This was a great shoot to a new Island for me and with a great bunch of people including Ali who I filmed the most of. We also ate in Helmi’s for a lunch a brilliant Bakery/cafe run by one of the Syrian families, well worth a visit if you are there:)

The filming was organised by Caledonia TV in Glasgow who I have done quite a bit of drone work for over the years:)

Myself and Ali on Bute

AUGUST 2019 - British Kayak Surf Champs film online

A few days ago Glenmore Lodge released the Surf Champs 2018 film. This was a great fun day up in Thurso on the North Coast of Scotland filming teenagers to folk in their fifties surf Kayaking. Great atmosphere and fun to watch and to film. Pretty fun drone flying too. Trying to get close but not get wave spray on my drones:) I used my DJI Inspire 2 with X7 Camera and the Mavic 2 pro. And used all of the combined 27 batteries haha.

All the action from the 2018 Surf Kayaking British Championships

AUGUST 2019 - Surf Champs teaser on youtube

Little teaser film I made for the British Kayak Surf champs for Glenmore Lodge and the British Kayak Surf association. I think the full film will be out next week or so:) This was a lot of fun with the drone. I flew every battery on two drones to empty haha. Thats 27 batteries:)

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:)

JULY 2019 - Ground filming and aerial filming with Beluga lagoon always fun

Spent five days with Andrew and Mark from Beluga Lagoon films on the North coast of Scotland as they cycled from Jon O’Groats to Cape Wrath on a tandem bicycle.

It was a week of mixed weather and a variety of landscapes and fun from lots of fog to sunshine, broken chains, dinner in a cave, boat trips, camping wild and swimming in the North Atlantic:)

To break up the cycling a bit we got into my mate Dougs boat and went out to see the North Coast as seen from the sea and get a look at the massive rugged cliffs out there.

A few pics from the week below:) It will appear on BBC iplayer later in the year as one of three adventures with this pair. Check out Beluga Lagoon on facebook to see other films by Andrew:)

The team on Doug’s Boat

The wide shot of the team on the boat flying in towards the shot below for some tight flying:)

Then through the arch:)

JUNE 2019 - Some of my Antarctic aerial filming in Godzilla:)

Some of my Antarctic aerial filming got into the newest Godzilla film. Brilliant to be a drone pilot for part of a big blockbuster with so much history. One of the clips shown below which appears in the film has a mountain ridge in the foreground which is aptly called Reptile ridge:)

JUNE 2019 - Aerial Filming for Rolls Royce advert in Scotland

So spent a few days with the DJI Inspire 2 filming on a Rolls Royce advert which was fun. Got to ride in my first Rolls Royce, very comfortable. Slightly beyond my price range haha.

We did a lot of dual operator during these days with Sammy the DOP doing my Camera Operating as he is also a drone pilot and obviously knows a bit about cameras. Dual op is often required once we start using the longer lenses and especially following fast cars.

We had to change locations several times to avoid the rain so it was great using some local knowledge and contacts to figure out the best spots. I did a bit of Camera assisting in-between drone flying to help out setting up camera kit, lights and focus pulling:)

Great fun few days and a super switched on crew from SWR Media Magazines Ltd, which was great:)

JUNE 2019: Aerial filming for Horror film

A great although rather damp filming day for a horror film based in Aberdeenshire. most of the crew are from Aberdeen and America. Was great fun and we managed to get the shots in even though it rained a lot, I suppose it will look atmospheric for a horror film though:)

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!