AUGUST 2023 - Aerial filming in the Swiss Alps for GCN

This was a pretty fun yet crazy filming job making this documentary. Fun because we were in the Swiss alps and with a great team of people. Stefan as director and first camera, Oli racing his bike, Steve driving the van, James riding the motorbike and myself doing the aerial filming.

The crazy bit was we did a 37 hr shift on day one of the race filming, and driving for Steve then we got about 3 hrs sleep the next night and 3 hrs the following night. (James stuck to his legally insured 10hrs a day driving:) So there really should have been two crews covering this! But GCN does like getting free overtime out of everyone lol! But we just got on with it in a very happy way as we were there and needed to film it and support Oli and everyone. Hopefully it all looks good when it comes out tomorrow on the GCN channel:)

I also got to see the North Face of the Eiger which I’d always wanted to do and Oli got an amazing position in the race for it being his first Ultra race.

The race was the Tour Des Stations 1000 Ultimate. Meaning 40 racers would do 1000 km and climb 26000m in the race! Oil did it in 72 hrs which is incredible! Need to watch it to see how he did:) A few pics of the lovely Swiss alps below.

Some hairpins

The hotel from Goldfinger

The North Face of the Eiger

JUNE 2023 - Myself as a drone pilot in the papers for advertising the new National Geographic series 'Europe from Above'

Appeared in a few papers over the weekend to advertise the National Geographic series called Europe from above. I shot a few of the UK parts of it mainly in Scotland with Barra airport, Up Hella Ya in Shetland, an Archeological dig on Holy Island where a few. Great to be involved in this and the second series for me. Below arte a few paper articles and seemingly it ran in around 100 regional papers too. Nice phot of me in the Sun lol.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/22629778/brits-never-heard-traditional-events/

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12178487/UKs-ancient-traditions-leave-modern-day-Brits-baffled.html

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/uk-news/top-unknown-traditional-uk-events-30193275

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/top-unknown-traditional-uk-events-30193038

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1779034/top-traditional-uk-events-competitions-cheese-rolling

Me and my Inspire 2 drone with the X7 camera that I use to shoot the series.

MAY 2023 - Filming with drone and camera in Argyll at the Taynish National Nature Reserve

Fun day filming with Ian Dow. Perfect sunny day filming for Tiny Ark a Dublin based film company who I last filmed several years ago for. The weather was lovely and sunny and had no idea these big Oak (plus many other trees) rain forest exists. They have a proper canopy and ferns growing out of the oak branches like you see in botanical gardens lol.

Had a bunch of large Landscape shots to show the position of the forest in relation to the surrounding mountains and Sea. Then got creative with far more fun shots flying under the canopy through the trees in lovely slow cinematic shots through this cool habitat.

Then we did an interview with Ian with our first midges of the year biting us as we stood still for 30mins. Then a bunch of Close up shots and slo-mo with the GH6 ground camera. A good day exploring and being creative with the forest.

Definitely worth a visit: https://www.nature.scot/enjoying-outdoors/visit-our-nature-reserves/taynish-national-nature-reserve

The canopy from above

Screen grab of forest

MAY 2023 - Australia camera and drone filming with ITV 'This Morning'.

What an awesome trip to be lucky enough to be asked to go on. A long trip for work but very worth it. I sorted an online drone licence to use my Mini 3 Pro drone and bought a second one so I had a backup for the trip.

We did a lot on this trip with John Torode doing activities and cooks at different spots in Western Australia. John is a superb presenter to work with on these programs and he had just done two weeks filming with his wife before we arrived.

Our team was Will Thomas directing and using one of my cameras on cooks wor interviews when required. Nigel Francis a brilliant fun sound was doing the sound. Alice was producing the food side of things and Jonah (Johns son) was along to help out. Malta from Western Australia was sorting locations etc on the way. We all got on very well which makes these busy trips so much easier:)

There are many highlights from the trip and the locations and the short films we make will all be very different. Here are a few pics to give you a flavour of what we got up too. The videos will be out in September on ITV This Morning:)

The whale sharks we filmed. Pic by Ash who was doing our underwater filming:)

A cook on a boat a first for me:)

March 2023 - Aerial filming on Beluga Lagoon feature

Back with the Beluga Lagoon team to film on their feature for the last bit. Again another great week working with this team:)

FEBRUARY 2023 - Camera operator and Drone for BBC Education in Edinburgh and Borders.

A few days making four films for BBC Education geography lessons:) Just me on my own following a shot list and script for plate shots for animations. A fun few days fitting things in-between the weather.

January 2023 - Camera and drone operator Aberdeen and Ballater for ITV 'This Morning' crime segment.

Did an interview with a murder detective and GV’s for this in December in Aberdeen city but today we were out in Ballater to film some more pieces and interview around the village. Pretty chilly day but nice sunshine and an interesting days but some gruesome facts and scary what humans can be like.

Isla was presenting this piece and Dom directing and using my second camera. With myself on ground camera drone and sound.

Ballater from the Air

My setup for the interview with the detective and Isla.

January 2023 - Camera and drone operator in Sardinia with Gino for ITV This Morning

Always great to head to Sardinia to shoot with the ever very funny Gino and the great ITV ‘This Morning’ crew. I was doing camera and drone here and Ashley Gadd from fresh audio was doing sound, Harry Bott was directing and Julia Alger was managing the food side of things for Gino.

Surprisingly for this time of year we only had one indoor cook and the rest was pretty sunny for January and we had a great time touring round different areas in the inner part of Sardinia. Mainly within 30mins oil Gino’s house.

Gino kept us entertained and ever professional and quick at what he does.

SEPTEMBER 2022 - Director of Photography and Aerial Filming in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales

Green Space Dark Skies Light Art Project all over the UK

So for this whole month I was on this project with my good friend Rupert Shanks. Rupert was directing and I was Director of Photography for the month. I mainly filmed with the Inspire 2 during each shoot alongside Phil and Tom of Pivotal films from Northern Ireland. We then had a variety of camera folk. Fred, Mike Webster, and good mate Andrew O’Donnell. Then Jason, Olly and Amy from production done by CC-Lab who were great to work with.

This light show was a concept by John and Mark to make an art installation on the highest peak in each country in the UK. A pretty hard thing to do mainly thinking of the weather on these peaks and whether you could actually film it. Also if volunteers will be keen. But all worked out amazingly. We had a few exciting days with weather but got there in the end.

The first shoot on Scafell Rupert was on another job so I had to fill in directing. This was fun as none of us new each other and was the first time filming together and figuring out how the light team and camera team can all work together. And a few plans changed at the last minute and a camera team looking at you for what we should do different. Was quite a bit of adrenaline but all worked out well and got some great shots with the 550 people on the mountain!

The finished film below which aired on Countryfile and has been seen by 5.5m people at time of writing this. Opening shot is mine:) Plus the sunrise shots on the thumbnail and at the end:)

MARCH 2022 - Aerial filming in the Highlands at Creag Meagaidh

Today we were filming Guy Robertson soloing a few different ice climbs on Creag Meagaidh for an Alastair Lee climbing film. Was a good day out and some good exercise for the day as had to carry all the kit to the top to start:)

AUGUST 2021 - DECEMBER 2021 lots of work

So these months just got so busy I just couldn’t fill in my blog or take on anymore work. Which was great. This year became my busiest year yet even though it started slow after covid lockdowns. I think winning a BAFTA for Aerial Cinematography under factual Photography was the reason for this.

As I’ve been busy this year too I’ve decided just to skip the rest of 2021 and try and catch up with 2022 lol.

Heres a few pics from some jobs:)

Glasgow University standing tall:)

AUGUST 2021 - Aerial filming in Fort William for BBC 2 'Inside the Factory'

A day filming the Aluminium smelter in Fort William. Pretty interesting to see around this place after passing it a few hundred times over the years. Thankfully I was fore warned by management that the main melting plant gives off a huge magnetic field and has in the past shot drones off into the distance which later crashed in the surrounding forest. I thankfully only had the occasional compass warning as I stayed well away from the central plant building lol.

Here we were filming with the presenter for a few pieces to camera to sync and a few walking shots then I was left to get a bunch of shots to help introduce the different parts of the factory and to head up the slopes of Ben Nevis to get shots of the hydro system:) A fun sunny day to be out.

Fort William Smelter

My High Vis and a helmet to be up in the woods on my own lol.

AUGUST 2021 - Drone operator Glencoe for 'Europe from Above' a Nat geo program

Well today back in Glencoe for the National geographic program being edited by Windfall Films. Today we were filming history with the archeologists at a dig site and returning to The thatched roof with Brian for some extra shots as it moves on. And a few shots from around the area to show some history for intros.

The dig was super interesting and fun trying to make a dig look interesting with each shot all from the drone. then a talking head interview to work as a voice over. Oh and a few go pro shots to get a close up as they revealed a old artefact from the dig. The sun was out too:)

Quick selfie while flying;)

Kilchurn Castle

The Buichaille Etive More:)

AUGUST 2021 - North Uist Camera operator for Plate shots for a BBC education program

A day trip to North Uist to film the final episode for a BBC education animated series. Wild going just for the day. A mix of ground camera plate shots and shots from the air with drone. Occasionally a moving shot but mainly static. Fortunately I got everything done by 1:30pm as by 2pm it was pouring with rain for the rest of the day. Always amazing getting out here though and such lovely beaches.

Such great beaches

:)

AUGUST 2021 - Camera and Drone filming near Ullapool for BBC Countryfile

Had a great weekend visiting Isle Martin for an episode of Countryfile all about islands. An island I’ve never been to before so always good to visit. Stayed overnight in the house there and was looked after by the Island caretaker. Arose the next day before sunrise to catch the sunrise with Oli helping me with shots. This started a very busy day with interviewing people about the sea and seaweed, and seaweed tasting, interviewing the island guardian, doing some conservation, boat riding, scallop free diving and then a cooking show bit at the end. Not sure if it would be possible to pack more into a day. Fortunately with a good director, sound, assistant camera and all my light mobile kit we got it all done.

The team

AUGUST 2021 - Drone filming trains in Northern Scotland for Great British Railway Journeys on BBC 2

Always exciting filming trains as you never quite know when they will arrive in your shot and the drone only has so long in the air before the batteries change. Much easier near London but in the far North of Scotland they are not quite as frequent so you can’t retry your shot 5 minutes later. Raildar helps but only when you have internet lol. Anyway got some good shots in different spots from Inverness to Helmsdale.

Invershin Bridge and a Castle:)

JUNE 2021 - A bit of Mountain Safety on Starwars

A good mate Liam at www.mountainandwatersafetyspecialists.co.uk offered me 6 weeks on Starwars! But it would affect my filming work too much, so I declined. But then he offered 3 days and I was keen to be part of a Starwars set so off I went to join in for a few days:)

I’ve done a lot of work doing mountain and water safety on the large film sets over the years for Liam, on films such as Outlaw King, 37 Ronin, Mary Queen of Scots, Pokemon, King Arthur, James Bond, The Crown and more. All good fun working with lots of mates from the climbing world:)

I have a few images from the set but unfortunately I’m not allowed to show them until well after the Starwars show goes out. But I can share me going for my pre filming cover test in the Starwars Caravan park lol:)

West coast of Scotland, waiting for cover results before I can get on set the following day.

JUNE 2021 - Cameraman and Drone pilot in Edinburgh today for BBC Education

A trip round Edinburgh filming the sites for plates for animations. Bit of Geography/Geology for schools today with volcanic rocks and plugs. Headed a bit further south for other bits of rock formations and Bass Rock. Beautiful sunny day although very windy. The boat I had booked to Bass rock didn’t go, so a return journey needed one day:)

Edinburgh Castle

JUNE 2021 - Drone filming near Fort William in Glen Nevis and a bit of long lens too.

Back from Rum and after a few days off we start filming another episode of Dana. This time purely rock climbing and in Glen nevis. the sun is out again too and after a midge start they all run away from the sun thankfully. Episode out in the Autumn.

Kenny on Storm in Glen nevis. Picture from the Mavic 2 pro drone

Storm in Glen nevis. Kenny’s climbing partner climbing here.

MAY 2021 - Drone operator on the Isle of Rum for BBC ALBA

A fantastic trip on the Isle of Rum doing some aerial cinematography while Hamish filmed with the ground camera and directed. We had some amazing weather for filming. Here we all carried our camera kit, batteries and tents, food, stove etc. This made the first day pretty big when we arrived on the morning ferry then did the whole of the Rum Cuillin filming on the way. A few pretty knackered by the end but we were rewarded with an amazing sunset from our high camp.

The next few days saw us walking, rock climbing and swimming and visiting ruins and bothies. We also got a tan:) A few pics below:) TV show out in the Autumn

Sunset Camp

Hamish filming Kenny on the Rock Climb, Rich Parker out of site doing some safety