NOVEMBER 2019 - Filming in Nepal

I fly out to Asia for my first time ever to spend a week in Nepal filming a documentary as director of photography with Thunderdragon fund. I worked on this documentary in Scotland with Gerry Moffat back in April May and they were keen on my footage so I got to head to Asia for two weeks filming with them:)

The first week was in Nepal in a small local village where an old friend of Gerry’s has been involved in turning it into a kind of Airbnb style place where you stay with the locals in a beautiful hilltop village over looking the Annapurna range. It was an amazing place with lovely people.

My goal was to catch the mountains in the distance and then catch the locals working with nature in detail. I had an awesome time and the memory of this place will stay with me for a long time:) Some pics below of our stay.

The company I worked for is https://thunderdragonfund.org if you want to check out the progress of the film or to find out more about the amazing Gerry and his adventures:)

The village we stayed in is: www.annapurnahomestay.com if you are interested in looking into it or going for your own stay there:)

Riepe village on the left and Annapurna on the right of shot:)

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 - Filming John Torode cooking show for ITV 'This Morning'

Had a great few days working with this team again and this time in Dorset and in the sun. Great we all know each other as it makes the working a lot easier. John made some amazing dishes which we always get to taste and we visited some lovely spots.

Was using my GH5 and steady cam for a lot of the filming here plus the Mavic 2 pro Drone :)

John about to cook in the Vine yard:)

The Team in Dorset

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:)

JULY 2019 - Aerial filming of a Shepherd taking in his sheep from Scafell Pike

Aerial filming for slow television. A very different shoot. Several drone crews following a shepherd as he gets his sheep in from the highest peaks in England. Some quite challenging filming as our shortest shots were to be 5mins and try and get 8mins or more. Sounds easy on paper but this is quite a bit of concentration and the shots must constantly develop and no jarring moves and always keep moving! I managed a 13 minute shot at one point which I was pretty chuffed with:)

Several early morning starts, to beast up the hill with a very fit shepherd. Being a mountain instructor I always think of myself as pretty fit but the shepherd Andrew was a different level. I kept up carrying the drone but seemed to be breathing and sweaty a bit more than Andrew hahaha.

Some pics of the week below.

Flying the Inspire 2 with X7 Camera, solo operator

The Shepherd Andrew and helper Sarah at dawn

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!

APRIL 2019 - Gino D'Acampo in Sardinia for ITV 'This Morning"

Headed out for another This morning cooking show the last one was in Scotland with John Torode and this one to Sardina, Italy for Gino D’Acampo. We had a great fun week once the sun came out so we could show off this lovely place in the sunlight:)

Very good Crack with Gino, a great guy and very funny. The team was also awesome Natalie as Director, myself as DOP and Drone, Will on second Camera, Rich on Sound and Julia as Home economics person. We all worked well together and should be a great six pieces starting in a few weeks time.

We finished the week with a Ferrari scene. This was awesome I have to say:)

APRIL 2019 - Wow Scotland filming on Skye

A few days of Filming with Gordon of WOW Scotland. One to get the new bus into a previous film linked below and to show the new corporate image of this family business and the other day round Loch Ness, Culloden Battlefield etc to cover a separate tour. Great fun and lucky on the weather front for these:)

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.