
My favorite part of being a wildlife cameraman is the magic of bringing animal behavior to your living room. To be able to film sequences in such a style that you understand how the animal is feeling, whilst capturing the beauty in my own dramatic way. I enjoy spending time in the field either with a long lens in a hide, designing a set with lighting or traipsing through the jungle with camera in backpack.
I also like to use innovative ways to make a sequence, to get you amongst the animal kingdom either by using miniature or remote cameras with small moves to bring it to life. Please see below a part of a Rock Python sequence I filmed for the BBC landmark series Africa.
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Give me a hide and a longlens and I feel very much at home, there is nothing better than the privilege of witnessing animal behavior up close. Filming with a longlens can sometimes feel very flat, I like to change my angles as much as possible to give it that cinematic look. But behavior is the most important part, reading the animals movements and predicting it's actions is a skill I am always developing.
Photos courtesy of ©Matthew Wright and ©Andy Collins
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High speed is also something I like to specialise in, slowing the animals world down so you see it through their eyes fascinates me. Filming at the right frame rate and lighting with out flicker is an art in it's self. Below is also a sequence I filmed part of for the series Africa about sweat bees.
One of the most important thing for me is to be able to liaise with production easily, to be there for ideas about filming and kit. To really find out how the producer/director wants the sequence to be filmed. Being local to the BBC NHU makes this possible, I never mind going to kit suppliers to test out kit or just for meetings with production it's all good preparation for the shoot. |