JANUARY 2025 - Camera operator for the Hunt for the Lynx with BBC 2 Highland Cops

A fun last minute day filming the actuality of the hunt for the illegally released Lynx cats nearby in the Cairngorms National Park. Unfortunately I did not get to see the Lynx themselves. I got to see the camera trap footage and they looked so cute.

So today I filmed the press in the local area as they gave interviews with Dr Helen the head of conservation for the Royal Zoological society. The press were at Ruthann Barracks so took some drone shots around this area. The Highland park said I could fly there but not any further east as this was where the Lynx were spotted. Then I returned to the park for some actuality of the team doing the search with pics and videos etc. These images I shot will be used when the Highlands cops TV show follow the wildlife investigator as he tries to track down who released the Lynx.

The caught the second two lynx only an hour or two after I left. Few screen grabs below of the day.

Ruthven Barracks

DECEMBER 2024 - Filming Beluga Lagoon largest concert so far.

It’s been a fun year following Andrew and his band Beluga Lagoon as they play bigger venues throughout Scotland. All have been sold out shows and some sold out in literary 2 minutes !

I’ve filmed several of the bigger concerts with Rupert Shanks for Andrew to do an edit at some point to make a bit of a documentary of the year, not for TV or the likes just for Andrews Youtube channel where he pops all his films over the years https://www.youtube.com/@belugalagoonfilms8620 . Wish I’d gone along to film them receiving a few awards along the way too. Anyway I’m sure there are phone pics and video of these occasions.

O2 Academy in Glasgow would be the biggest so far 3500. There are some pretty big nerves before these concerts for some of the band. Andrews worries he will catch the flu or the likes and he had a little bit of a sore throat coming into this but managed to miss it getting worse thankfully. Some of the band seem to not get nervous at all. Although Andrew and Matt the drummer were the most nervous earlier in the year they seem to have gotten slightly more used to it as time has gone on. Just shit themselves on a medium level now until the first 2 songs are in the bag:)

Such great fun seeing this set up and loved the massive tree at the back of stage with eye balls in an opening and an owl on a branch, made by Jamie and Andrew. True to form Andrew manages to make every concert different. So for those fans, of which there are quite a few, that go to many of the shows they never see the same show twice. This one being special (like Dunoon, Queens Hall) had the voices of Argyll join as an all female choir giving a much bigger sound to the music for the first half of the show.

Going to be fun to see what Andrew does this year. He certainly doesn’t stop and is with Gregor right now doing something in the studio. How he fits it in I’m not sure, always impresses me how productive he is, daily! A few pics below of the O2 Night, what an awesome night:)

Wee drone shot of the venue from the mini 3 pro tiny drone

One of Ruperts angles from back of Hall

DECEMBER 2024 - Aerial filming Rannoch Moor, Glencoe

Rannoch Moor near Glencoe. A lovely winters morning with ice covered trees so I decided to make a little flight with my drone to see the beauty of Loch Ba which was slightly frozen too. I think on this morning it was -8 degrees as we drove homewards. A loch I have paddled across a few times with my Canadian canoe. It is a very cinematic and very Scottish landscape to film.

I was just returning from filming a Beluga Lagoon practice with a choir so it seemed apt to put a little Beluga Lagoon to it. This track is 'Eas A'Chual Aluinn' (soft version). The version without piano which Andrew possibly made for use in films of his. It is very atmospheric:)

I used a DJI Mavic 3 pro CINE for these aerial shots.

www.belugalagoon.com to see more of Andrews work

DECEMBER 2024 - Camera Operator for Good Morning Britain in Inverness (Drone too:)

Great fun day meeting this team and seeing what they do. We were filming Angela who is partially sighted who has organised a group where each month a team of partially sighted and blind folk (there were 21 this day) go for a walk and lunch together in Inverness. She is a great person and we were filming her as she is one of several folk who might be selected for an award for amazing people like Angela who have helped several people in making their lives better. I’ve actually forgotten the exact name of the award but if you watch on Christmas day then you will see the finalist and find out who wins.

I got to film this one because it is close to home but other camera operators will film the other people. Would have been good to see them all as always very fascinating and fun shoots these. A few screen shots below of the day.

The team and Inverness

NOVEMBER 2024 - Filming a Beluga Lagoon practice with 'The Voices of Argyll"

Always fun filming with Beluga Lagoon and great to see a practice on the go, especially with ‘The Voices of Argyll’ joining in here. We all headed to Dunoon for the practice and the place of the upcoming gig on the 7th of December where they will perform together at the Queens Hall. The choir and Beluga Lagoon will then perform at the O2 Academy to 3500 people on the 19th of December. The biggest concert so far for Beluga Lagoon and a great way to finish off the year for this band.

Here we were capturing some BTS for the documentary Andrew will make of this first year of Beluga Lagoon playing larger venues. So we caught a bit of chat with the choir and and followed Gregor doing a bit of directing of the team to polish where and how the choir come in to create the best sound possible. It does sound amazing and complements the band brilliantly.

I have a few screen grabs of the practice below. Enjoy Dunoon if you have a ticket for tomorrow night. I’ll be along to O2 Academy later in the month to film the big gig, can’t wait. After the practice we went for a few beers and the choir carried on a different practice, busy Ladies! Dunoon pub was £3 a pint of Guiness, amazing!!!

Having fun with ‘Ronnie and the Reindeer’ song:)

Very atmospheric singing ‘Still”

Not sure if Gregor is giving me the fingers or if it’s some music directing thing?

NOVEMBER 2024 - Filming pub Bingo in Glasgow for Opposite Land Productions

Fun night filming Flamingo Bingo in the ‘Slug and Lettuce’ in Glasgow, this was for a mate Sam who runs www.oppositelandproductions.com who film pubs, restaurants and buildings throughout the UK. I often help out on the Scotland shoots. The second time filming in this pub.

The team put on a fun night with this Bingo. Ewen dressed in the flamingo suit does a great job keeping it fun while looking a bit silly in his suit. Adam the manager kept me right when things were happening so I could follow bits of the action:) Gregor always seemed to be concentrating hard on his seating arrangements. Amy and Connar did a good job making some cocktails for the camera which were then handed out randomly. I just wished I could have joined in the fun lol. A few screen grabs below from the night.

Bingo Winners

Slug and Lettuce

Ewen dressed up

NOVEMBER 2024 - Roaming in the Wild back on player:)

Roaming in the Wild returns to BBC Scotland and iplayer for everyones viewing pleasure. Was great fun making these films with Andrew and Mark. Doing fun trips with two good mates, what is not to like:)

OCTOBER 2024 - Filming Mountain Biking for Glenmore Lodge

A day out with cameras and drone to film a few adverts on FAQ’s for mountain bike courses at Glenmore Lodge. We spent the morning filming near Aviemore the actual biking part then we filmed indoors with interviews of the guys chatting about the courses. A fun day out, a few pics from the day below.

OCTOBER 2024 - Aerial filming and Camera Operator at the Kelpies for a high ropes course inside them

A friend Jono has built a high ropes course inside the Kelpies to help bring more people to the Kelpies for Scottish Canals. The course is brilliant and gets you up into the mouth of the highest one via a network of obstacles like wire bridges and ladders and nets. It finishes with a jump on a decelerator cable which I found pretty exciting. It is weird how inside a manmade structure it feels more scary to me:)

Jono commissioned me to make a main film, website opening film and 10 stories/reels for Instagram also. Which I edited together and should be launched soon on his website and Scottish Canals site. Jono’s is Zone Events and the website will go live before the end of the year:) Few pics from the day below.

Drone pic of the Kelpie with people in the mouth

Inside the Kelpie mouth

The Kelpies from above

SEPTEMBER 2024 - Filming pub promo's for Opposite Land in Aberdeen and Edinburgh

A fun couple of nights filming some pub promos for www.oppositelandproductions.com in Aberdeen and Edinburgh. Sam who runs Opposite Land is one of the top companies covering pubs, restaurants and building in the UK.

The day and evening involved getting shots of the empty pub then trying to capture the atmosphere in the evening. Pretty easy as the pubs were both busy. Amazingly the folk in the bar all seemed happy to be filmed each time I asked. I finished up each day around 9-9:30pm just so no one is drunk on camera hahaha. Few screen grabs below.

SEPTEMBER 2024 - Aerial filming with Guy Martin on 'Proper Jobs' TV Show

An amazing few days as a drone pilot over Aberdeenshire way filming Guy Martin (lovely person) working with SARDA (Search and Rescue Dog Association). We spent a day doing crag rescue at Pass of Ballater, a very familiar crag for me having climbed there many times as a teenager and beyond.

Mark Chadwick was leading the safety (also a SARDA member) and Stu MacIntyre and Paul Noble were doing the chat to Camera alongside Guy Martin as well as a few others. Great fun crew from North One TV and the SARDA team were great to.

Once we had done stretcher lowers and carries mixed in with first response first aid, the guys then went to do dog handling at Glenshee for a day. I went and filmed trains then I joined them again another day for a trip up to Derry Lodge to do a search and rescue involving a helicopter and up on Derry Cairngorm mountain in the mist.

A very friendly pilot was happy with me flying with him in the air. We just laid down where we would be and what to do if change of plan in his flights etc. So much fun filming a helicopter in the air. Only done it a few other times in the past, All in all a great few days and hopefully make a fun TV program when it comes out. A few pics below of the days out with some screen grabs.

Air to Air filming with the DJI Mavic 3 Pro CINE

Myself and Guy Martin

Crag Rescue

SEPTEMBER 2024 - Aerial Filming in St Andrews for their pier walk with Gowns for Thunder Dragon films

A fun wee day in not the best condition with very low cloud or fog as we do a bit of filming of Fin, son of Pia and Gerry Moffat as he heads to freshers week at St Andrews. A few screen shots below:) Footage is to be part of as bigger documentary.

The red gown pier parade.

SEPTEMBER 2024 - Aerial filming in Torridon for Jenny Graham running race

A fun day if a little full on with midges to start the day lol. Today I had to be up high in the mountains by 8:30am to catch some runners as they went by. I was taking shots of the sunrise on the way up and my hands were black as if I was wearing gloves as I flew. Was so hard to get a decent shot without scratching.

I arrived at my position for filming and then had to walk back and fourth 200m for an hour until they arrived due to the midges. Fortunately 30 minutes after the runners arrived so did a subtle breeze and the sun to scare away the nasty midge:)

The film is an advert for a duathlon for next year taking place up here and organised by Jenny. The rest of the day with two different groups with a few folk I knew we all had fun getting a bunch of shots together for Jenny’s film that Markus Stiz will edit together:) A screen grabs from my footage of the stunning day below.

Sun just hitting the mountains 6:30am and my hands totally covered in midgies

Runners silhouetted in the sun

Reflection of the runners after they all swam here too.

SEPTEMBER 2024 - Filming a music video with Beluga Lagoon

Fun few days filming a music video with Andrew and getting to camp out, swim, canoe and a few beers round a Campfire:) Video will be out once Andrew edits it.

AUGUST 2024 - Drone operating in Orkney and Shetland for 'Jules and Greg's Wild Swimming' BBC Scotland

A superb few weeks up on these islands with wonderful locals, well worth a visit up here if you have not been yet. Season 2 of Jules and Greg’s Wild Swimming and this year it was Islands. I missed the first 2 weeks on the Western isles as I was is Norway on the Dana shoot for the same company the great Solus Productions.

We had the same team as last year with obviously Jules and Greg doing a super job of presenting and generally being lovely guys to hang out with for the few weeks. Then we have a brilliant and great fun team to work with. As last year Tony was at the helm directing again, Jim producing, Sean as DOP (main camera and gyros in water), also water safety, Colin on sound, Raonaid doing a bit of everything and myself filming the aerials and a little bit of second camera too:)

We swam in lots of different spots for the TV program with beautiful beaches, saunas, rum, vikings, shipwrecks, cliffs, waves, town swims etc and many swims on time off too:) So good being the only people on a lot of these beaches and we met some super characters along the way. A few pictures below to give you a flavour and it will be on BBC Scotland in January coming:)

AUGUST 2024 - Aerial Filming in Norway for Dana BBC ALBA

An amazing two weeks in Lofted in Norway with a very familiar crew of the Dana TV now:) We are on season 4 now and got to head to Norway for what will be episodes 1 and 2 of this new series out later in Autumn.

Coineach is joined by Calum Gibb from Skye to climb, scramble, boulder, surf and bidi in Norway. Hamish was filming on his sony cameras while I filmed with my drone from the air. Rich and Becky did the mountain safety. For the first time in four years we actually got a day off to go climbing ourselves too which was brilliant:) Few pics below of the awesome trip. Looking forward to see what Hamish has done with it all in the edit:)

Our home for the two weeks

First days climb with Calum on it

The guys on Stentind ridge:)

Kenny on Ridge

JULY 2024 - Filming and editing for 'Children in Need' in Edinburgh

A fun and busy day in Edinburgh filming at the Edinburgh Carnival Festival in Princess St Gardens. Here there are folk from all over the world living in the UK and showing off their cultures to the public. Such amazing traditional clothing and costumes all bright and amazing looking. Great atmospherehere with music and dancing etc.

We were filming a particular group of young teenagers and mainly one person. I will share the video when it is aired later in the year on the Children in Need webpage:)

I was working with the lovely Vicci who I worked with on a Comic Relief gig a few years ago (with Rylan, Oti, and Emma). She is pictured below getting a few shots with my Ronin, with the lady who headed up the group we were filming. A few screen grabs of some of the other people in the parade from the film:)

JULY 2024 - Aerial filming with Al Lee in Switzerland

A great week in Switzerland aerial filming Freja Shannon and Ariane Moreau. This is to be one of the Brit rock films for this year directed and film by Alaister Lee who was on the cliff filming as I was at the bottom flying up the climb. Love working with Alistair on these films as always fun filming and challenging at the same time, plus he is a good crack to hang out with. Kim Ladiges was the guide who hset up the ropes for Al to go up and down during filming. A sound guy.

A good bunch of people and some pretty epic shots were had on the Petit Clocher du Portalet. The team were climbing Caesar route, can’t remember the full name but a 7c route following several crack lines up the impressive face.

Definitely got my bit of adrenaline flying with clouds coming in and out making for exciting moments with the drone. The other people climbing were good with the drone as I flew most of the days (a lot) and because we had chatted to them all they seemed pretty happy.

Few pics below of the area and the film will be out in November time, I think.

The Spikey peak the team climbed.

Looking down the route from the drone perspective

The Climbers Freja and Ariane

JUNE 2024 - Jamaica filming with Rusty Lee and a Hurricane!

Brilliant fun week staying at a lovely Sandals resort in Jamaica. 5 Star resort and we all had 2 bath tubs and a swimming pool in our rooms. Pretty amazing. Obviously ITV doesn’t pay for this lol. Sandals sponsors it and gets it resort in the background on TV so everyone is happy:) Sandals staff are great.

Rusty Lee has an amazing amount of energy and was fantastic fun. We landed after our long flights and went straight into filming and even by 8pm in the evening Rusty was up singing to everyone in the hotel and dancing about with the hotel band as we filmed her singing ‘No Worries’. Great :)

This was a cooking show so we cooked many Caribbean dishes in different areas round resort then had a day out filming a coffee plantation and a farm. Both of which were brilliant and learned a lot. We even had a police escort to get though Kingstown in the morning rush hour lol.

We had a great team with Will directing, Rich on sound, Sara as Home Ecc, and Natalie as our Sandals fixer. We also had several folk from the resort helping especially Ian one of the managers.

We then had a last day of filming to do with a trip down a river and a trip to a local market. This got cancelled as a category 5 hurricane was heading our way and everyone on the island needed to batten down the hatches in preparation. So then started our briefings etc. I was quite excited until I heard actually what a category 5 hurricane is. It means an average wind speed of 180 mph gusting 260mph and it would destroy almost everything in its path!

So we then turned into a bit of a news crew as it came our way. But fortunately 2 hrs before hitting land (so unpredictable) it veered south and dropped to a Category 4. We were on the north of the island and maybe had 100mph winds so like a very bad UK storm. A few spots on the south of the island got a Category 3 hurricane. One town had 70% of its homes destroyed. So extremely glad the Cat 5 never hit the island as when we woke the next day it would have been to a destroyed island and probably many deaths. We probably would have been fine in our 5 star hotel as Sandals looked after everyone very well including their staff and we had big buildings that had survived a few hurricanes already. Anyway will be a trip to remember.

Rusty Lee cooking some Jerk Chicken

Sandals resort Jamaica

JUNE 2024 - Camera operator in Glasgow for an advert about advertising in bars.

Was fun this job as I was working with an old friend from ITV This Morning who runs his own company now called Opposite Land Productions. So was fun to catch up and see a few different pubs I hadn’t been in before. had a few randoms with morning and early afternoon drinking very keen to join in. I think they would have been unto have in there. Definitely characters for sure. one lady had only a few prominent teeth and very smily. I don’t think they were what was wanted for the advert but maybe a future one:)