NOVEMBER 2019 - The Kingdom of Bhutan filming

After a week of filming in Nepal we left the super busy Kathmandu for a much more peaceful and subdued Bhutan. It is a fantastic country that seems to be beautiful in every way. Here we would be filming some of the traditional places to get a feel of Bhutan and to link in to how things have changed since Gerry’s original footage of the country. Gerry also jumps back in a kayak to film on the river. We got a very nice morning shot past the Dzong just below in the landscape picture. We used ground camera throughout and several time lapses too. we couldn’t fly a drone in the country unfortunately. Karma who has known Gerry for many years was our guide, he was excellent.

Gerry’s website to see how the film is progressing is at: https://thunderdragonfund.org

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:)

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 - 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 - 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 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!

MAY 2019: CASIO F30: The making of film

Here is a little look back at the second Casio watch advert I have made over the past 12 months. This goes into the details of what goes on behind the scenes and how Scottish weather can make things change quite a lot!

Just noticed this was a while back and I definitely look that 3 and 1/2 stone heavier than I am now, kept me solid on the windy days though hahaha;)

Had a great team with Warren the script writer and presenter and initial ideas man from Casio. Then we added into the mix this time: Joe Kirk (kayaker and biker), Jess Creber (biker), Iain Rudkin (photographer) and Will Copestake (photographer).

Have a look below and the actual advert is below that again:)

FEBRUARY 2019 - Ski Instructional films Val d'Isere

Headed back to Val d'Isere this year to continue with our instructional films. This time with Level 4 alpine skiing. Slightly better than I can ski hahaha.

I even lost half a stone skiing this week and trying to keep up:)

The skiers are Lynn Mill, Giles Lewis and Roy Henderson. All part of the British association of Ski Instructors:)

JANUARY 2019 - Ocean Swift trailer edit

This past summer I was invited onboard 'Ocean Swift'. A boat entirely built by a mate JT (John Taylor) and his Dad. As in he even built an oven to ben the glass windows to fit!!

It is now probably the fastest Catamaran for its type there is:) To find out more about the boat goto: epoxycraft.com/ocean-swift-a-self-build-like-n…/ and ocean-swift.net

During this week at see every single place I saw was new to me, even where we left from on the main land:)

Joining us onboard was the Wildlife filmmaker Andrew O'Donnell Of Beluga Lagoon (who filmed this wee trailer with myself) and his mate Mark and then Zoe who is an Antarctic person like myself and JT. We traveled out to St Kilda on his Catamaran via, corrievreckan whirlpools, Mull, Staffa, Uist, Monarch Isles, etc. On St Kilda we had three mates working there so it was good to see them and see the spectacular island:)

Longer film to come when I get a moment to my own projects:)

OCTOBER 2018 - Casio Watch Advert

Had a great week working on a Casio online advert with Warren from Casio and several other mates:). Warren outlined his story and then we bounced it back and forward between us to fill it in with locations extra ideas transitions etc.

We were challenged by the weather this time after doing an advert back in march where we had perfect weather. This time we chased round the country with some long days out and about and winds up to 60mph and rain, sleet, snow, hail and fortunately some sun to keep us thinking. We got there though:)

Selection of behind the scenes pics above by Iain Rudkin (out with us to capture the mountain biking on Monday www.iainrudkin.com), Will Copestake (Out with us to capture the kayaking on Wednesday www.willcopestakemedia.com) and a couple from my iPhone and one from the drone:)

Thanks to Jess Creber for biking abilities while carrying a wee one inside and Joe Kirk for a bit of biking and lapping big waterfalls in his kayak for the camera:)

SEPTEMBER 2018 - Mink Camper Advert

I spent a few Days with Steven and Lisa who run Mink Camper Scotland. We had a brilliant time travelling about the west coast of Scotland in these cool little campers. The job was to get a large variety of landscapes and different situations for the campers to be in over a few days and obviously make it all look beautiful and interesting:) We involved, kayaks, mountain bikes, beaches, mountains, bridges, swimming, ferries…….The film will be out later in the year and some short clips for instagram too.

A few clips from the film above:) The Ferry Captain, Q, said personally he hated drones. But my drone and my paperwork and flight planning which took into account, licence, insurance, RAF, Sea Eagles, power lines, buildings, boats, airports etc made him love mine. Always good to change folks opinions on these craft.

DRONE SHOWREEL 2018

A new aerial showreel for Perfect View productions from jobs working as a Drone pilot in Scotland over the past year.  I had a bit of spare time this week so good to put this together.  I hope you enjoy it:)

New drone showreel of Scotland for www.perfectviewproductions.co.uk. This showreel shows a few highlights from the last 12 months of work with my drones:) The first eight clips are the Cairngorms near home. This was my first trip out on my own with the new DJI Inspire 2 with X7 Camera before a few jobs I had with it so I could get used to it. The best new thing apart from the great footage from 14 stops of dynamic range is the fact I have four prime lenses. You’ll see from the clip of myself walking on Facial Ridge the 50mm (35mm equivalent to 77mm) is great for giving a different look from the standard wide angle drones all have. Brings the background closer to me in this shot. Same lens was used with the shot of the top of Shelterstone crag and the couple on the summit of Ben MacDui. The next five clips are of the Strathspey Steam engine (based in Aviemore). This was an awesome day on the job where I had sole use of the train for my filming:) I used the DJI Inspire 1. Then we head to the Western Isles for seven shots with the opening shot of the CalMac ferry coming into Stornaway. This is within the ATZ of the local airport so I had to co-ordinate this flying with Air Traffic control to do this. They were super friendly like everyone out on the Western isles:) Some great beaches and seascapes out here. A wave sport kayak clip from the Moray Coast was thrown in here to from an advert I made. Into a bit of Rock Climbing next while filming for Glenmore Lodge and their youtube channel. First two shots are at Reiff climbing then onto Stac Pollaidh for a mountain day. The long shot of panning round into Dave and Jon climbing is one of my favourite. The shot was too long to play in full for a showreel. It does make for a very atmospheric shot though. These were all filmed with the DJI Mavic Pro. (easiest drone to climb a hill with:) The 32nd shot with the old tree, is a sunset shot of Cairngorm with the 50mm lens on the X7 Camera. 3 shots of an Army truck for a TV program. With the Mavic and Inspire 1. The third shot was in an amazing corridor of trees that were super tall. This was filmed on an estate in Aberdeenshire where the crew stayed and filmed for part of the show. Two tree shots to swap from summer to winter. Summer shot from the X7 camera and the winter one from the Mavic. I do love the trees covered in snow in the winter. Few winter shots of Glenmore lodge filming of Mountaineering skills and Ski mountaineering. We then finish on several shots from the summit of Sgor Gaoith in the Cairngorms. These shot were with the Mavic Pro for a Casio GPS watch advert. The tops of the hills were clear for only 30 minutes that day (I know this from friends running ski mountaineering courses up on the tops that day) and we happened to be there on the summit just as it cleared. Great shots and would be very hard to re-create again but hopefully I will:) If you ever need a drone pilot for your shoot give me a shout and check out my website www.perfectviewproductions.co.uk

JUNE 2018: DJI Inspire 2 with X7 Camera arrives

Very exciting this month as the new DJI Inspire 2 with X7 Camera with four prime lenses and all the other bits arrives at Perfect View Productions Ltd ready to up the came of the company.   It is a real beast and some beautiful imagery from it hopefully in July I'll pop some of my own footage out as busy with a few jobs for Television with it first.