Technical Expertise

Simple is often best, but sometimes a shoot does require something special.

I have extensive experience with a wide range of equipment and techniques, including high speed, drone, motion control, gimbal, cable dolly, ready rig, jib, car mount, long lens, macro, underwater, camera trap, infrared, blue screen, and time lapse.

Drone

As a certified drone pilot in the EU (EASA), UK (CAA), and Peru (DGAC), I am authorized to fly any multirotor aircraft of up to 25 kg including heavy-lift systems capable of flying with a stabilized cinema camera. I’ve been flying ever since I built my first drone in 2013 and am experienced at both single and dual person (pilot and camera) operations. I am also authorized to fly night operations.

Canopy and Rope Access

I’m a certified rope access tree climber and am very comfortable with heights. I also have experience constructing and working off scaffold towers and tree platforms in remote Amazon and Central American rainforests as well as African plains.

Underwater

I am a certified Dive Master with over 20 years of experience diving around the world in anything from blue-water tropical seas to zero-visibility frozen lakes. I’ve logged hundreds of cold-water drysuit and night dives and dived professionally both as a scientific research diver and as an underwater cameraman on cinema and television productions. I am experienced at self-supported, off-the-grid diving expeditions, including operating diving air compressors, and am trained in first response for dive medical emergencies.

Camera Traps

I have extensive experience with camera traps and remote camera systems in remote locations across the world and have captured images of shy animals ranging from big cats, small rodents, and monkeys to birds of prey, including some of the world’s most elusive species such as red panda, puma, (black) leopard, tiger, and Asian elephant.

Lighting & Set Design

Many years of lighting experience from both cinema and stills photography have made me an expert at naturalistic lighting. I also have a wide range of experience designing, building, and lighting sets, from the tiny (e.g. realistic rainforest floors for leafcutter ants, and immersive underground tunnels and chambers for naked mole rats) — to the enormous (lighting 2,500 square meter location sets as Technical Director for Nick Brandt’s This Empty World).

Bespoke Camera Systems & Electronics Field Repairs

For many years I’ve built my own custom remote camera and camera trap systems and the skills I’ve acquired with electronics and computer programming have saved multiple remote location shoots. As Technical Director for Nick Brandt’s This Empty World, I helped develop the first functional panoramic (and medium format digital) camera trap system in existence. I’ve also developed my own bespoke motorized macro slider with microscope precision that is uniquely capable of realtime, programmed, and time-lapse moves.