In the field as a cameraperson and drone pilot at the Elephant Valley Project, Mondulkiri

Angelo got in touch with me and wanted me to work as a cameraperson and drone pilot for him to film at the Elephant Valley Project (EVP) in Mondulkiri, Cambodia.

Angelo is a Portuguese actor who recently starred in the Brazilian Netflix drama Lady Voyuer. He was in Cambodia to shoot part of a pilot for a travel show. Having seen my work on Last of the Elephant Men, he asked me to come along for the ride.

It was great to catch up with some people I hadn’t seen for a long time and to be back in the jungle filming elephants. It was also great to meet Gee Pich (Diamond), the latest addition to the EVP family.

Gee Pich was born at the project after a heard of wild elephants entered EVP. Pearl ran away with the heard and 21 months after she came back she gave birth to Gee Pich.

While the staff at EVP would love to rewild elephants, this is not one of the aims of the projects as most of the elephants have lived in captivity for most if not all of their lives and simply don’t have the skills to survive in the wild.

Although the outcome is largely positive, unfortunately, this kind of encounter is becoming increasingly common as the wild elephants natural habitats are being destroyed. This changes their annual migration routes.

The heavy rain made for an interesting shoot - it was a challenge keeping all the kit dry, but it gives the jungle a wonderful enclosed atmosphere and makes for some great images.

Hopefully Angelo is successful in pitching the show and it’s coming to a screen near you!

You can see the trailer of the feature-length documentary about elephants I worked on as a cameraperson in Mondulkiri here and you can see other examples of my documentary work here.

Below are some frames from the footage I shot. All the images were shot in log and haven’t been graded.

On Location as a Camera Assistant and Drone Pilot for CNN in Cambodia

Work as a camera assistant and drone pilot on the Cambodia episode of CNN’s Nomad with Carlton McCoy for the second series.

It’s not often that you get a call from CNN at 2pm and by 4pm you’re onset, working for one of the most established production companies in the game. Zero Point Zero are the company behind Anthony Bourdain’s shows. If you haven’t seen the closing gambit from the Cambodia episode of a cook’s tour, it’s a testament to Bourdain’s writing and humanity.

The camera assistant / drone pilot who had travelled with the team from the US tested positive for Covid on arrival, so they needed someone to step in at short notice. Shortly after receiving the call, I was in the back of the van going over the kit with camera team.

On the evening of the first day, the DP tested positive, so we travelled to Siem Reap as a camera team of 2 before flying back to Phnom Penh less than 24 hours later.

When we got back to Phnom Penh the camera operator tested positive for Covid. Fortunately, CNN had flown in a DP from Thailand. We were the camera department for the next couple of days before the original camera assistant and drone pilot thankfully returned to the fray for the last couple of days.

It was an incredible learning experience to work with such an experienced team and a great crash course in lots of camera and lighting kit (and techniques) that I hadn’t used before.

Once again thanks to Nick at Hanuman Films for the recommendation. I look forward to sharing the show once the episodes airs. Below are a couple of drone photos I managed to snap along the way. You can see more examples of my drone videography here. Please get in touch about any video projects you have in Cambodia, SE Asia or the rest of the world.

Aerial Drone Photography of salt flats in Tamil Nadu, India

Looking back through the archives, I found some drone photography of the salt flats outside Pondicherry in Tamil Nadu, Southern India. I was lucky enough to get to travel there while working as a videographer for Wild Frontiers. I like the lines and the geometrical shapes of the salt flats when seen from above.

I often use the drone to shoot video and take photographs as a afterthought. I plan to spend more time looking at the creative possibilities and using drone to focus solely on aerial photography.

Photographs from the road, shooting with prime lenses

One of my favourite things to do in Cambodia is to cruise around the countryside on my ‘moto’ taking photographs. Here are a few snaps from the first couple of trips I’ve been on since arriving back in Cambodia.

Over the past few months, I’ve invested in several compact cine prime lenses to improve the production quality of my videos. In order to learn the capabilities of the lenses, I’ve started travelling with primes with the same effective focal length as the lenses I have for my cine camera, to learn the lenses and to get used to the creative possibilities of shooting with primes.