On The Trail - Working as a Videographer for the EU

It was an action packed few days on the road working as a video following the press tour to promote the Cashew Value Chain in Cambodia for the European Union.

The press tour kicked off with a launch event at the Phnom Penh, before moving on to Kampong Thom, Kratie and Stung Treng.

The aim of the tour was to look at the available processing facilities, promote the value chain and to ultimately improve exports direct to Europe.

Our job was to get out front of the media scrum to film interviews and b-roll of the processing plants and cashew farms and then to film the press tour when all the journalists rolled in.

Journalists from over 30 media agencies attended the tour.

Supported by the EU and GIZ, the tour was led by H.E. Im Rachna, spokesperson of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

H.E. Im Rachana explained the reason for the press tour. ‘Our goal is to provide news coverage to Cambodians to promote the cashew nut value chain in Cambodia,’ she said.

Bryan Fornari, Head of Cooperaton at the European Delegation to Cambodia, spoke about the need potential benefits of promoting the cashew value chain.

‘The connection opportunities are there between one of the countries that produces most cashew nuts in the world and the largest market for cashew nuts,’ he said.

Bryan also spoke about the potential of expanding the cashew value chain in Cambodia.

‘The processing parts of the value chain is not here in Cambodia, and there’s a lot of potential to bring it to Cambodia,’ he said.

Over 95% of Cambodian cashews are exported raw and unprocessed.

Gunther Wessel, a GIZ programme manager and a cashew expert, also joined the tour.

‘There is more and more interest in Cambodia, but Cambodians, to start processing,’ he said.

If the cashew producers can adhere to EU standards it will give them access to the biggest market in the world.

Hopefully we see more investment in the cashew sector in Cambodia and growth in the number of direct sales to the EU.

You can see more my work with the EU here and read more of my blog posts here.

Videographer for UNDP's Regional Office, Bangkok, Thailand

I was hired to work as a videographer by UNDP Asia and the Pacific to make a video for Human Rights Day.

The video was posted on UNDP’s social media channels and shows the journeys and hopes of 7 young human rights defenders and climate activists from across the Asia Pacific to inspire other youth to be more aware of the issues surrounding climate change.

The human rights defenders and activists hailed from across the Asia Pacific regions from countries including The Philippines, Pakistan, Nepal and India.

It was fascinating listening to the tell their stories about how the became activists and human rights defenders; the adversity they’ve faced; their optimism for the future and their suggestion for actions that youth can take across the region to increase understanding and awareness of a situation that is quickly becoming a pressing concern.

It was great to work with the UNDP team at their office in Bangkok, Thailand. It would be a pleasure to collaborate with them again on future projects.

You can see more examples of my videography work here and here.

Lighting camera operator for BECL Corporate Video

A corporate video about testing construction materials for BECL.

It was great working as a lighting camera operator and drone pilot with Christina and the teams from Cast Laboratories Singapore and Cast Laboratories Cambodia to produce this corporate video for Board of Engineers Cambodia Laboratory (BECL).

The video highlights the work that BECL do to emphasize the importance of testing and ensure safety standards in both existing and new structures in the burgeoning Cambodian construction market. This is an increasingly important job as the construction boom in Phnom Penh and many areas of Cambodia shows little sign of slowing down.

The corporate video demonstrates the tests Cast Laboratories do in Cambodia, including compression strength testing of concrete, testing steel and concrete in a non-destructive way, rebar tensile testing and many more of the services they provide.

My work as a lighting camera operator included working with two, Apurture C300D ii lights and 2 LED panels to give the video clean, even lighting to highlight the technical processes. Overall the client was very happy with the quality of the images I shot. The variety I provided them with allowed them to create split-screen segments in post-production to add dynamism to the final video. You can see another corporate video I shot here and more examples of my camera work here.

Here are some behind the scenes (BTS) photos of me in action:

Working as a videographer for Digital Divide Data - Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum Archives Preservation and Digitization Project

I worked as a videographer to document the work DDD has been doing preserving and digitizing the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum’s archives. 

It was fascinating to see the work that they were doing and the training that the local team had received to meticulously preserve and digitise the archive. It was also great to see the museum advertising the video on Facebook to get more people to visit the museum.  

I was working alongside Simon Toffanello a Phnom Penh based photographer, who kindly put me in contact with DDD. You can see a selection of his images here.

Working as a videographer for Digital Data Divide - Souvannahong and Bounheuang case study

I worked as a videographer on a couple of videos for DDD, a New-York based social enterprise. They train disadvantaged youth in IT and after working for them for a couple of years they can move on to well-paid job in the IT sector.

It was great shooting this video of Souvannahong and Bounheuang in Vientiane, Laos, as they both enjoy their work and are appreciative of the life-changing support DDD provides them with.