Working as a videographer for a PTV shoot for Behind the Scenes with Laurence Fishburne

What seems like a long time ago in a different world, Margaret Donnelly contacted me to work with her as a videographer and drone operator on a video about Uniworld’s river cruise from Kampong Cham in Cambodia to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.

The ship, The Mekong Jewel, has the highest number of staff per guests of any cruise ship in the world. All the staff were incredible. It was great to spend a couple of days living the life of luxury.

Unfortunately, the river border between Cambodia and Vietnam was closed shortly after I disembarked as tourists on another Mekong cruise ship tested positive for Covid. The Mekong Jewel was one of the last cruise ships to cross the border.

Above are a couple of drone shots I took of the ship. Hopefully the Behind the Scenes video, including an introduction by Laurence Fishburne will be released after everything has returned to some semblance of normality.

Time Lapse photography of Phnom Penh

When working as a director and camera operator on a commercial shoot for Rulai, I shot a some time lapses of Phnom Penh. It was great to get out and explore the city and film some of the monuments. I hope to do some more time lapses as part of a long-term project with a view to putting the footage on stock libraries. I also plan to look at shooting some hyperlapses. Watch this space.

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.