“Dronalism” – using drones for journalism

Drone Camp, Cape Town: 13-15 July, 2016 I’ve just attended the first ever Drone Camp South Africa organised by Chris Roper, senior knight fellow at Code for Africa and the International Centre for Journalists. It was a three day introduction to the ideas, concepts and legalities of “Drone journalism”. There were numerous speakers from across […]

Talking 360 video, gimbals and Camera Confidential: My interview on the Multimedia Week podcast

I’m a massive fan of the Multimedia Week podcast and jumped at the chance to appear on the show for a second time. If you don’t already know their work then I highly recommend having a look at the website and subscribing to the podcast. In this piece the host DJ and I discuss various […]

Life on the road: A glimpse behind the lens

I’ve been shooting news and documentaries for fifteen years now. It’s more than a job, it’s a passion. While on assignment I often like to use my smaller cameras to film behind the scenes footage – when I get time I edit them. Some of the films I’ve made are posted below. The above film […]

Learning to fly: The Drone Diaries

I’m currently learning how to fly a DJI Phantom 3 drone. I have my theory course coming up in February and am really looking forward to it. I want to try and document the process through blogs and videos. The first two films are below and will help you to see how to set the […]

40 years as a news shooter and still going strong

I am lucky enough to meet and be inspired by many great shooters in the course of my travels. One man who stands out is Richard Atkinson – a South African who has been there, seen it, done it and is still at the cutting edge of this ever evolving business. Richard has been shooting […]

Death of the news shooter: do camera people have a future in a rapidly changing industry?

Love it or hate it the VJ/Sojo/Video producer model does make sense on a lot of levels. The problem for me is that too many traditional cameraman see this model as a threat to be avoided instead of an opportunity to be grabbed with both hands.