37 times festival finalist, 2 BAFTA winner, 5 times Emmy Award winner, 2 times Kodak Vision Award winner + many other international awards.
With 35 years experience in documentary and wildlife film-making I have major photography credits for over 80 high-end television programmes and series, feature films and commercials ranging in scope and style from Peter Greenaway’s ‘A Zed and Two Noughts’ and the BBC features ‘Deep Blue’, ‘to the Netflix series 'Our Planet', Nat Geo's 'One Strange Rock and Apple TV's 'Tiny Planet'.
My first major break as a freelancer came with David Attennborough's landmark series, 'Private Life of Plants' where I spent almost 3 years in the early 90's working on time-lapse sequences for the series and for which I won my first Kodal Vision Award.
In 2015, after 2 decades of wild and remote filming from the 4 corners of our planet, I established a specialist film studio on the Caribbean island of Dominica where I worked successfully for a number of productions including major rain forest sequences for ‘Darren Aronofsky’s One Strange Rock’. In September 2017 the studio , together with most of Dominica was destroyed by Hurricane Maria and I moved my base back to the UK.
I am an experienced MoVi and Steadicam operator and I've worked extensively in both hot and cold envioronments. In recent years I've moved back to my roots spending more and more of my time shooting motion control plant time-lapse and macro sequences. After 7 months managing and running a purpose built hot-house time-lapse studio for a Plimsoll/Apple project at Aadman Animations I re-opened my purpose built home time-lapse and macro studio which has now been in continuous use throughout the 2020 pandemic lockdown.
40 Years in the Wild
Currently working on
The Island
Work in progress
Disney, Netflix and BBC
Awards
EMMY - Winner Outstanding Cinematography: Long Form -BBC- 'One Life' 2015
EMMY – Outstanding Individual Achievement in Cinematography – Human Planet 2012
GREEN SCREEN – Best Film of Festival – ‘Sahara – Life on the Edge’ - 2012
IWFF, Missoula – Honourable Mention Photography, “Wildest Africa – Sahara” 2012
EMMY – Nomination for Outstanding Individual Achievement – Cinematography – BBC ‘How Earth Changed History’ 2011
BAFTA nomination for principle photography - BBC ‘How Earth Made Us’ 2010
WILDSCREEN PANDA for Best Children’s Series - OTF ‘The Monkey Thieves’ 2010
EMMY for Outstanding Cinematography for non-fiction programme (Team) - ‘Life’ 2010
BAFTA Best Specialist Factual Series - BBC ‘Life in Cold Blood’ 2009
WILDSCREEN GOLDEN PANDA Best of Festival - BBC ‘Life in Cold Blood’ 2008
KODAK AWARD for Cinematography (Team) - BBC ‘Planet Earth’ 2007
WILDSCREEN PANDA Best Series - BBC ‘Europe, A Natural History’ 2006
WILDSCREEN PANDA Cinematography (Team) - BBC ‘Planet Earth’ 2006
WILDSCREEN GOLDEN PANDA Best Film – BBC ‘Life in the Undergrowth’ 2006
JACKSON HOLE Best Limited Series - BBC ‘Europe, A Natural History’ 2005
RTS Nomination for Cinematography – Granada ‘The Dark Side of Elephants’ 2005
JACKSON HOLE Finalist – BBC ‘Nile’ 2005
SHANGHAI FILM FESTIVAL Best Photography - BBC ‘Nile’ 2005
BAFTA nomination photography factual (Team) - BBC ‘The Life of Mammals’ 2002
JACKSON HOLE Finalist – BBC ‘Iguanas: Living Like Dinosaurs’ 2002
BAFTA nomination photography factual – BBC ‘Wild Africa: Forests’ 2002
BAFTA nomination photography factual (Team)l – BBC ‘Blue Planet’ 2002
MISSOULA IWFF Best Photography - BBC ‘Wild Africa: Forests’ 2002
MISSOULA IWFF Best Photography - BBC ‘Iguanas: Living Like Dinosaurs’ 2003
KODAK VISION AWARD – BBC ‘Wild Africa: Jungles’ 2002
FESTIVAL DE L’OISEAU Grand Prix – BBC ‘Attenborough in Paradise’ 2001
KODAK VISION AWARD – BBC ‘Private Life of Plants’ 1995
EMMY for Outstanding Cinematography for non-fiction programme BBC ‘Private Life of Plants’ 1995
JACKSON HOLE Grand Teton Award Best Film Series – BBC ‘Realms of the Russian Bear’ 1993
BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography (Team) - BBC ‘The Trials of Life’ 1990
PREVIOUSLY TO A LIFE IN FILM
I have a degree in combined botany and zoology with 3 years experience in the entomology department of the Natural History museum in London and 2 years in education at the Commonwealth Institute. At the same time I was Scientific Co-ordinator (Central America) for Operation Raleigh, now Raleigh International. In 1983 I started my first camera assistant job at Science Pictures.
Previous Work
2016-2020 - Once Strange Rock, Our Planet, Tiny Planet, Perfect Planet, Night on Earth for Netflix, BBC and Apple
Major Credits – Richard Kirby – Director/Cameraman, Series Director
2015
Atlantic – BBC – Camera
Colombia – ‘Magia Salvaje’ Cinema Feature – DoP
2014
Lands of the Monsoon – BBC – Camera
Wildest Middle East - Discovery – Camera
2013
Wildest Islands – 10 Part series for Discovery. Series Director and DoP
2012
Wildest Latin America – 5- Part series for Discovery. Series Director and DoP
2011
Human Planet – BBC . Series Producer Dale Templer
The Monkey Thieves – Series 3 – Canal Plus, Arte.
Wildest India – 5 part series for Discovery. Series Director and DoP
2010
How the Earth Made Us - BBC
Wildest Africa – 13- Part series for Discovery. Series Director and DoP
2009
The Monkey Thieves – Series 2 – National Geographic
Life in Cold Blood – BBC
2008
The Monkey Thieves – Off the Fence Productions for National Geographic and France 5. 13-part series following the lives of Rhesus Macaques in Jaipur, India. Series Director - Allison Bean. Series Producer – Collin Collis.
2007
Planet Earth – BBC series
Life – Major BBC series currently in Production
GANGES - BBC Programme 2,Major BBC 10 part series Prod. Tom Hugh-Jones
Earth – The Movie – BBC/Discovery Feature
2006
LOST WORLDS – ‘BRAVEHEART’ - Atlantic Productions – Prod. Bill Markham
LOST WORLDS – ‘ST PAUL’– Atlantic productions – Prod. Bill Markham
THE PERFECT STORM - Impossible Pictures – Dir. Mike Slee
LIFE – The Mammalian Hordes - BBC – Prod. Dr. Ted Oakes
CRASH SCIENCE – CARS – Granada – Dir. Allison Bean
LIFE IN THE UNDERGROWTH – BBC – 6 part Attenborough series – Prod. Mike Salisbury
2005
VODAPHONE MAYFLY Commercial - Gorgeous Productions –for TV and Theatrical Release
DARKSIDE OF ELEPHANTS – Granada/ Nat Geo - Prod. Steve Gooder
DARK SIDE OF HIPPOS – Granada/Nat Geo – Prod. Allison Bean
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF EUROPE – BBC – Prod. Pip Lawson
THE ELEPHANT’S STORY – ORTV – Dir. Mike Slee – Theatrical Feature
2004
THE DARKSIDE OF CHIMPS – Granada/Nat Geo/C5 – Prod. Steve Gooder
NILE – 3 part series – BBC - Series prod. Martha Holmes – 2 years filming
MY HALCYON RIVER – BBC – Prod. Charlie Hamilton James
2002
WILD AFRICA – FORESTS - BBC – Prod. Andrew Murray – 12 months filming
WILDLIFE ON ONE – IGUANA – BBC – Prod. Mark Brownlow
2001
BLUE PLANET – BBC – Prod. Martha Holmes
DEEP BLUE – BBC – Dir. Allastair Fothergill – Feature
JEEP – NATURAL ATTRACTION – Gerard De Thame productions
LIFE OF MAMMALS – BBC Series Prod. Mike Salsbury
PRE- 2000
STATE OF THE PLANET – BBC - 3 part series with Sir David Attenborough.
SHADOWS OF THE SUN – BBC – Prod. Neil Lucas – Time-lapse and Slo mo
LIVING WITH EL NINO – BBC - Dir. Kate Broome
GIRAFFE- THE IMPOSSIBLE ANIMAL – BBC - Dir. Sarah Byatt
MERLIN – Mysterious Passions – TV Feature
CROCODILE – BBC – Prod. Gavin Maxwell
CANYONS, DAMS AND DINASAURS – Mike Birkhead Productions – Prod. Huw Cordy
ATTENBOROUGH IN PARADISE – BBC
THE PRIVATE LIFE OF PLANTS – BBC – Attenborough – 3 year contract
WALK ON THE WILDSIDE – Prod. Simon King
BAHRAIN – LAND OF LIFE-GIVING WATERS – OSF
REALMS OF THE RUSSIAN BEAR – BBC – 6 part series – 2 year project
HAWAII – BEYOND THE FEATHERED GODS – BBC
LIFESENSE – BBC
THE TRIALS OF LIFE – 12 part BBC Attenborough series – 2 year project
SPLASHDOWN – BBC
BAIKAL – BLUE EYE OF SIBERIA – Cicada Productions – 3 part series
SUPERSENSE – John Downer – BBC
A ZED AND TWO NOUGHTS – Dir. Peter Greenaway – Theatrical feature.
