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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.

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