Sunday 30 December 2012

2012 in a Nutshell

So we have come to the end of 2012 and what a year it has been! I thought I would try in one post to sum up the year that I have had and try to put in to context some of my favorite wildlife moments both through a view finder and without a camera.

My year started in Cornwall. I was in my final year of University and I was racing to finish a project on Cornish Grey Seals. Some of my best wildlife moments of this year are without doubt some of the moments from my third year at university.

Swimming with grey seals is up there undoubtably. I often returned to the same dive site and after a few visits could recognise the same individuals over and over again. Through this identification together with the Cornwall Seal Group, we managed to track one individual seal from the south coast of Cornwall, all the way to St Ives here she had a pup, then we tracked her back to the south coast to the exact same rock I had seen here only a few months before.



It was in mid February when I had my first job for the BBC thanks to a unbelievably generous producer in Bristol. I was a field assistant filming seals in Cornwall and a learnt tons!!!




Since then I have been doing a fair bit for 'Seasons' (an upcoming tv series) and its been so much fun/not to mention how much it has taught me about being a cameraman. I have been lucky enough to work with some incredibly talented cameramen and I am so thankful for the opportunities I have been given.  I was even lucky enough to spend a few days assisting Simon King, which was an unbelievable opportunity. So unbelievable in fact that having just driven to Cornwall when I received the call, I got back in the car and drove back to Dorset at 3am ready for an 8am start, it just had to be done!!

One of the highlights for sure was filming Nightjar in June, I cant reveal too much but lets just say that it was one of the best weeks of this year and I am very much looking forward to seeing the final sequence. After 4 days of searching for a nightjar nest, using thermal cameras, incredible local knowledge and epic amounts of time we eventually found one......on the final morning of the shoot!!!

My Kingfisher project has really been a great learning curve for me this year and has allowed me to increase the standard of my portfolio. As far as I know it has been the same bird I have photographed since september this year. I wont bore you with KF chat as you have heard enough from me on that front. 





One thing that I have always dreamed of doing is "filming or photographing Kingfishers, for the BBC" and somehow, in a crazy couple of days it actually happened. I was commissioned to photograph a Kingfisher at close range for Richard Hammonds "Miracles of Nature". It was my first TV credit, a dream come true to see a Kingfisher image I had taken on BBC 1. 





As this year has drawn to an end, this last week of awful weather has allowed me to really appreciate how awesome this year has been. I have learnt so much from so many great people and I cant thank the Seasons Team enough for the opportunities I have had.


My top wildlife moment of the year..........





I have a number of goals for next year, and I am prepared to work as hard as I possibly can to achieve them.


Thanks very much for reading. 





6 comments:

  1. Amazing year Sam,stunning nuture moments,enjoyed following.
    Happy New Year.

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  2. Great work Sam with superb results, good luck for 2013.

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  3. Great stuff Sam :)

    Have a great New Year!

    Kirk

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  4. Sounds like you've had a very productive year Sam!

    All the best for 2013,

    Oscar

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