THE BOND VIVANT

An old friend of mine from the London days, Blair Ballard, has recently started up a YouTube channel dedicated to the finer acoutrements of the Bond lifestyle. Blair is a renowned expert on all things James Bond. Having seen the first couple of his videos and being an avid Bond fan, I offered my services as cinematographer. Blair jumped at the offer and we have filmed two videos together so far. What I hadn't expected was to end up in front of the camera playing 'M' in the pre-title sequences that we have had great fun filming.

MARLBOROUGH DARK SKIES FESTIVAL 2020

The Marlborough Town Council planned to hold a weekend long festival dedicated to dark skies. The intention was to hold a series of talks and workshops aimed at informing and inspiring people about the beauty of the night sky. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic meant that this was not possible. The Town Council reacted swiftly and held the 2020 event online, with a number of videos on a range of topics. I made three videos: a general introduction, a beginner's guide to observing and how to find your way around the night sky.

A COSMIC ADVENTURE

I had been thinking for a while that I would like to put together a video that made use of all my astrophotographs. Inspiration struck while attending the Marlborough College Carol Service, I realised that the heavenly voices of the choir would make the perfect soundtrack. I suggested the idea to the choirmaster, Adam Staines, who was delighted to get involved. He composed the music and recruited the Compline Choir to record the voices; thus the soundtrack and the whole project were given life. Jonathan Genton, also of Marlborough College, provided the science advice to ensure that the narration is all factually correct. So, sit back and enjoy this ten minute adventure going from my back garden out to the far reaches of the universe.

NORTH WESSEX DOWNS

AVEBURY DAY

The requirement for this fascinating project was to create a video to help raise awareness of the Wayfaring event at Basildon Park in July 2018 for the event partner, the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The video tracks the route of the Icknield Way across the North Wessex Downs, dropping in at a variety of ancient sites along the way. Drone footage and time lapse sequences were used to make a beautiful study of the route. The video has been promoted across social media and so far has had over 75,000 views.

The organisers of the village fete held on the Avebury Sports Ground asked me to photograph the event from the air. I couldn't miss the chance to shoot some video while up there. I particularly like the overhead view of the Morris Dancers!

MARLBOROUGH GOLF COURSE

This project was commissioned by Marlborough Golf Course, who wanted fly through videos of all eighteen holes at the course. I used my DJI Phantom 4 Pro to film all the footage and edited it with music and my voice over in Premiere Pro. The videos are now on their website and can be viewed in situ here. Alternatively, here are holes one and eighteen to view as examples. To view all eighteen holes, please click here.

LINKSLADE STABLES

SILBURY HILL

Here is a promotional video that I made to help the sale of Linkslade Stables in Lambourn. It is a mix of aerial footage shot with my DJI Phantom 4 Pro and ground based footage shot with my DJI Osmo. I recorded the voice over and edited the entire project in Premiere Pro.

I wanted to practice flying my DJI Phantom 4 drone in the run up to my Flight Assessment, so I decided to create a short film about the ancient site of Silbury Hill. I made a voice over and edited the project in Premiere Pro. I'm pleased to say that I passed my Flight Assessment and became a fully licensed drone pilot in early 2017.

KITE BUGGY RACING

AMNERFIELD MINIATURE RAILWAY

One of my passions in the past was the exhilarating sport of kite buggying. I am a member of SWATK (South West Association of Traction Kiting) and they invited me to shoot a promotional video for their website of buggy racing at Brean Sands. I launched the DJI Phantom 4 and mixed in some ground footage shot with a Canon 1Dx. Enjoy the ride...!

I was delighted to be given the opportunity to create a promotional video for the Amnerfield Miniature Railway. The footage was all shot during the Amner Farm lambing weekend in the spring of 2017 using a DJI Phantom 4 drone, a DJI Osmo and a Canon 1Dx. Editing was done in Premiere Pro with a voice over recorded by the railway staff.

RIVER PARK PROPERTY TOUR

ALDERNEY

Drone footage is particularly useful in the property sector. I was keen to add something to my portfolio in this area, so made a property tour of my own house. I used my DJI Phantom 4 and DJI Osmo.

In the spring of 2017 I was invited to the island of Alderney to give a talk on astronomy. I took all my astroimaging gear, but typically it was cloudy every night! I occupied my time by creating this video. I used my iPhone 7 and Canon 1Dx to shoot everything.

ESCAPE!

THORPE PARK

This is the first project that I made after purchasing a DJI Phantom 4 drone. My son had always wanted to try driving a car, so I took him up to a disused airfield near Marlborough and gave him a short lesson. We then made this film...

I had to find something to amuse myself when I took my son and a group of his friends to Thorpe Park. This video is shot entirely with an iPhone 7.

CROP CIRCLE AT BOREHAM WOOD

IN THE MARLBOROUGH NIGHT GARDEN - THE MAKING OF...

Wiltshire is famous for the amazing crop circles that appear every summer. I made this video of one that was in a field near Lockeridge with my DJI Phantom 4 Pro.

I created this video to accompany my exhibition of astrophotographs in 2016. The idea was to try and explain how I go about creating an image of a deep sky object.

ASTRONOMY VIDEOS

Here is a selection of short videos that I have made of things astronomical.