Filming Wildlife and Wading Through Rivers for a Museum Exhibit

I worked as Director of Photography on a short film that now plays daily at the Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center, a museum just outside of Atlanta. The film, titled Blue Planet, is all about Georgia’s natural beauty. We spent a week traveling to different parks around the city capturing footage of the landscape, wildlife, and staged scenes with actors. I have added BTS shots to the bottom of this post if you want to see those. The finished film is a pretty unique immersive viewing experience. Part of it is projected through a wall of falling water. I recently visited to watch it, and it was really rewarding to see my footage on display in such a creative way.

This was a really fun project to be part of. It felt a lot like shooting a National Geographic documentary. The crew consisted of three producers, myself, and a drone operator. Originally, the team had flown to Atlanta with a Director of Photography, but unfortunately he injured his back at the airport lifting his camera case. So they quickly found me and I was happy to help out.

They wanted to capture as much wildlife as possible, and at first I wasn’t sure how much we would find. But I was wrong. I ended up getting footage of an alligator snapping turtle, a vulture, a snake, and plenty of local birds and animals. One of the shots I’m most proud of came from a moment where I waded through a deep stream to get a low-angle shot of the water flowing. I was wearing waders, carrying my Sony FX6 on a gimbal, and the water was so deep in some places it came up to my chest. The bottom of the stream was uneven, full of slippery rocks. If I lost my footing, the camera would be gone. I did slip a number of times, ruining the shot but luckily not the camera. It was nerve-wracking but worth it for the footage.

There was one particularly intense moment during that shoot. The museum has a manmade stream running through the middle of the property, and we wanted to get a tracking shot down the center of it. The drone operator had trouble flying that route, so I volunteered to walk through it with a gimbal to get the shot.

The following morning we went out there as the sun was rising and I suited up with a pair of waders and climbed into the stream. The water was cold and in some places it was so deep it came up to my chest. I had my Sony FX6 on a gimbal and was walking through the stream trying my best to get nice smooth shots.

The bottom of the stream was uneven, full of slippery rocks. If I lost my footing, the camera would be gone. I did slip a number of times, ruining the shot but luckily not the camera. At one point I walked through a giant spiderweb. This is the worst time to go through a spiderweb because I could not take my hands off the gimbal. I walked as quickly as I could toward shore, hoping there was not a spider crawling across my face.

It was a pretty scary thing to do, but I am really glad I did it. The footage looks awesome.

If you’re in the Atlanta area and want to check it out, you can catch a screening of Blue Planet at the Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center.

This is a picture of the exhibit where the film plays.

This is a picture of the exhibit where the film plays.

This is a picture of the exhibit where the film plays.