Nashville, Tessessee, USA

Arrived in the evening after a long day of travel, the flight routes in and out from the West coast aren’t exactly well timed. Got to the AirBNB in East Nashvill and talked through the segment. 430 am wakeup and on set by 515 in Franklin TN. The shoot was an event called Nashville Cars and Coffee and it’s for History’s ‘Cars across America’ series. The only downside was the forecast of basically non stop rain.

We took some time to get the equipment ready despite the impending rain. Mounting a Sony A7iii to a DJI Ronin S gimbal and a Sony FS5 built out to function as our primary camera

Getting some in with the Ronin S in Nashville

the rain was a little late so we got down to business and shot some footage of the event. Met a lot of great people and picked up our interviews, overall a great trip. Now, on to Atlanta….

Prague, Czech Republic

I went for a morning walk in Prague before the van arrived to take us to set. This city in the winter has a different character than when i was here in the summer. Not only are there fewer tourists but the brisk cold seems to make more sense when surrounded by these buildings. Prague castle across the river had attracted some other early morning photographers with long lenses trying to get a better vantage on the cathedral in the distance but i was happy to get a wide shot of a foreground river and the cathedral looming above the castle complex on the hill opposite.

The beauty of the cold morning is especially apparent along the river. Walking through the streets is great and there’s plenty to see and photograph but the river sets the mood in a way that I appreciated once i wandered away from it and through the streets. I shot some video and took some stills and i’ve included some of that here. There is so much more here that is worth shooting and when i visit again i’ll be better equipped than I was on this quick walk.

The Charles bridge

Bird watching with the Charles Bridge in the background

Feather in the cobbles

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Arrived in Dubrovnik yesterday and did a quick visit to the set. I can’t believe i get to work in places that look like this. What a beautiful part of the world. hanging out of a cannon turret in a centuries old castle to film a fake battle is still one of the better days at work i’ve had.

I wasn’t aware of how easy it is to become a ten year old again once someone on set says “bring in the smoke cannon…” I want a smoke cannon! The pyrotechnics have been difficult to get used to. things explode a lot and they don’t always give you a heads up…. Sometimes a PA will yell something but i’ve had to clean the camera a few times because i was too close to an explosion and was covered in debris.

We’ve been shooting B-roll of this battle scene and the castle complex is truly dangerous and difficult to navigate. The producer that took us on a walkthrough of the location had broken his ankle scouting the castle and was in a very serious looking cast. We’ve been given access to areas of the grounds that are off limits to the public and given that access with very little supervision. it’s a bit treacherous running through some of these tunnels with a full camera rig on sticks in the 90+ degree heat with no light and big holes in the floor. Truly a lot of fun!

the old city

It’s been phenomenal to work with the Croatian crew and hear their stories. I look forward to coming back here sooner rather than later and getting more time to explore the coast and see what else this region has to experience. Off to Prague in a couple days!

Dublin, Ireland

On set for marketing interviews with the vikings cast, running second camera and audio for the interviews. The crew on the show has been patiently letting us come through and shoot B-roll and do interviews about process and trade craft.

Ashford Studios has expanded dramatically in the years since Vikings premiered and the sprawling grounds now contain a massive backlot set for the Viking village of Kattegat, as well as several new stages and water tank set for ocean scenes. The scale of the production has expanded as well so we have some treks to more locations than in past years.

recap shoot, vikings

Jumping in handling the slate for camera 2 for the Vikings Recap show for History/A&E

Running audio outside in late autumn in County Wicklow presents plenty of wind challenges. The crew is constructing some new pieces of the outer wall of the village and we are trying to get interview pieces shot in between rounds of rotary saws and drilling.

It’s a nice change of pace running audio between shooting B-roll at different locations. switching from eyes to ears helps me not get too fatigued on these long days.

setting up the audio rig