BBC Countryfile, plus more!
The highlight of my career so far! I am incredibly proud to be featured on BBC Countryfile photographing the Deer Rut, exploring the magnificent Chatsworth Estate in Derbyshire.
So, how did it happen?
Well, I was approached by the team at Countryfile after they found my image, ‘Royal Stag’, and was looking for a local wildlife photographer in the Peak District to film a piece on the deer at Chatsworth. Of course I said yes! We got to work on planning the shoot, the team was incredibly helpful throughout the whole process. I went a few days before the shoot day to photograph the deer, just incase we got nothing on the day. With wildlife photography it can be very hit and miss. So I wanted to make sure we had something, just in case. The actual filming was an incredible experience, the lights and crew did seem to spook the deer at times, and eventually I went off on my own to record the segment myself in a vlog style. Which I think turned out very well, and I have received some fantastic feedback from it.
We were there for about 5 hours, tracking the deer and eventually getting to a location to photograph them. This also gave me an opportunity to talk about my creative process and personal challenges regarding the visual impairment. I have Amblyopia, which is a neurodevelopment issue when your brain starts to ignore the input from one of your eyes, commonly coined as a ‘lazy eye’. On the outside it’s not very noticeable because my eye doesn’t drift, but it happened because in the early stages of my life I should have been wearing patched on the my strong eye (right) to train my brain not using the weaker eye (left). Because I refused to, it was never fixed. Which I know is my own fault!
Back to the Countryfile episode, I got some incredible footage of the deer walking around in bracken up at the top of the estate, and some incredible photographs to go along with it. All which can be seen on the show, with the footage left over I created a YouTube video, to show the extras. The before and after was amazing to film, it’s the first time I have been part of a production team like that, I really enjoyed seeing behind the scenes and the creative direction involved. Surprisingly, I didn’t feel nervous on camera, I was just ‘doing my job’ I guess, I was excited, and spending a morning doing photography which is what I love the most. After the filming was done, it was just a waiting game for me, not telling anyone that I have just been filmed for national prime time television, and not releasing any of the images either. The nerves were beginning to build however, unsure of how the edit would look for the final film.
So, I go round to my brother’s house with his family to sit down and watch the show with a pizza, and I’m on the opening scene! I’m then back on towards the end of the episode. If you would like to watch the episode you can watch it on BBC iPlayer.
For the extras, they can be found on my YouTube Channel.
There’s more after the images, keep scrolling :)
After the episode aired, I had some incredible feedback and so much support from all of the UK which I am incredibly grateful for. I was then contacted by another two teams at the BBC, Radio Derby, and Look North News. Quite literally the day after, I was on the radio, and went up to the studio in Leeds to record another piece for the news! …
And there’s more coming soon. Shhhh!
Here are a few more images that were featured on both shows!
