Sam Stewart is a wildlife camera operator based in Bristol who has worked on numerous high-level wildlife productions from such esteemed companies and broadcasters as the BBC, Tigress Productions, Plimsoll, Channel 5, and Silverback (Our Planet, The Hunt) where he was awarded a place on their competitive Camera Bursary. I sat down with Sam, ate burritos and talked wildlife film…
P: Since working at Silverback, how has it affected the way you shoot?
S: The main thing is you get sent somewhere quite unique, somewhere another camera team hasn’t gone for a few years before you. You’re there with all the camera gear, it cost a lot to get you there and you focus so tightly on the one story you’re trying to film, but you might see something else happening, or you might see another amazing animal but if it doesn’t quite fit the story then it doesn’t make sense filming it, you’re there to get one thing. You have to go into a shoot and be completely tunnel-visioned on what you’re trying to get, it becomes your entire life. It took me a while to adjust to that. You really have to focus completely. The time it takes to go through it in the logging when you get back, if there’s things in there that don’t need to be, it’s a waste of time really. To get the best out of the location, you just have to be focused on that one thing. There are exceptions to that of course. If something extraordinary happening and you blinkered it out, it’s pointless because sometimes it can happen where something amazing happens and you didn’t expect it. You analyse on the spot so if you think this could be part of the story, let’s adapt it to make it happen.
P: Has the number of people who you work with on shoots changed at all? It sounded like on some of your previous productions, such as the ‘A year in the wild’ series, it seemed to be quite minimal crew numbers, sometimes even just yourself and a guide.
S: It’s often the same, it all varies, I’ve been away on way bigger shoots but I’ve also done smaller ones. With it being a bigger production company, you do get the opportunity sometimes to go away on bigger shoots with more crew. I’ve done shoots with 4 people and I’ve also done shoots on my own. I’ve gone on my own and been with a local guide or a local expert.
Q: What was the dream animal/environment/behaviour that you wanted to film when you first started out?
A: Snow Leopards. I was in a place recently in Mongolia that Snow Leopards inhabit but we were filming something different, we were driving through the mountains that have Snow Leopards. Just to be in that habitat was amazing. To go on a Snow Leopard specific shoot one day would be amazing!
P: …You couldn’t have a picked a more elusive animal to have as your dream animal…
S: Haha! Well, second on the list would be Polar Bears probably, I’ve been lucky enough to film Polar Bears. That gave me such a buzz, when you look down the lens and you see a Polar Bear, oh man!
P: What would you say was one of your most precarious shoots? One that involved a fair bit of danger?
S: Filming Polar Bears, you’ve got to be on high alert and you are out in -40C, miles from anywhere and there’s a Polar Bear 30 meters away from you. Perfectly safe situation, nothing went wrong, nothing would go wrong as long as you’re with the right people but there is always that ‘Oh man, I’m out on the edge a little bit here’ but you kind don’t think like that because you know you’re doing everything right. If they happened to come towards us, we’d just stick it out.
P: It reminds me of when you said to me about when you were filming Grizzly’s in Alaska and the body language you have to emit…
S: You have to be able to read theirs and then give off the right body language and it’s just a combination of the two. No matter how good the light is, or how good the situation is, if it’s not safe to go close or be there then you’ve just got to get away from it. When the situations are right and you’re with the right expert who knows those bears then you can be really close and be very safe.
(On human and animal cohabitation) When you treat the wildlife with respect then those animals have no reason to fear humans. In the Galapagos, you get marine iguanas sat on a wall outside a shop, people will actively walk around a marine iguana on the pavement in front of them and the iguana doesn’t bat an eyelid, if that was central London it wouldn’t be the same. It’s because people treat the wildlife with so much respect, it’s not a human town, it’s a mutual town between humans and wildlife.
P: What was one of the most demanding climates/environments to shoot in?
S: The jungle. The Amazonian rainforest. Everything there is out to get you, the vines snagging on everything. Trying to walk through the jungle with a tripod is next to impossible. The humidity will ruin everything you own, clothing, your skin goes soft and rots basically, anything you own is covered in mould, the humidity will destroy cameras and anything if it wants to. There are things like snakes, Bushmaster Snakes that will sit completely stationary on the path, won’t move, you have to be on alert constantly. Brazilian Wandering Spiders will get into your bed if you don’t cover it up completely, they’ll be in your shirts, in your sleeves. I was recently in Panama and I had a Wandering Spiders in the hide with me for the best part of a week. Every time I moved it out, it instinctively came back…they’ll give you a hell of a bite. Everything there is interconnected to the point where it’s all around you. You just have to be aware of it and just put up with it. It’s not an easy place. Give me the arctic over that any day. I felt so alien when I was in the Amazon, I felt like such an alien, so out of place.
P: What was the first proper overseas wildlife filmmaking job?
S: I went to Oman. First time I’d flown away on a film. First time I’d been paid to film to go somewhere and film. We were filming all sorts of different stuff: snakes, birds, underwater stuff.
P: What are your thoughts about the future?
S: The goal is to be a high-level blue-chip cameraman on series that will have an impact on the world. That’s the goal. I want to keep spending the next few years getting as much experience as I can. Filming long lens, gimbal work, drones, following the technology. I don’t know what’s going to happen with the technology but I just need to stay ahead of it and learn from it and try and keep my skills up as much as I can. As long as what I work on has a big impact. Series like ’Our Planet’ has got so many people talking, it’s great.
P: Thinking of technology, what have you observed in your recent role and the past couple of years that has changed the way you shoot?
S: Drones have been changing the way we make films now for the last 5 years and longer. Even in the last 4 months, we’ve got the Mavic II, it’s a game-changer. The camera is outstanding. It’s ability to go low to the ground and stay completely motionless, is amazing. As long as the subject you’re filming is OK with it, you can use it like a Ronin and just track it 2 foot off the ground and do some insane moves. It’s like a slider/ronin/drone all-in-one. If you just do a sideways lateral movement, there’s no reason that it’s not a slider. All the other drones move around a bit when you’re low to the ground and you can see the drone wallowing, but the Mavic II is rock steady.
