Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
They say to never work with animals or children and while I agree with the children part of that, I’ve always been quite partial to working with animals in front of my camera. You just have to be careful of the ones with horns, sometimes, as this BBC cameraman discovered while filming some Cameroon sheep.
While it’s something that will make every guy who sees it both cringe and laugh, there’s nothing quite as funny as the reaction from the ladies presenting the show.
With much of the world now working from home and communicating via Skype, Zoom and other online video conferencing platforms, the standard headshot against the backdrop of a plain wall or a messy bedroom has become a little old.
So, the BBC wants to help spice things up a little for you, and have released over 100 photographs of the sets, sans actors, from some of their most iconic TV shows including Fawlty Towers, Blackadder, Absolutely Fabulous and Doctor Who, as well as countless other shows that most people outside of the UK probably haven’t even heard of (but they’re popular here).
Earlier this year, the BBC aired two shows about drone safety. DJI has formally filed a complaint against the BBC in an open letter, calling them out for “sensationalist” and “biased” program about drones.
BBC videographer Gordon Buchanan is on a mission of observing and filming a family of polar bears for one of his latest project. So, he came as close to the animals as possible – but one of the bears decided to get even closer. In this video shared by BBC Earth, you can see the scary moment when the polar bear tried to break into the box protecting Buchanan while he was filming.
It’s one of those things that nature photographers and filmmakers struggle with. When to intervene in the natural course of events. Typically, most don’t intervene, especially when they’re there in a straight documentary capacity. Humankind has interfered with wildlife enough already.
Sometimes, though, it just feels like the right thing to do, as this wildlife documentary crew for BBC Dynasties decided.
We’ve seen plenty of Photoshop fails in promotional posters or magazines (and this is my absolute favorite). The latest fail has been spotted in promotional pictures for The Apprentice, where fans noticed that some contestants look like they have three hands. Of course, people were quick to joke about it on social media. But BBC claims that it’s not a Photoshop fail, but that a “lightning illusion” is to blame.
If you’re in search of sound effects, here’s something great coming from the BBC. Their library of more than 16,000 sound effects is now available, and you can download anything you like for free.
In a recent statement, the BBC admitted that one of their documentary series isn’t entirely documentary after all. Some of the scenes from their 2011 series Human Planet were admittedly staged by the creators.
In an episode about the Korowai people of Papua New Guinea, the tribe members were filmed while moving into a treehouse. However, while shooting a new documentary series, the members of the tribe admitted that “they built the treehouses for the benefit of overseas programme makers.”
It’s all you need, really. There you are, in the middle of a field of ice and snow, filming polar bears and their not-so-subtle courtship ritual, and one of your cameras topples over. In this case, the remotely controlled “Blizzardcam”.
Riding on mini skis and propelled by a couple of fan blade motors, the Blizzardcam took a topple going over a bank of snow. It did not escape the notice of the curious courting polar bears. It’s a cute and interesting interaction, made all the more humorous by David Tennant’s narration.
For those that don’t live in the UK, there’s a general election going on at the moment. Today is the day we cast our votes. This particular polling station is where Tim Farron, leader of the Liberal Democrats, happens to be casting his. And as is likely around the polling station of each party’s leader, the entrance is littered with the media.
It seems that here, though, a photographer and video camera operator couldn’t agree on who was going to be standing in a particular spot. They both wanted the same shot as he was coming out, but to quote Connor McLeod, “There can be only one”. A quick shove starts to turn into something a little more determined as this 18 second video plays out.
You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube.
His videos have over a hundred million views, have been extensively published by news outlets, and has even received recognition from a few film festivals, such as International Ocean Festival
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