july 2008

• Last month we had a fab time filming for the BMC again. This time the essential subject was 'Hillwalking'. It involved a big walk in the lakes and a lot of big walks in Scotland. Finally I got to do the classic Anoch Eagach ridge in Glencoe and also the Buchaille. The summit of the Buchaille was (rather delightfully) covered in both mist and midges. Ben was off filming Bez in the Alps (!) for 'Jack Osborne Celebrity Adrenaline Junkie' so Ian Burton was camera operating as well as myself. Ian does loads of stuff for Triple Echo and BBC Scotland and he taught me the stance of the pros. See the photo below.

• After having 8 days away on the Hillwalking shoot I thought it prudent to really push the limits of my relationship with my wife (and children) by gadding off on a shoot for Bigger Picture. They have a new Le Mans film bubbling under. It’s top secret for the moment but Channel 5 are sniffing around, as are the History channel. The shoot was in Connecticut and fantastic. Shooting on HD we interviewed racing legend, John Fitch. John Matthews, the director, did an absolutely brilliant job of latching on to the fact that Fitch was a bit of a spikey character and enjoyed a bit of verbal combat, the result was a really engaging and animated interview. Fitch by the way is 90.