JUNE 2025 - Mountain Drone Operator for BritRock Films – Filming ‘An Inconvenient Tooth’ on Skye

Out again with Al Lee and BritRock Films to film Robbie Phillips attempting an on-sight of An Inconvenient Tooth (E7 6c), with Topher along to belay.

Al’s plan was to catch the golden evening light to give the footage a cinematic edge. We met at the Sligachan pub at 2pm and began the walk-in with the usual heavy sacks. It was a clammy, sweltering day—by the time we hit the steep scree slopes below the climb, I felt like I was about to burst with heat.

Up at the base, we were met with cloud blowing hard over the Basteir Tooth from the south, leaving the rock damp and conditions less than ideal. Flying the drone was a gamble too—thick cloud can interfere with sensors and cause sketchy auto-landings as it mistakes mist for solid ground.

So we sat it out, rehydrating and regrouping, hoping conditions would shift. And luckily, they did. As the sun began to dip—on the longest day of the year, no less—the clouds lifted and the wind began to settle, as it often does on Scottish evenings. It reminded me of my old canoe guiding days: battling winds all day, then launching at dinnertime when the breeze finally dropped. The wind didn’t vanish completely, but it halved in strength—enough to dry the route and give Robbie a more relaxed feeling about the route.

As with all filming missions with Al, I’ll keep the full story under wraps—it’s best saved for the big screen later in the year :) But behind the scenes, it was a big day in the end. Unfortunately as Al abseiled off the top of the tooth after filming on the ropes for the day/night, the ropes jammed. On Gabbro this can just take an edge to do. Doesn’t need to be twisted or jammed in a groove as the rock is so rough. Robbie soloed up Naismith’s route in the dark to throw them from the top. While we looked after his dog Bonnie and carried his bag and would meet him after he traversed over Am Bastier and down the other side.

We wrapped up on the longest day with headtorches blazing and a long walk back in the dark. I reached my car at 3am, just as the heavens opened, and crashed out in the back while the rain hammered down.

An epic day on the hill, and hopefully some stunning footage to show for it—the Cuillin never disappoints. Al’s girlfriend Lewis was along too, snapping photos, and hopefully enjoyed the adventure despite the late finish.

Here’s my favourite shot of the day—Sgùrr nan Gillean at sunset, stitched from six drone photos, taken from 100 metres above the ridge:

JUNE 2025 - Aerial Filming a very hard Rock climb for Britrock at Dumbarton near Glasgow

A fun bit of Drone pilot work and camera operator near Glasgow at Dumbarton Rock. I hadn’t filmed this face since 1998 with the Nick Tarmey film Cutting Loose with a bunch of us including Dave Macleod, who’s route we were here to film that he did way back in 2006 and is still ranked as one of the most physically hard routes in the UK all these years later, a little break down and history of it below:)

Rhapsody (E11) – Dumbarton Rock, Scotland

Rhapsody is one of the most iconic and demanding traditional rock climbs in the world. Located on Dumbarton Rock near Glasgow, it was first climbed by Dave MacLeod on 9 April 2006 and became the first-ever E11-graded trad route in the UK. It follows the upper half of the famous E8 route Requiem, then pushes through a brutal crux with minimal protection and huge fall potential.

MacLeod spent over two years working on the line, taking multiple 20–25 metre falls in the process. The climb was filmed in the award-winning documentary E11 by Hot Aches Productions, capturing the intense physical and psychological challenge.

The route is 35 metres long and breaks down into three parts:

  • An easier lower slab leading to a small rest ledge

  • A sustained diagonal crack (shared with Requiem) with small wire protection

  • A desperate and bold crux sequence (around French 8c+ / 5.14c), with almost no gear and massive fall potential

What makes Rhapsody so infamous isn’t just the technical difficulty, but the seriousness. Falling off the crux results in huge falls, often past the resting ledge and dangerously close to the ground. It’s considered one of the most dangerous trad climbs in the world.

Since MacLeod’s first ascent, it has seen very few repeats:

  1. Dave MacLeod (2006 – first ascent)

  2. Sonnie Trotter (2008)

  3. Steve McClure (2008)

  4. James Pearson (2014)

  5. Jacopo Larcher (2016)

  6. Gérôme Pouvreau (2018)

  7. Mathew Wright (2024)

Each climber has confirmed the exceptional difficulty and commitment required. Even years after the first ascent, Rhapsody remains a benchmark for elite-level traditional climbing.

In the words of Magnus Midtbø, who visited the route in 2024:

"Possibly the most dangerous route in the world."

We were here to possibly catch the newest ascent if all went well. Billy Ridal called Al Lee to say he felt he was getting close to being able to do it. So off we went to film it for Al’s Brotrock Films. Really interesting seeing someone do this route. I had seen Dave’s film and read his book where it features quite a bit. Billy comes from a competition background and by the sounds of the guys chatting hasn’t done masses of trad climbing. He said the route was definitely his style and he set about it in a very positive and keen way.

There were certainly a few huge whippers which I imagine pleased Al a lot as if he had just gone straight up it the story would not be quite the same lol. The thing that astonished me was hearing about people taking years to try and break those top moves on it after the very bumpy coverhanging crack below and trying to do such hard moves when tired and having to build towards it. Billy seems to be extremely strong for sure and I don’t know enough about it but I’d imagine the time he took is probably the fastest. So amazing effort and also amazing this route had stood the test of time since Dave first climbed it in 2006 the year Billy began climbing at 9 years old:)

The team plus Matt who showed up just 10 mins after)

Billy and Frances who belayed and had a few flying through the air moments:)

JUNE 2025 - Filming Sam Thompson for UNICEF and Socceraid, 10's of millions of views on Social media

A wild week following Sam Thompson doing a marathon a day on foot and by bike from one stadium to the next stadium. Start at Arsenal in London and finishing at Old Trafford in Manchester.

A friend Vicci was doing the media bit for UNICEF and brought me on board to film as I have previously filmed with Comic Relief and Children in Need with Vicci and we get on well.

Here I would be in the lead vehicle filming Sam as he ran and cycled. The lead vehicle had a documentary crew in it. As these challenge events they raise usually a quarter to half the money from the actual event and through daytime TV, News and social media and the other half from a documentary that airs a week or so after the event. So it’s funny filming these as the documentary team are trying to film everything too. But I just film the occasional pieces throughout the day not absolutely everything like them and try stay out of their cameras way:) I then do a rough edit on my computer to pull out the better pieces etc and then upload to our base where a guy Matthew then edited social media posts from it, and Anna and Gabs would also edit things from it. I’d then film a bit, edit, upload repeat over and over all day. Then in the evening I’d have to quickly do a 5-10 minute highlight reel for Media. Such as News shows etc to use in their cycles. I would then do a longer edit (I say edit its just more a selection of shots and interviews for others to edit) for ITV This Morning that was featuring my footage each day. One of the days I also filmed a VT for This Morning with Ben Sheperd.

As well as myself and the Doc crew there was a social media team for UNICEF getting other pieces and then Sam had his own social guy Ted, ITV TM had a live crew each day and each person that met Sam to run with him for a short while usually also had their own media team:)

Was a fun week, couldn’t do it every week as 18 hr days take their toll. But worth it for the money raised and my overtime was my bit to charity:) A few pics of the day week below.

Some of the footage I took that was made into reels on instagram have individually had millions of views (one vid 8million) and probably 10’s of millions combined which is amazing.. This started the fund raising this week with £1.5m and by the end of it all as in documentary and football game it got up to £15m:)

MAY 2025 - Making 3D Models of the sets for the new 'Highlander' movie

A fun day going round several sites in the highlands in Scotland to capture footage and pictures and also use the meta data in the pictures from my Inspire 3 drone to create 3D models of these locations for the set designers for the new Highlander film. A big day getting to all these sites which are also all secret so can’t reveal anything, plus it is still in the recci stage so these sites weren’t confirmed yet.

Exciting to get involved in this film though in some way and I was pretty chuffed with how my 3D models look. The Set design team were also super pleased with them and will have me out on others again soon:)

Used my Inspire 3 drone to do the pictures for 3D modelling as it has very accurate GPS and positioning data on every picture

Also flew my Mavic 3 pro CINE to get a bunch of footage of the site to give a feel of surroundings etc for them. They wanted smaller files for the filming than the Inspire 3 creates:)

MAY 2025 - Filming climbers on Shelterstone crag in the Cairngorms

A big day out with Britrock films, this time without Al Lee as he was out in Wales filming at the time so sent me on a solo mission. An old friend from Banchory had been trying to get me to take out one of his school pupils who is into climbing and filming. So this would be a perfect day for him, Tavish, as he could help me carry some kit and lighten the 30+ Kg rucsac of mine and also get us a second angle on the climbers.

The climbers we would be filming were Robbie Philips who lives Edinburgh way and Jamie Lowther a local climber to me. I had not met either before but I know Jamie’s Dad John and this came about due to me chatting with him in Aldi’s 5 days before lol.

Obviously the forecast was amazing as it has been for a while now. We walked in Coire Snetchda and up the goat track. Got a drone shot at the beginning then a few camera shots on the way. I don’t fly the drone on the plateau at this time of year as nesting season. I’m not sure the drone would make any difference in comparason to people walking around and certainly less disturbing than a dog. But you never know and the plateau is a special delicate area.

Was great chatting with everyone and all a good bunch great views as we went in. We then reached the foot of the climb and got the guys set with radio mics. They record internally, thankfully as we have no Al lee on the ropes and they went out of signal fairly quickly. The guys were heading up Thor an E5 6B on the slab area of this impressive crag. There were only two other climbers on the crag so I went to chat to them about the drone flying to see if they were ok with it. As it can be off putting at times on the crag. In the end it became so windy no one would hear it unless 5 meters from it lol. They were good with the drone and after returning home I sent them a few pics of them on the needle climbing.

Our climbers did well up the route following an overlap on the slab from left to right. A guy abseiled down from the top to clean a route on the slab. Which was a shame for the filming but thankfully Robbie knows him and all good with the filming. After they did the route that ends 2/3 off the way up the mountain they abseiled off then decided to do Haystack a classic E3 up the Bastion to give a much better filming finish and stand on a summit. Myself and Tavish filmed a couple of pitches then scarmbled round to the top while carrying the climbers bags on our fronts. Getting to the top it was very windy and northern so freezing cold. Colder for the climbers though I’d imagine.

From the top of the cliff it is impossible to see what is going on below so harder to time when to fly a drone down the cliff. But we got some great shots and got them coming onto the summit and a little interview with them. Then we packed up quickly in the cold cloudy evening and started the long but beautiful walk back round the plateau and down the goat track. I could definitely feel my legs by the end with the heavy load and even Tavish seemed tired too by then. A few pics below from the day.

MAY 2025 - Drone pilot in Port Glasgow for a Bollywood feature film

A fun day aerial filming on a Bollywood feature film near Glasgow. Bollywood is always a little different from other Films to work on. Mainly as you get maybe 15 people telling you what to do. Thankfully the DOP said this to me early on and said just listen to myself and these two and ignore everyone else as if just background noise lol!

Had a morning of doing establishing shots of the Finlayston House and estate. Then a few fast car shots flying down a stream with trees very near my props which was fun. Then later in the day we did a bunch of shots with the actor running from the building. A great bunch of folk to work with and interesting to see all their setups as they headed into doing a night shoot too..

A few screen grabs and pictures of the day below.

MAY 2025 - Drone operator on Ben Loyal in the far north of Scotland to film a hard climb

Continuing the following of hard climbs and climbers I headed to Ben Loyal again with Alastair Lee for Britrock films. This time to film Franco Cookson who is working a hard slab route on one of the buttresses of this amazing mountain:)

A big walk in with a 30 Kg rucksack again and got some filming done with the drone and long lens. But we will return at a later date to see the route completed as Franco works away at it. A few pictures of the day below:)

MAY 2025 - Drone pilot on the Cobbler filming Mat Wright on a hard route he tries to onsight

A fun day with Britrock films and Alaister Lee filming Dalriada a E7 6b climb first climber by Gary Latter in 1995 then a second ascent by Dave Macleod in 1999 and the first female ascent in 2015 by Natalie Berry. An amazing route and possibly Scotlands most photogenic route!

We had a great day out especially after arriving at the bottom of the routes finishing the carry of 30Kg of camera kit, drone batteries etc from sea level lol. Al was on the ropes and route as usual doing A Camera while I did drone operator and Long lens:)

Should be a fun watch to see how it goes for the onsight on Bitrock film tour later in the year:) https://britrockfilms.com

A few pictures from the day below

MAY 2025 - Drone Pilot on a Horror Feature film in Scotland

A cool few days staying in a lovely Light house keepers cottage on a remote island (EileanSionnach) off the Isle of Skye in Scotland. The boatman Gus took us out to the island for a night on the 100m by 50m sized small island with a walled garden, cottage and the lighthouse on it and two trees lol. The cottage is stunning itself and a fantastic place to get away from the world.

Originally I was heading here for a days filming with the Inspire 3 drone shooting in ProRes RAW for the feature film. But speaking to the workers they were actually heading there to do some roof work with scaffold and roof ladders. Not what I wanted. So we went out the night before and that allowed us to film a sunset and sunrise and some night shots with the lighthouse on and working.

The weather was stunning so not too horror-ish so very pleased could film some at night. Would love to go back one day to stay.

A few screen shots of my drone and a few iphones shots below:) Looking forward to seeing the film that will be shot later in the year. It is called Eminent and their instagram profile is @eminent.

APRIL 2025 - Live Camera Operator from Jersey with ITV This Morning

A fun few days out in Jersey doing some filming for VT’s with Phil Vickery as the chef presenter, Dom Gatt directing and Julia as food preparations. Then we had John from Jersey as our main fixer who sorted all the people and places we visited. Extremely helpful guy.

We went out fishing for a morning then visited a Jersey cow dairy farm then we cooked the mackerel near a beach at The ‘Driftwood’ Cafe which also has some lovely food inside. The following day we filmed the first picking of Jersey Royal potatoes live. The first live I have done for over 20 years. The last one was with ITN News with Laurence McGuinty in Antarctica lol.

We then cooked the Jersey Royals Live on television for ITV This Morning and it all went well and looked good thanksfully:) I then cooked the same Jersey Royals at home for my parents when they visited and had them with Salmon, it was very tasty:)

APRIL 2025 - Drone pilot on a Redbull film with Kriss Kyle and Danny Macaskill

A fun day doing the aerial filming for a Redbull film. The film features Kriss and Danny and is building to something. Can’t tell you what it is but you’ll find out in the coming months I am sure. Was a good team with Ben as off site DOP, Molly as director, Don as A Camera, Ant as B camera, Grace as athlete relations, Meredith producer from Redbull, Will as assistant to camera and Miles do some FPV drone.

Filmed at Helensburough, Dumbarton and out at Arrochar. A few screen shots below from the drone and phone.

Myself, Danny and Kriss:)

APRIL 2025 - Filming another Beluga Lagoon music video. This time with a Goblin:)

A fun weekend with 11 folk in the house as we film another music video nearby my home in Aviemore at a friends derelict house that we spent a bit of time making look like a real bothy. It actually looked quite cosy after a bit of work. The house is Richard Elliots and mate who is also a drone pilot and I work with a fair bit.

Freddy a 10 year old and his Dad Craig would be the main stars here. With Andrew and myself filming. Blaine was here to help sort things on set and also entertain Freddy when we were filming Craig.

Freddy did amazing as this was a night shoot and we did not finish until after midnight! A few pictures below of the BTS. Looking forward to seeing the finished film.

APRIL 2025 - Beluga Lagoon music video out.

Here’s the finished film from the previous blog. Pretty pleased with how Andrew edited it together with his music:). Blaine is looking good in the shots and whole thing looks stunning. Camera operators are both myself and Andrews as he was on his camera too. Obviously during me doing the drone pilot bits Andrew filmed with his camera. That floating light had a bird carrying it on a longline:)

MARCH 2025 - Drone pilot on a music video for Beluga Lagoon

Another few days filming with Beluga Laggon. We had a fun few days as we paddled into a remote spot in the Scottish Highlands to film some night scenes and bad weather scenes for a man lost somewhere remote. I never really know entirely what I’m filming when doing these with Andrew and the story is in his head and often they are a little wacky the stories until you see them then sometimes they are a little less wacky when on screen with the music. But sometimes not lol.

Blaine was our main character here but Mark had come along for the banter anyway and ended up as chief smoke machine operator. I mean an actual smoke machine not a euphemism. We got some great shots of Blaine and some fun making my drone carry a little bunch of lights that were to represent some weird object in the night sky for Blaine to follow. It looked pretty good through the ground cameras. Few pics below.

Our paddle out was pretty horrendous in a head wind and complete pishing with rain. Underwear wet in 20 mins type rain. But we made it. Took 30 minutes to paddle in and 3.5 hrs to paddle out hahaha.

Blaine doing a bit of acting

The bad weather comes in for a bit:)

Blaine following the mysterious light