SEPTEMBER 2025 - Drone filming with Guy Martin on The British Train That Changed the World

Steam, stories, and a sky full of drones

Every so often a job comes along that feels a bit special. This one did. Channel 4 were filming Guy Martin: The British Train That Changed the World, marking 200 years since the Stockton & Darlington Railway — the line that more or less started everything on rails.

I was back on board as drone pilot, capturing the sights from above — steam, countryside, and a fair bit of history rolling beneath the rotors.

Back with the gang

Ewan, the director, gave me the call for this one. We’d worked together last year up in the Cairngorms on Guy Martin’s Proper Jobs with Mountain Rescue Sarda Dogs. It was a great shoot and a cracking team, and we all got on well — folk who could graft all day then still have a laugh over a pint at night.

So when he said the same crew were back — Justin Evans on camera, Graeme Smiles producing, Andrew Cholton on sound, and Simon Stubbs on minicams — I knew it’d be a good few days. We met up for dinner the night before, swapping stories and a bit of slagging about who’d drawn the shortest straw on call times. It’s the kind of easy company that makes early mornings a lot lighter.

A royal start to the day

Next morning was bright and freezing — that proper northern air (southern for me a suppose) that wakes you up faster than any coffee. The train was sitting ready at the line, steam drifting into the cold air, and there was a bit more buzz than usual. Turned out Prince Edward was coming along for the launch, which meant there’d be police drone teams flying too.

We all had a quick briefing, sorted our flight levels, and made sure everyone knew who was where. It’s not every day you’ve got three drone teams sharing the sky — especially with royalty standing a few yards away — but everyone handled it well. Bit of coordination, bit of patience, and a lot of mutual respect.

Getting airborne

For this shoot I ran my Mavic 3 Pro Cine for general shots and my brand-new Mini 5 Pro for closer shots but not as close as I’d hoped. 50m away because DJI made the drone 3 grams too heavy!. It’s a lovely bit of kit but will be more useful to me from January when the rules change.

The first location they’d marked for me was wide open, perfect for flight — only thing was, I couldn’t actually see the track from ground level. Once I sent the drone up though, there it was: the locomotive gleaming in the low morning sun, steam curling across the fields, the line stretching out through County Durham.

There’s something about watching a steam train from above — the rhythm, the smoke trail, the whole movement of it — that feels like stepping through time.

After those runs, we shifted to a second spot closer to town. Narrower airspace, more folk about, but that’s where the Mini 5 Pro came into its own. Smooth flying, plenty of control, and the footage looked brilliant on playback.

Wrapping up

Once we’d finished the last sequence, we packed down, had a few quick words with the crew, and I hit the road north again. Short trip, long day, but one of those satisfying ones where you know you’ve caught something a bit special.

A line that changed everything

On 27 September 1825, the Stockton & Darlington Railway opened its line from Shildon to Stockton via Darlington. George Stephenson’s Locomotion No. 1 hauled the first public steam train, carrying passengers and goods, and set off a chain reaction that spread across the world.

Two centuries on, it’s still a powerful story — invention, industry, and people connecting places for the first time. To film it now, with modern cameras and flying drones, felt like closing a neat wee circle between past and present.

Final thoughts

Jobs like this remind me why I love what I do. It’s the mix of history, craft, and teamwork — the buzz of working with a great crew and the privilege of framing something that means a lot to people.

Flying over the birthplace of the railways, marking 200 years of progress, and doing it alongside good folk — that’s a day well spent in my book. On Channel 4 26th October 7:30pm

A few pics from screen grabs below

JULY 2025 - Filming Dance, Nature & Young Rangers in the Cairngorms

I had a fun few days working with Rupert Shanks and Robbie, on a beautifully creative project for Cairngorms Connect. The film is being led by Robbie, who has a background in dance and movement, and this piece brings that expressive energy into the landscape and everyday work of the young rangers from the Cairngorms National Park.

Over a couple of days, we filmed the rangers as they carried out conservation work like tree planting, using a mix of Steadicam, traditional handheld camera work, and some macro-style close-ups using my new probe lens — great for getting right into the detail of nature.

Robbie had choreographed some simple but expressive movements that tied into the surroundings and the actions the rangers were doing — giving it a very organic, art-meets-environment feel.

Then, one evening, we headed up near Badaguish to capture a more stylised sequence in the woods. The rangers — and a bunch of other kids — moved dynamically through the trees, jumping, climbing, and swinging. The sequence built up to a really striking final scene centred on a moth trap — a glowing, bright light source in the darkness. As dusk fell, we filmed them swarming around it like moths themselves, using the drone to capture wide, elegant aerial movements.

It was an unusual and rewarding project — a nice mix of nature, movement, and cinematography. I’m looking forward to seeing what Rupert and Robbie piece together from the footage.

JULY 2025 – Filming the Oasis Drone Swarm Over Cardiff for Richard Elliott

Behind the Scenes: Filming the Oasis Drone Swarm in Cardiff

Earlier this month, I headed down to Cardiff, Wales, for a unique and exciting shoot — the opening night of the Oasis Tour at the Principality Stadium. The event featured something pretty special: a drone swarm by Celestial Drones, forming the iconic Oasis logo high above the city skyline.

My friend Richard from Richard Elliott Aerial Filming was brought on to capture the spectacle. Richard regularly works with Celestial and was flying his DJI Inspire 3 to get close-range shots. But for this job, given the complexity of flying in a built-up city environment, they needed a second drone filming from further out. That’s where I came in — operating Richard’s Mavic 4 Pro from one of the nearby parks, offering a different angle on the action.

This was my first time witnessing a drone swarm in real life, and I couldn’t wait to get involved.

Getting Set Up

I arrived in Cardiff around 4pm and headed straight to the rugby grounds next to the stadium, where the Celestial team was setting up. Hundreds of drones were lined up, each carefully tested and checked through the control interface on their screens. It was impressive to see the sheer scale of the operation and the precision involved in coordinating a performance like this.

After meeting up with Richard, we scouted out the location where I’d be flying. It had been cleared with the local council and community ahead of time, and I gave South Wales Police a quick call to make them aware of a drone flight happening after dark.

Midnight Magic

As night fell, an Alanis Morissette concert elsewhere in the city meant the park I was flying from was briefly swarming with concertgoers, but by midnight it had cleared out completely. I was able to launch the Mavic and run a couple of test flights in peace. Unfortunately, Cardiff Castle didn’t switch on its floodlights as expected, so I had to adapt the shot list on the fly.

Then came the countdown. I saw the Celestial drones begin to rise, taking shape in the sky, and I launched my drone for real. With just 12 minutes to capture everything, there wasn’t much room for error. I had a few planned shots in mind, but quickly started improvising — flying behind trees, revealing wide cityscapes, and trying to bring out the scale and beauty of the display. Also capturing the skyline of Cardiff.

It felt like it was over in a flash. One moment I was filming the drones lighting up the sky, the next they were descending back to the rugby field. I handed off the footage, which the team seemed really happy with.

A Flying Visit

By 2am, I was back at my B&B, and the next morning I was already heading back to Scotland. A whirlwind trip — my first ever visit to Cardiff — but a brilliant experience to be part of. I’m looking forward to filming more with Richard and the Celestial team later this year on future Oasis events.

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:)

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:)

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

MARCH 2025 - Drone pilot on a Netflix Documentary

A fun few days as a drone operator with Richard Elliott on a Netflix Documentary Glencoe/Etive direction. A local story but can’t tell you anything about it at present unfortunately but should be very interesting.

The Netflix team needed hi-end kit as they were shooting everything in 8K Prores RAW. So the Inspire 3 with X9 Camera were the best option for them. Richard and I worked together here as they were looking for dual operation drone to do some car tracking shots and other shots in the area. A great crew to work with and an enjoyable time there.

A few pics below and a picture of a lovely toilet. Great name for a toilet/sink making company:)

Richard holding one of his drones as we colour match the cameras.

FEBRUARY 2025 - Aerial Filming for a Music video in Scotland with 'Beluga Lagoon'

Had fun making this film with Andrew. A music video for the track ‘Isla’ from the ‘Slugs Bonnet’ Album. I filmed the aerial shots as the drone pilot here which we got a lovely day for. Andrew does the dancing on the hill. Which was a bit exciting at times for him as some reasonably drops off to the sides and tricky seeing anything in these masks. Lindsay his wife is Hula hooping and holding the signs, which Andrew filmed near home. The final shot we did last week. The one with the traffic cone.

All beautifully edited and turned to black and white by Andrew in the edit suite and obviously timed to his music to make a very entertaining, fun and different video. Be interesting to see what happens inside Andrews mind hahahahaha.

FEBRUARY 2025 - Filming and editing an Avalanche film

An interesting project that I’ve been working on in conjunction with Glenmore Lodge (National Outdoor Centre) and Scottish Mountain Rescue.

This was making a film about Group Avalanche rescue when no one has a transceiver. It is not all that common for people in the UK to walk or climb in the mountains while wearing transceivers. Ski-mountaineers tend to more as they head to where more snow is. There was no videos out there that cover the scenario of when people do not carry transceivers so it was decided that one should be put together as an educational guide for anyone venturing into the mountains.

We filmed this a while back and I went on the mountain as the camera operator for a couple of days. I then started the edit process and then handed it over to a large group of people who all decide on what should go in it and what shouldn’t go in it. At one point the video was also shown to clients on some winter courses and their feedback was very interesting and they also loved the info. This all lead to a few edits for me hahaha. Then an old school mate Rachel did the voice over for it for us.

Here is the finished video below:

DECEMBER 2024 - Aerial filming Rannoch Moor, Glencoe

Rannoch Moor near Glencoe. A lovely winters morning with ice covered trees so I decided to make a little flight with my drone to see the beauty of Loch Ba which was slightly frozen too. I think on this morning it was -8 degrees as we drove homewards. A loch I have paddled across a few times with my Canadian canoe. It is a very cinematic and very Scottish landscape to film.

I was just returning from filming a Beluga Lagoon practice with a choir so it seemed apt to put a little Beluga Lagoon to it. This track is 'Eas A'Chual Aluinn' (soft version). The version without piano which Andrew possibly made for use in films of his. It is very atmospheric:)

I used a DJI Mavic 3 pro CINE for these aerial shots.

www.belugalagoon.com to see more of Andrews work

NOVEMBER 2024 - Filming a Beluga Lagoon practice with 'The Voices of Argyll"

Always fun filming with Beluga Lagoon and great to see a practice on the go, especially with ‘The Voices of Argyll’ joining in here. We all headed to Dunoon for the practice and the place of the upcoming gig on the 7th of December where they will perform together at the Queens Hall. The choir and Beluga Lagoon will then perform at the O2 Academy to 3500 people on the 19th of December. The biggest concert so far for Beluga Lagoon and a great way to finish off the year for this band.

Here we were capturing some BTS for the documentary Andrew will make of this first year of Beluga Lagoon playing larger venues. So we caught a bit of chat with the choir and and followed Gregor doing a bit of directing of the team to polish where and how the choir come in to create the best sound possible. It does sound amazing and complements the band brilliantly.

I have a few screen grabs of the practice below. Enjoy Dunoon if you have a ticket for tomorrow night. I’ll be along to O2 Academy later in the month to film the big gig, can’t wait. After the practice we went for a few beers and the choir carried on a different practice, busy Ladies! Dunoon pub was £3 a pint of Guiness, amazing!!!

Having fun with ‘Ronnie and the Reindeer’ song:)

Very atmospheric singing ‘Still”

Not sure if Gregor is giving me the fingers or if it’s some music directing thing?

NOVEMBER 2024 - Roaming in the Wild back on player:)

Roaming in the Wild returns to BBC Scotland and iplayer for everyones viewing pleasure. Was great fun making these films with Andrew and Mark. Doing fun trips with two good mates, what is not to like:)

OCTOBER 2024 - Aerial filming and Camera Operator at the Kelpies for a high ropes course inside them

A friend Jono has built a high ropes course inside the Kelpies to help bring more people to the Kelpies for Scottish Canals. The course is brilliant and gets you up into the mouth of the highest one via a network of obstacles like wire bridges and ladders and nets. It finishes with a jump on a decelerator cable which I found pretty exciting. It is weird how inside a manmade structure it feels more scary to me:)

Jono commissioned me to make a main film, website opening film and 10 stories/reels for Instagram also. Which I edited together and should be launched soon on his website and Scottish Canals site. Jono’s is Zone Events and the website will go live before the end of the year:) Few pics from the day below.

Drone pic of the Kelpie with people in the mouth

Inside the Kelpie mouth

The Kelpies from above

SEPTEMBER 2024 - Aerial filming with Guy Martin on 'Proper Jobs' TV Show

An amazing few days as a drone pilot over Aberdeenshire way filming Guy Martin (lovely person) working with SARDA (Search and Rescue Dog Association). We spent a day doing crag rescue at Pass of Ballater, a very familiar crag for me having climbed there many times as a teenager and beyond.

Mark Chadwick was leading the safety (also a SARDA member) and Stu MacIntyre and Paul Noble were doing the chat to Camera alongside Guy Martin as well as a few others. Great fun crew from North One TV and the SARDA team were great to.

Once we had done stretcher lowers and carries mixed in with first response first aid, the guys then went to do dog handling at Glenshee for a day. I went and filmed trains then I joined them again another day for a trip up to Derry Lodge to do a search and rescue involving a helicopter and up on Derry Cairngorm mountain in the mist.

A very friendly pilot was happy with me flying with him in the air. We just laid down where we would be and what to do if change of plan in his flights etc. So much fun filming a helicopter in the air. Only done it a few other times in the past, All in all a great few days and hopefully make a fun TV program when it comes out. A few pics below of the days out with some screen grabs.

Air to Air filming with the DJI Mavic 3 Pro CINE

Myself and Guy Martin

Crag Rescue