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

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.

MARCH 2025 - Speyside Way film released

Great fun filming this Speyside way film for Cairngorms Business Partnership. Quite a bit of drone pilot filming here to show the landscape of the different sections along the way from Seaside to the mountains of the Cairngorms. Not a route I have done, I have only paddled the Spey many times, so nice to see the different parts of the footpath/cycle path. Also did a bit as a camera operator to catch the ground scenes and pub, distillery scenes. Was in the Cairn Distillery which was nice to see as a new place. They let me sniff the 70 year old dram but not taste lol. Then an edit of the project until we had what the team wanted:)

Definately worth a walk through the Speyside Way or a cycle also. Enjoy the wee film that Visit Cairngorms shared for Spring coming. Has almost 100k views on facebook now:)

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 - Camera operator on a Beluga Lagoon music video

A great fun few days with Andrew and Blaine filming a new music video for a new song, not yet released. I was out with my new cameras which now match Andrews cameras which is a great bonus. The Sony FX6 and FX3

We were filming several scenes of Blaine all dressed up in tweeds and a flat cap crossing the wilderness with his backpack and stick. Starting in the sun and with the weather getting more grim as he goes on. Well that’s the story anyway but was filmed in reverse because you have to go with the weather you have. Canoes were also at hand to get us to some locations.

Always great fun with this pair and a good crack. We also entered the pub quiz in the Clachaig and came third. One of the questions was “What does the Acronym BBC stand for?'“ Now there are a few answers to this question. The poor quiz master got quite embarrassed with all the laughing. But we did get it right in the end with “British Broadcasting Corporation”:)

Oh and we finally filmed the last clip of Isla music video. I think we did the first clip in September or October hahaha. I see it will premiere Saturday night 1st march as Andrew drops in the final clip to his edit, tomorrow on Beluga Lagoon Films on Youtube.

A few pics below with some screen shots from my camera of Blaine striding out over the moors:)

Blaine dwarfed by the great Highland mountains

Blaine striding out through the lush mossy birch forest in the sun.

Camera operator Kirk with my new shiny camera and 200mm lens:)

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:

FEBRUARY 2025 - Upgrade of Camera kit to Sony Full Frame Cameras FX6 and FX3

So made a big upgrade and changed from my Panasonic micro four third cameras to Sony Full Frame Cameras. This is the FX6 and FX3 Cameras and I have been using them the last few weeks to get used to how they work. Footage is beautiful from them. I also bought four G master lenses with them and a monitor. Amazing having autofocus for first time in 9 cameras hahaha.

So new kit list below. Cameras and lenses are the only new parts to this Kit list:)

JANUARY 2025 - Filming for Rab Equipment in the Cairngorms

A fun few days following a group of shop keepers learning more about Rab Equipment and Gore-tex at Glenmore Lodge as part of a training conference. The first day was all around the Lodge as they dived deeper into the new Gore-Tex (more environmentally friendly). Then learning also about how to look after it to keep its waterproof ability. Much more washing to keep it alive.

Day two everyone took to the mountains with Glenmore Lodge guides leading the way. I headed over to after thought aerate in the Loch Avon basin for my filming. Pretty rushed day trying to fit the filming into the day while the people I filmed tried to get their days done too. Such an awesome weather day filming.

Loch Basin in the Cairngorms. Shelterstone crag on the right with Carn Etchachan behind and Stag rocks on the left. Loch Avon in the middle.

An Ice Bow, formed when there are ice particles in the air. Which there was this day as my drone did not like the fine ice mist!!

JANUARY 2025 - Filming the Strathpuffer 24hr bike race

A fun day hanging out with Jenny Graham to film the Strathpuffer in the snow. A great fun event with a super atmosphere. Pretty amusing in the snow to with adults riding bikes like 3 year olds on balance bikes with both feet out to the sides on the downhills as it was slidy granular snow and many slow motion non injury type crashes going on.

Pretty impressive the grit these women and men who have entered. I filmed into the night but then left them to it in the dark. The dark certainly looked the hardest bit! It goes for 24hrs and they do as many laps as possible.

Couple of films I made on the day below.

JANUARY 2025 - Camera operator for the Hunt for the Lynx with BBC 2 Highland Cops

A fun last minute day filming the actuality of the hunt for the illegally released Lynx cats nearby in the Cairngorms National Park. Unfortunately I did not get to see the Lynx themselves. I got to see the camera trap footage and they looked so cute.

So today I filmed the press in the local area as they gave interviews with Dr Helen the head of conservation for the Royal Zoological society. The press were at Ruthann Barracks so took some drone shots around this area. The Highland park said I could fly there but not any further east as this was where the Lynx were spotted. Then I returned to the park for some actuality of the team doing the search with pics and videos etc. These images I shot will be used when the Highlands cops TV show follow the wildlife investigator as he tries to track down who released the Lynx.

The caught the second two lynx only an hour or two after I left. Few screen grabs below of the day.

Ruthven Barracks

DECEMBER 2024 - Filming Beluga Lagoon largest concert so far.

It’s been a fun year following Andrew and his band Beluga Lagoon as they play bigger venues throughout Scotland. All have been sold out shows and some sold out in literary 2 minutes !

I’ve filmed several of the bigger concerts with Rupert Shanks for Andrew to do an edit at some point to make a bit of a documentary of the year, not for TV or the likes just for Andrews Youtube channel where he pops all his films over the years https://www.youtube.com/@belugalagoonfilms8620 . Wish I’d gone along to film them receiving a few awards along the way too. Anyway I’m sure there are phone pics and video of these occasions.

O2 Academy in Glasgow would be the biggest so far 3500. There are some pretty big nerves before these concerts for some of the band. Andrews worries he will catch the flu or the likes and he had a little bit of a sore throat coming into this but managed to miss it getting worse thankfully. Some of the band seem to not get nervous at all. Although Andrew and Matt the drummer were the most nervous earlier in the year they seem to have gotten slightly more used to it as time has gone on. Just shit themselves on a medium level now until the first 2 songs are in the bag:)

Such great fun seeing this set up and loved the massive tree at the back of stage with eye balls in an opening and an owl on a branch, made by Jamie and Andrew. True to form Andrew manages to make every concert different. So for those fans, of which there are quite a few, that go to many of the shows they never see the same show twice. This one being special (like Dunoon, Queens Hall) had the voices of Argyll join as an all female choir giving a much bigger sound to the music for the first half of the show.

Going to be fun to see what Andrew does this year. He certainly doesn’t stop and is with Gregor right now doing something in the studio. How he fits it in I’m not sure, always impresses me how productive he is, daily! A few pics below of the O2 Night, what an awesome night:)

Wee drone shot of the venue from the mini 3 pro tiny drone

One of Ruperts angles from back of Hall

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