A year in the Kingdom of Plants

I've been away from the blog-o-sphere for far too long, so I return with tales of the last 16 months spent working on Sky 3D's 'Kingdom of Plants 3D'. This of course is Sky's latest three-part 3D extravaganza all about the wonders of plants, presented by Sir David Attenborough.


Filmed predominantly in the grounds of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, the series explores the marvels of the botanical world, in breath-taking 3D. As the series researcher I had the fabulous task of poking around behind the scenes at the gardens, discovering stories of incredible orchids and awesome carnivorous plants, as well as the wealth of expert knowledge that maintains Kew's status as one of the world's premier botanical gardens.

Directed by Martin Williams and shot by Tim Cragg, Kingdom of Plants 3D sees the gardens and nurseries at Kew transformed into a hyper-real world of rich colours, exploding pollen grains and previously unseen interactions between insects and plants. Mesmerising time lapse footage, shot by the legend that is Tim Shepherd and the immensely talented Rob Hollingworth, creates some of the most enchanting footage of plants ever captured on film - although I may be biased.

The series will air or Sky 3D in May, with an IMAX release set for later in the year. Here's a little taster for you.

The colour of sound

To coincide with the launch of their latest Pimax printer, Canon has brought together a crack-team of photographers, biochemists and sound engineers to work on their ad campaign, and the results are reallystunning.

You thought Sony's bouncyballs were special - wait until you see this!

This short film shows the amazing photographic techniques that the team used to produce and film the mesmerisingly 'sound-sculptures' of slow-motion, macro, dancing colour droplets seen in the advert.

Lovely music too.

Canon Pixma: Bringing colour to life from Dentsu London on Vimeo.

Back on Terra-firma

After an incredible three months filming in Zambia, this young cultural explorer has now returned to the wintry weather of London, England.

However I’m not going to moan about the cold and wet, and throngs of Christmas shoppers cluttering up the pavements, but simply say that it’s great to be back, and great to be getting my teeth stuck into some exciting new projects involving lots of lovely Science, Film and Music.

I’m also very pleased that my return to the UK coincided with the release of David Attenborough’s latest book, First Life, that I had a part in researching and editing. I won’t get any royalties from you buying it, but you will be able to find my name in very small print in the acknowledgments – every little helps.

Dreike Scholarship Fund

Another charity project that I've been lucky enough to get involved with out in Zambia, is the Dreike Scholarship Fund.

The main aim of the fund is to help communities living around wildlife reserves and national parks, by sponsoring children through education, who without assistance would otherwise be unable to attend school. As well as the children I filmed here in Zambia, the fund also helps children in Rwanda and Uganda.

Malaria No More!

As well as the wildlife films I've been filming and editing recently in Zambia, I've also been involved in producing a number of short films for various charities who work around the South Luangwa National Park, where I've been based.

Here is a short video I made with social media guru, Faris Yacob (read more about his genius here), as part of the NGO Malaria No More's effort to reducde deaths from malaria in Africa.

Nick and Nick at Mfuwe Lodge

I've very lucky here at Mfuwe Lodge, that this fantastic safari destination surrounded by amazing wildlife, attracts some very interesting people who make their living from wildlife and the study of wilderness areas such as the Luangwa Valley.

Two such people I've had the pleasure to spend some time with this last week are Nick Mackman and Nick Garbutt.

Nick Mackman is a wildlife sculptor and artist, who for the past 10 years has been associated with the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, in making one-off clay sculptures as awards for the winning photos. Her brilliantly life-like sculptures have been sold all over the world, and reside in the collections of big names including Judi Dench and John Cleese. She also makes some especially cute clay models of meerkats.Part of the reason she is staying with us now is to hand over three sculptures that Mfuwe Lodge commissioned from her last year: Our resident elephant matriarch 'Wonky-Tusk', an amazing Wild dog pup, and a Warthog complete with bristles.

Other Nick, Nick Garbutt has also been involved in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, as a winner in 2000, with his incredible picture of this Bengal Tiger slinking off into the forest. As well as his photographic awards, Nick is pretty much an all rounder in the field of natural history (thus making him somewhat of a hero to me). He has published numerous books on wildlife photography, put together extensive guides on the animals of Madagascar, lectured all over the world, and also leads small groups of photographers into the deep jungles of Gabon, Borneo and India.

Q: How do you know an elephant has been in your garden?

A: There will be a ruddy great big hole in your fence!

Two mornings ago I was woken at 4am to the sound of crushing wood and snapping branches right outside my window. On peering past my thin curtains into the darkness I could just make out the shapes of 5 elephants, passing about 2 meters from my head.

Obviously this family of elephants had decided that for all of the many thousands of square kilometers of grass to choose from in the Luangwa Valley, that the 5 meter-squared patch outside my room was exactly what they needed at 4 in the morning. Not wanting to be denied the' sacred grass' within by the fence that surrounds my little patch of garden, they simply smashed their way through, leaving a very obvious elephant-shaped hole in it!

Naughty elephants!!!