I am very familiar with the predessesor mark II version, having used it extensively in the field for Tarsier Towers last year.  It’s a rugged camera having survived six months jungle conditions, and the whole industry has been waiting for the mark III, so today is a big day!

Straight off the bat, from the press release we can see obvious improvements where shooting on video is concerned: A new 22.3 megapixel full frame sensor, boasting improved low light results; embedded timecode onto clips; manual audio level control whilst recording; headphone terminal.

And a few negatives: No clean HDMI out for monitoring (though can apparently output 720P); no flip out LCD screen (filming low and high angles really needs this!)… but let’s wait and see.

No doubt this is going to be a very popular camera and I can just see the industry being awash with second hand mark II’s over the coming months, so bargains to be had!

It’s a lot more expensive than the mark II at £2999, as opposed to around £1600 for just the mark II body.  But Canon will know they will be popular and sell and its still a good price for the quality of image it can produce.

Now just have to try and get my hands on one for a test shoot!  And I wonder if any underwater housing manufacturer will have a housing ready in time for the LIDS dive show on March 31st?!

Mark Sharman

adventure people wildlife underwater live action

Bristol-based wildlife and factual cameraman

Now in Pokhara, the paragliding capital of Nepal, we were in safe hands.  The plan was to send Steve up in a tandem flight with experienced falconer and paragliding pilot Scott Mason, who has invented parahawking and was one of the first pilots to fly in this region. Now it is a common sight and the skies are filled with paragliders, but we were doing something truly original.  Not only do you get an amazing paragliding experience with superb views of the Himalayas, but also a flight with an incredible bird of prey in action – the stunning Egyptian vulture.

Steve was rigged with four Go Pro cameras, capturing him from every angle – I was to film the action on the ground with long lens and tripod, getting the wides and distance shots of the vulture swooping into Steve’s gloved hand.  It was a smooth take off and they were up, closely followed by Kevin the Egyptian vulture who proceeded to glide and come into Steve and take the meat before gliding off again… great to watch and looking at the Go Pro footage afterwards, so really special moments captured!

The final piece of the jigsaw was to get onboard shots from the vulture itself to complete the array of shots for the sequence, so with one last flight between us it was up to me to sit in the seat and head up to make sure we got these shots!

Now all is left is the long journey home – flights to Kathmandu, Doha and Heathrow before home in the early hours of Monday morning back to Bristol.

What a shoot!  Great crew: Scott Alexander, Jo Ashman, Nick Allinson and of course Steve… good company and glad we got the results and looking forward to the next one!

Mark Sharman

Adventure Wildlife People Underwater Live Action

Bristol-based wildlife and adventure cameraman

Along the way, to break up the 6+ hour road journey, we stopped off in a village which had some interesting residents living side by side the villagers. We found a shop and home with three large bee hives attached to the building on the first floor balcony, each one covered in hundreds of Nepalese bees! Steve got right up close next to them to deliver his pieces to camera – they are such amazing sculptors and architects, was great to see them so close AND be given a sample of their honey by the hosts.  We arrived when it was still fairly cool and the bees were pretty inactive, but the longer we were there, the warmed it got and by the end the bees were really waking up and before too long hundreds of them were flying out to begin their day’s nectar collecting, so we got out of there, with not one sting between us!

Next stop was a ‘Vulture Restaurant’, which I completely misinterpreted as being an actual restaurant which vultures visit… Absolutely nothing like it! It was in fact a place which provides a safe food source to the heavily depleted numbers of vultures in the area, having had 99.9% of the population wiped out over the last 15 years due to cattle being treated with Diclofenac, a veterinary drug used to treat cattle for joint problems, which has the tragically unfortunate side effect of turning their meat toxic to the vultures when consumed by the unsuspecting vultures after the cows death.  This is a forward thinking conservation project, and one of eight such ‘restaurants’ in the region to help maintain and hopefully build back up numbers over the coming years.  Literally bringing the vulture back from the brink of extinction in the region.

So we set up in a hide, me on a long lens and also deployed a couple of Go Pro mini cameras, hidden by sticking them on rocks and under leaves next to the carcass for a close up view. And it all worked a treat!

We did have to wait it out though and for about an hour as we sat in silence observing the enormous birds glide in and perch on nearby trees, very ominously. A couple of feral dogs came in to investigate and one started pulling at and eating the carcass… This activity seemed to prompt tens more vultures to fly in to the area, soon the overlooking tree branches were filled with onlooking vultures. The sight of an animal eating a carcass from high up is an unmistakeable one and just what the vultures are always on the look out for. It took one brave soul to swoop down and land by the carcass, but it waited and waited for the right time to take a bite… This triggered one of the most amazing wildlife spectacles I’ve ever seen! Almost all of the vultures in the vicinity flew in to start a feeding frenzy which featured about 120 individual birds and seven different species. Within half an hour the carcass was stripped bare, a memorable spectacle and brilliantly captured on a Go Pro camera deployed by our guides, right next to the carcass, in amongst the action.

To finish off the day, we has a long drive ahead and must’ve been on the road for a good six hours, mostly bumpy half finished/started roads to reach Pokhara. Making sure all go pros are recharged ahead of tomorrow’s events it’s a late one to bed!

Mark Sharman

Adventure Wildlife People Underwater Live Action

Bristol-based wildlife and adventure cameraman

We had a long drive out to a conservation centre a good hour and a half drive from our base camp, the Tiger Tops resort.  On our way out, we got wind from a tourist jeep that a family of tigers (!), a female and two cubs has been spotted about half an hour away, so we paid particular attention when travelling through the area.  There!  In the distance, a tiger… walking off road and disappearing in the long grass!  Did I get it on camera?  Frustratingly, I am not sure – so far away and shooting at the end of the lens on my shoulder… difficult to tell,  but we may well have got it.  Passing the spot it was seen, it has long gone and we continued our journey out.

At the tiger conservation and rehabilitation centre lay our fall back plan for guaranteeing filming a tiger, in the form of a rescued tiger, a large male in rehabilitation after an injury sustained from a fight with another male. The reason for its temporary captivity is to relocate it, as due to its injury, it was taking easy prey options of domesticated pigs and cows owned by villagers, so really to protect it from being persecuted until it is healed enough to hunt properly.

It was a formidable sight and noise, sad to see such a beautiful animal in a large wooden enclosure, but it gave us huge scares by roaring and the whole time a menacing low growl… He clearly wasn’t happy with our presence, so we did our piece as quickly as possible and moved on, leaving him in peace. I do hope his recovery and reintroduction goes smoothly, he is needed in the wild to repopulate the numbers of tigers in the region, with an estimated 155 remaining in Nepal.

On the way back, now in the realms of the golden hour of light, we were on the look out for the real thing, a properly wild tiger… So eyes peeled for the journey home… And we were in luck!

Danny, the head ranger and our guide whilst in the national park spotted a lone female some 50 metres ahead of us on a straight piece of track. A mad scramble to get the tripod and long lens out to get a vaguely close shot, so we creeped forward and stopped a good 40 metres from her… Just about close enough to get a wide shot as she strutted her stuff down the middle of the road, urine scented before heading off into the long burnt grass. This time it was definitely captured, what luck to see and film a tiger with only two full days in the national park! Our attempts to catch up with her and get closer shots was futile as she had disappeared into the undergrowth. But we were so pleased to have gotten what we came for, a great moment to share with the team!

Our luck hadn’t run out as just as we were coming around the final bends in the road before our camp, we were greeted with the sight of a large wild male elephant, one which has earned a bit of a reputation here amongst the locals. Apparently it breaks into the safari elephants’ pen and mates with the females as well as having allegedly killed seven people already!? Understandably, our drivers didn’t want to turn their engines off for me to get a steadier shot as it began to approach… We were off!

A very good day and it signals the end of our two full days here in Chitwan National Park, a good success exceeding our expectations. All that is left to do in the morning before our location change is to pick up any extra bonus footage captured overnight on the camera traps, before we head to our next location… Pokhara for a closer look at vultures!

Mark Sharman

Adventure Wildlife People Underwater Live Action

Bristol-based wildlife and adventure cameraman

The thick fog shrouded the morning’s filming with an eerie layer, these almost ghost like characters appearing like prehistoric beasts… It created a great atmosphere, despite filming literally grey on grey! We saw about five rhinos in total, the elephants disguising our human presence, though the famously grumpy animals still weren’t too keen on our taxis getting too close, so we maintain a respectful distance.  It was amazing to see these large grazers up close, from the interesting perspective from another great animal.  The latest figures, gathered in 2005 suggests there were only 372 individuals left in Chitwan National Park… from a total world population of nearly 3000 recorded in 2011.   So, an incredible encounter with a rare and beautiful animal and it got the day off to a good start.

We went out after breakfast to have a look at the camera traps, set up yesterday afternoon along what should have been wildlife superhighways… We weren’t to be disappointed! The first location had two cameras in place, facing different directions and the motion detecting cameras captured some really interesting wildlife overnight… A large male elephant, a sloth bear, a porcupine, a civet and even a squirrel featured for a few seconds from last night/early morning. Just goes to show we’re in a great place for diversity of wildlife… Unfortunately the other camera traps (we have five in total) had technical errors and didn’t record anything… So no rhinos or tigers, the latter of which we are most keen to see…

The afternoon was spent cruising down river in a boat, again on the lookout for whatever wildlife in the region would be adorning the river banks… On display was a variety of birdlife: ruddy shelduck, pied kingfisher, egrets, storks and so on… A few footprints – signs of rhino in the edges of the river.  Top of the list of sightings were Gharial crocodiles, one of the most endangered crocodilians in the world, with maybe as few as 35 individuals in Nepal, from 200 breeding adults left including those in India. An utter privilege to see so many on one bank, 8 I think and we must have seen around 15 on this river cruise in total.

As we were heading back to camp, as the last of the day’s light was fading, we were in for one final treat… a herd of Gaur appeared ahead of us on the track.  These are huge bovine (cow like) animals, possibly the world’s largest bovine species and again incredibly rare, with only around 300 left in Nepal.  I was just about able to film them on the road in front of us before the light completely faded.

What a day – a wildlife cameraman’s dream! Three endangered large animals seen today: Indian One-Horned Rhinos, Gharial Crocodiles and Gaur… What will tomorrow bring?!

Mark Sharman

Adventure Wildlife People Underwater Live Action

Bristol-based wildlife and adventure cameraman

When I first moved to Bristol in September 2004 to kick start my career, I did some work experience at the BBC Natural History Unit on the Really Wild Show – a long held ambition from my childhood.  This was SB’s first production at the BBC too and, being my days before I became a cameraman, I helped set up a couple of UK shoots with Steve as presenter, one of which involved him showing a Turkey Vulture around a food and drink festival in Covent Garden!  In May 2005, Steve asked me to film his efforts taking part in the 20th Anniversary ‘Marathon des Sables’ – an endurance race across the Sahara.

That was the last time we worked together – Steve’s career has skyrocketed since, what with three series of Deadly 60, Live ‘n’ Deadly and a number of expedition programmes for BBC One… all that time I’ve been becoming a fully fledged cameraman and with this project, we finally get to work together again after all this time, so am very excited about this shoot!

The mission:  The travel to Nepal for eight days and track down some deadly species for the series… on our hit list: Bengal Tigers, Indian One-Horned Rhinos and Egyptian Vultures… plus any other deadly critter or interesting animals we can find along the way for good measure.  Lot of travelling to get to where we need to be: Kathmandu and drive to Chitwan National Park, where the adventure begins…

Mark Sharman

Adventure Wildlife People Underwater Live Action

Bristol-based wildlife and adventure cameraman

The clip can be found on my site here.

The shoot took place in September and October 2010 and the programme broadcast in the on Nat Geo Wild channel both in the UK and US in Autumn/Winter 2011/12.

The next screening in the UK is tomorrow, Friday 20th January at 4pm.

The shoot at the time was an incredibly enjoyable one and working with the Ammonite team, with their Starlight and Thermal imaging cameras was a great experience.  The trip was blogged extensively in my news section.  I was assigned the task of filming supportive daytime footage, to contrast the behaviour of leopards between daytime and nighttime, with some interesting results.

Mark Sharman

Adventure Wildlife People Underwater Live Action

Bristol-based wildlife and adventure cameraman

The box was already pre-assembled, so was pretty straightforward… found a place on her shed, luckily there is a plug inside the shed already so just had to drill a hole through for the camera power cable to get through.

The camera transmits its signal to a receiver, inside plugged into the television… All Mum now has to do is select channel AV3 and there it is… a view of inside the box from the comfort of the sofa.

This compliments a nice little wildlife friendly garden… what with an array of bird feeders and newly installed insect houses, this should be an attractive wildlife haven for years to come.  Good one Mum!

I’ll keep progress updated here if and when any inhabitants move in and begin making a nest come springtime!

Mark Sharman

Adventure Wildlife People Underwater Live Action

Bristol-based wildlife and adventure cameraman

Having spent half of last year away, filming for forthcoming Five series Tarsier Towers took priority and updating my showreels has taken a back seat.  But what better way to start the year than bringing things up to speed… with more still to come.  Over the coming weeks I have more recent work to showcase, including my contribution to Ammonite’s Night Stalkers series for Nat Geo Wild, from a three week shoot back in October 2011 in Sri Lanka; underwater work for a baby swimming lesson company; as well as the most important task of compiling my ‘best bits’ and refreshing my main showreel montage.

Happy New Year to all… May 2012 be the best yet!

Mark Sharman

Adventure Wildlife People Underwater Live Action

Bristol-based wildlife and adventure cameraman

First up, was a long anticipated return to the Bristol Media networking scene.  Having been away with Tarsier Towers in Indonesia for half of this year, I was keen to reestablish myself back in the city and start the process of reminding people who I am, what I do and all that… it can be a fickle industry!

I’ve been attending Bristol Media events since 2008 and always get a lot out of them.  Last night kicked off with a newly reformed TV Steering Group meeting; a number of industry heads to meet monthly to discuss and plan events to make the Bristol Media membership better value for money and to help attract more people from the TV industry to become members.

Lots of good ideas were brought up so watch this space over coming months to see what events emerge!  Any ideas for what events should be happening to keep Bristol at the cutting edge of the industry are most welcome… just e-mail me your thoughts and I’ll bring up in future meetings.

Once that had all wrapped up, people began arriving at Goldbrick House and soon the atmosphere was bustling as the free bubbly began disappearing.  The event reminded me what it was all about – easy to start conversations with like-minded people across a range of creative industries… very interesting and talented people in the city!

The main social event of the week, and the TV industry year is The Rough Assembly – Bristol Editors Christmas Party.  Always an awesome event and this year didn’t disappoint – absolutely superb and a must attend event every year.

I’d been coming to this event since about 2005 I think and have been most years, only missing for when out of the country filming.  Having been away for the last six months, it couldn’t have been better timing to have almost the whole industry – friends and colleagues from the past and present all in one place!  You couldn’t move without bumping into another familiar face and have a great catch up… Good seeing everyone I chatted to on the night.

Hats off to the organisers for moving fast and rearranging the venue at short notice when tickets sold out within four hours… Thank God as I’d missed out first time around!  A great show guys and have you considered setting up an equivalent summer barbecue event?!

Merry Christmas one and all… See you in 2012!

Mark Sharman

Adventure Wildlife People Underwater Live Action

Bristol-based wildlife and adventure cameraman