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Capturing the Natural World with Robin Smith
With decades of experience under his belt, Robin Smith is a veritable veteran of the film industry. Primarily working in nature documentaries, his list of credits and accolades is too long to list. Most recently, his work has seen him travelling the world on a number of documentary projects for Disney+, National Geographic and the BBC.
Though filmmaking is a business of problem solving, the problems facing Smith and the team on Secrets of the Penguins meant that the shoot nearly didn’t happen.
My shoot for National Geographic’s Secrets of the Penguins turned out to be pretty eventful in a number of ways. We had originally planned to film Chinstrap Penguins on a remote island in the South Atlantic Ocean, but due to concerns relating to bird flu we had to change our plan at the last minute. Our Director and Penguin Expert, Ruth Peacy, had heard rumours of a previously un-filmed Rockhopper Penguin colony on the Falkland Islands – so we made this our new focus. We had spent months preparing for a completely different shoot, so a major change of plan at the last minute was a big challenge.
Ruth, fellow cinematographer Erin Ranney and myself set up base camp in a remote cabin on the edge of the colony. Ruth had worked out that the adult penguins entered and exited the water at the bottom of a precipitous slope, on the edge of a small cove.
Erin and I settled into pretty precarious filming positions, which ended up giving us ringside seats to some exceptional drama: a female sea lion had set up shop in the cove, and was picking off Rockhoppers as they ran the daily gauntlet to feed. Erin and I managed to film, what I think is a quite remarkable sequence, culminating in one feisty penguin facing off with a sea lion roughly fifty times its weight.
I think the unpredictability, and the almost constant problem solving we face in the field is why I love making natural history films so much.
Uncertainty is perhaps the only certain trait that documentary filmmakers can expect when shooting. There are no second takes in the wild: no do-overs to check focus, no hours of adjusting lighting, and – crucially – no camera technicians on hand to help if something goes wrong.
With natural history docs, each assignment is often very different and can present its own unique challenges for kit. Broadly speaking, I will consider the subject and its environment first. Filming macro in a rainforest presents very different challenges to shooting with a long lens in polar regions. Because of the often-remote locations we find ourselves in, reliability and redundancy are key – replacement or professional repair are not an option. Weight is also an important consideration, as we can often end up carry kit long distances.
That’s one of the reasons I love filming with RED’s V-RAPTOR camera. As well as its outstanding image quality, it’s also a very adaptable camera platform: equally at home rigged for shooting handheld, presenter-led pieces, with a long lens filming wildlife or stripped right down and mounted on a crane or cable dolly.
Smith regularly kits out his V-RAPTOR with our camera accessories, including our dedicated LeftField Baseplate, Axl EVF Mount and dedicated Sliding Top Plate.
When working in remote locations, having quality gear is essential as replacing broken or damaged kit is often not an option – gear failure could quite easily derail a shoot. In my experience, the build quality and attention to detail during manufacturing of Bright Tangerine kit is exceptional, and has been my first choice for some time now. The LeftField accessories work really well for me with my RED V-RAPTOR. The quick-release baseplate is great for use with longer lenses, allowing perfect balance to be achieved, yet also allowing safe and painless quick release when needed.
I also love the Sliding Top Plate which lets me easily under-sling the camera on cranes and sliders, giving me an insect’s eye view. The sliding Top Handle is perfect for carrying cameras rigged with heavy lenses, like the Canon CN20, as I can slide it all the way forwards for perfect balance. I have also recently added the Axl EVF, and I think it’s safe to say it’s the best viewfinder mount I’ve ever used (and I’ve tried many). It holds my EVF rock solid, yet the friction can be fine tuned to allow easy positioning when needed. It’s perfect for shooting inside filming hides, where the camera can often be in less than ideal position, but I can still get my EVF just where I need it.
But the camera is nothing without an operator – what about the human element? It takes a village to make a documentary, and the importance of teamwork is critical to Smith no matter the production.
I think being a team player, especially in natural history filmmaking, is so important. There are a huge number of people, both on location and back in the office that work their magic to get me and my camera to the right place at the right time, who all play an essential role. I often have to spend extended periods of time in some pretty challenging locations, operating as part of a small crew, so the ability to play well with others is essential. Patience and a good sense of humour also come in handy.
Each project presents its own set of unique challenges and problems to be solved, in order to hopefully capture new images and stories. I think I probably thrive on problem solving, and I do still feel a great sense of adventure when embarking on a new project. I feel very privileged to have had the opportunities I’ve had during my career and I hope new challenges continue to present themselves.
It can be hard to have a good sense of humour, however, when looking out on the world. Climate change threatens to destroy ecosystems across the globe – ecosystems that Smith himself has documented firsthand. The change across his decades-long career has been hard to ignore, but he remains infectiously hopefully.
Sadly I now see examples of climate change, and the decline of the natural world, almost everywhere I go. Even during my relatively short twenty-five-year career, the change has been palpable. That said, the natural world has shown time and again its ability to recover, given a chance and my work often brings me into contact with many inspiring people who live to protect and conserve, so I continue to live in hope.
Secrets of the Penguins, Sea Lions of the Galapagos and Guardians of the Galapagos are now streaming on Disney+. The Americas is currently streaming on BBC iPlayer.
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