In April Sue and I had an exhibition of 30 of our images as fine art prints at the Rosenbaum Contemporary Gallery in Boca Raton, Florida. Impressive to see some our material beautifully reproduced on big plexiglass mountings or on canvas. The Gallery's website has more details.
A few days later we did a sell out presentation to a 700 strong audience at the Miami Metro Zoo, talking about the filming we did for Planet Earth. Big thanks to Ron Magill of the Zoo for his enthusiastic introduction on the night!
Greenland filming for BBC Human PlanetMay and June I was up in the far north west of Greenland filming Inuit sequences for the forthcoming BBC series “Human Planet”. Up there they hunt in a very traditional manner, no snow machines but rather all with dog teams, and kayaks and harpoons rather than rifles. Out on the ice edge looking for narwhals was frustrating with lots of foggy days. Spells of wind too caused the ice to break back and us to head for town until conditions stabilized. But we were successful eventually.
The second sequence involved the locals catching little auks on the cliffs, swinging long handled poles with a net on the far end to intercept them in flight. Impressive eye and hand coordination, but it was their preparation of their catch that intrigued me most. The auks were stuffed into a sealskin bag then allowed to ferment for six months before being eaten. “Like very ripe cheese” was the verdict of those among us brave enough to taste them. Me I was happy enough to stay behind the camera.
In September I’ll will be traveling to the South Pacific to shoot stock footage on board the Clipper Odyssey with Noble Caledonia – sailing from Tahiti to Easter Island, via the Tuamotu Archipelago and Pitcairn Islands. Now there’s a pleasant change from ice!
Later in the year, I’ll be back south to the Antarctica as guest lecturer on Quark Expedition’s trip to see the Emperors of Snow Hill and the Kings of South Georgia.
Phone - +44 (0) 117 973 7579
Fax - +44 (0) 117 973 5771
Mobile - +44 (0) 787 603 2608
Email - dougallancamera@mac.com
All text and photographs © Doug Allan