INTERVIEW
Surrey’s Premier Lifestyle Magazine
Natural world adventurer on tour
Gordon Buchanan, Scottish wildlife filmmaker, recently won an award for BBC Television’s The Bear Family And Me and gained over two million viewers for his The Snow Wolf Family And Me shown on BBC2. After travelling the world, the married father-of-two is embarking on a nationwide twelve date tour: Lost Adventures. essence talked to him about his life and work.
Q What do you think influenced your choice of career?
A Definitely growing up on the Isle of Mull was a big influence – for two quite opposite reasons. Mull offered freedom and a sense of wilderness, but being an island it was claustrophobic and limited in what it had to offer to someone with an adventurous spirit.
Q The late Nick Gordon, wildlife filmmaker, gave you your first break; did you aspire to him when you were an early cameraman/ presenter? And why?
A Nick was the first ever person I had ever met who had a truly enviable job, was ambitious, simply loved doing what he did and strived to be the best at it.
Q What has been the highest point of your career so far?
A For a job that is continually so rewarding, it is actually quite hard to pick one high point. Maybe getting through to the finals of the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival for cinematography for Tigers of the Emerald Forest. Didn’t win, so that high point was short lived.
Q Eagle Island was a very successful film: is it your favourite?
A In some ways it was great to be back on Mull roaming around as I did when I was a boy, but to be honest, it was a difficult one to make. Our daughter was born that year and I was working from home for the first time. To be a successful filmmaker you need 100% commitment, to be a successful father you need 100% commitment. It was a year I felt very torn.
Q What’s the most important thing you’ve learnt during your time as a cameraman and presenter, so far?
A Work hard, follow your nose, trust your instincts and good things will come in life and in the wild.
Q If you had to be either a presenter or cameraman, which would it be? And why?
A Cameraman! (but not just a wildlife cameraman). I think you can convey so much in filmmaking: you can tell a million different stories and provoke every emotion in a single film. There is so much art in making a great film, and I love every part of it. Presenting is just trying to be all the nice bits of you without swearing.
Q If you hadn’t been a wildlife cameraman and presenter, what you would you have done?
A I wanted to be a bush pilot, but would’ve probably been a fisherman or a diver if I hadn’t left Mull. An early career questionnaire revealed that I’d have made a good nanny!
Q Have you found a balance between working and being with your young family?
A Nope! But I’m getting there. I see that as my next goal in life.
Q Have you ever missed an amazing filming opportunity? Perhaps due to being out of battery or tape or camera nonavailability?
A I’ve seen amazing things happen unexpectedly, too fast to react to, but that comes with the territory, so I don’t beat myself up. I messed up pretty enormously one time. Can’t bear to put it in print; I’ll only say it was one of those once in a lifetime shots that I was running the camera on – or at least I thought I was running the camera on. I was so excited I hit the button twice so the camera wasn’t recording…
Q What’s your record for the longest you have waited for an animal to turn up?
A Did a couple of 48(plus) hour stints without sleep with finger on the button in Svalbard in the Arctic this summer waiting for Barnacle Geese to jump off their nesting cliff with their young, and for Arctic Foxes to show up to predate on them. It was mid summer so it is perpetual daylight. Great for filming, bad for sleeping.
Q What’s been the strangest thing a fan has sent you?
A A severed head…only kidding. Some guy once sent me a picture of me with his sister and a cup of tea she had made me… To be honest, I’ve never been sent anything other than letters. I have had the exact same handwritten letter sent to me three times over the last two years asking for a photo as if it were the first time she had contacted me. I had sent her one after the first!
Q What are your hobbies and interests?
A My work in one way or another really does incorporate all my hobbies and interests. So other than that, I like music, clothes, good food and drink, I’m addicted to good coffee and I simply love ‘people watching’ possibly as much as I enjoy watching wildlife. We are all animals after all.
A Definitely growing up on the Isle of Mull was a big influence – for two quite opposite reasons. Mull offered freedom and a sense of wilderness, but being an island it was claustrophobic and limited in what it had to offer to someone with an adventurous spirit.
Q The late Nick Gordon, wildlife filmmaker, gave you your first break; did you aspire to him when you were an early cameraman/ presenter? And why?
A Nick was the first ever person I had ever met who had a truly enviable job, was ambitious, simply loved doing what he did and strived to be the best at it.
Q What has been the highest point of your career so far?
A For a job that is continually so rewarding, it is actually quite hard to pick one high point. Maybe getting through to the finals of the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival for cinematography for Tigers of the Emerald Forest. Didn’t win, so that high point was short lived.
Q Eagle Island was a very successful film: is it your favourite?
A In some ways it was great to be back on Mull roaming around as I did when I was a boy, but to be honest, it was a difficult one to make. Our daughter was born that year and I was working from home for the first time. To be a successful filmmaker you need 100% commitment, to be a successful father you need 100% commitment. It was a year I felt very torn.
Q What’s the most important thing you’ve learnt during your time as a cameraman and presenter, so far?
A Work hard, follow your nose, trust your instincts and good things will come in life and in the wild.
Q If you had to be either a presenter or cameraman, which would it be? And why?
A Cameraman! (but not just a wildlife cameraman). I think you can convey so much in filmmaking: you can tell a million different stories and provoke every emotion in a single film. There is so much art in making a great film, and I love every part of it. Presenting is just trying to be all the nice bits of you without swearing.
Q If you hadn’t been a wildlife cameraman and presenter, what you would you have done?
A I wanted to be a bush pilot, but would’ve probably been a fisherman or a diver if I hadn’t left Mull. An early career questionnaire revealed that I’d have made a good nanny!
Q Have you found a balance between working and being with your young family?
A Nope! But I’m getting there. I see that as my next goal in life.
Q Have you ever missed an amazing filming opportunity? Perhaps due to being out of battery or tape or camera nonavailability?
A I’ve seen amazing things happen unexpectedly, too fast to react to, but that comes with the territory, so I don’t beat myself up. I messed up pretty enormously one time. Can’t bear to put it in print; I’ll only say it was one of those once in a lifetime shots that I was running the camera on – or at least I thought I was running the camera on. I was so excited I hit the button twice so the camera wasn’t recording…
Q What’s your record for the longest you have waited for an animal to turn up?
A Did a couple of 48(plus) hour stints without sleep with finger on the button in Svalbard in the Arctic this summer waiting for Barnacle Geese to jump off their nesting cliff with their young, and for Arctic Foxes to show up to predate on them. It was mid summer so it is perpetual daylight. Great for filming, bad for sleeping.
Q What’s been the strangest thing a fan has sent you?
A A severed head…only kidding. Some guy once sent me a picture of me with his sister and a cup of tea she had made me… To be honest, I’ve never been sent anything other than letters. I have had the exact same handwritten letter sent to me three times over the last two years asking for a photo as if it were the first time she had contacted me. I had sent her one after the first!
Q What are your hobbies and interests?
A My work in one way or another really does incorporate all my hobbies and interests. So other than that, I like music, clothes, good food and drink, I’m addicted to good coffee and I simply love ‘people watching’ possibly as much as I enjoy watching wildlife. We are all animals after all.
LOADING
Profile: Gordon Buchanan
Gordon has worked in wildlife documentaries for the past 25 years and is passionate about raising awareness about the world’s endangered species and habitats. He has led expeditions around the globe to places as diverse as South America, Asia, Africa, Papua New Guinea, Russia and Alaska.He is fast becoming a household name on the BBC having shot and presented a long list of popular nature programmes including ‘The Snow Wolf Family and Me’, ‘Super Cute Animals’, ‘Winterwatch’, ‘The Lost Land’ series, ‘The Polar Bear Family And Me’, ‘Wild Burma’ and the award-winning ‘The Bear Family And Me’.
He has been incredibly busy having recently filmed three new wildlife commissions for the BBC. The two part series ‘Gorilla Family and Me’ was aired over Christmas. This year he is set to be a regular face on television with two new exciting series: ‘Wildest Tribes’ and ‘Into the Wild with Gordon Buchanan’.
Working on nature and wildlife programmes as both a presenter and cameraman, Gordon has contributed to award winning BBC, Discovery and National Geographic wildlife series and documentaries. He has also received a Royal Television Award for his work on The Bear Family And Me.
Q What’s your favourite part of the UK? And the world?
A In the UK, the highlands of Scotland around Aviemore has a special magic; it has some of the most grand and wild looking pine forest in the country. In particular, Abernethy Forest and the area around Loch Garten. Favourite part of the world? Alaska. It is the place most like the highlands of Scotland! Only bigger scenery, bigger animals and harsher weather. After many years of driving that road back to Mull, I never tire of the drive over Rannoch Moor and through Glencoe.
Q If you were an animal, which would it be?
A Depends on my mood:
– a happy dog, stupid but loved!
– a peregrine, nice to fly and hunt like that.
– a brown bear in Alaska, great food, great scenery.
Q What has been your closest encounter with a wild animal?
A I’ve been chased by bears, elephants, tigers and many others, but one of the first and most memorable encounters was in Sierra Leone when I was 17, driving back to camp, when seven giant fruit bats escaped from a holding container in the back of the car. They were huge and they flapped and nipped me all the way back to camp. Memorable only really because at the time I was slightly terrified of bats!
Q What’s your favourite animal to film?
A A hunting leopard takes some beating, but any bird in flight is great fun and a challenge to film.
Q What’s your favourite wildlife programme?
A Possibly a film called Hokkaido – Garden Of The Gods made by Patrick Morris at the BBC Natural History Unit. I watched it a long time ago, it was a very emotional film. I don’t want to see it again in case it disappoints me all this time later. I love the memory, so don’t need to see it again. The early Alan Root films I loved at the time in my early teens. It’s what made me want to be a wildlife cameraman. I think the Expedition series would do the same for me nowadays if I were a young fella!
Q What’s your proudest sequence of filmmaking?
A I think I am a better filmmaker each year and am learning all the time. Some stuff I was really proud of a few years back, I look at now and think it is really badly shot or quite rubbish. So I would have to say something recent. I am most proud of the Russian Tiger film I made back in January – I think that it’s the best film I have made so far – by far! Sequence wise, I am really looking forward to seeing the Barnacle Geese from this summer too. We worked really hard to get it and I’m proud of that regardless of how it looks.
A In the UK, the highlands of Scotland around Aviemore has a special magic; it has some of the most grand and wild looking pine forest in the country. In particular, Abernethy Forest and the area around Loch Garten. Favourite part of the world? Alaska. It is the place most like the highlands of Scotland! Only bigger scenery, bigger animals and harsher weather. After many years of driving that road back to Mull, I never tire of the drive over Rannoch Moor and through Glencoe.
Q If you were an animal, which would it be?
A Depends on my mood:
– a happy dog, stupid but loved!
– a peregrine, nice to fly and hunt like that.
– a brown bear in Alaska, great food, great scenery.
Q What has been your closest encounter with a wild animal?
A I’ve been chased by bears, elephants, tigers and many others, but one of the first and most memorable encounters was in Sierra Leone when I was 17, driving back to camp, when seven giant fruit bats escaped from a holding container in the back of the car. They were huge and they flapped and nipped me all the way back to camp. Memorable only really because at the time I was slightly terrified of bats!
Q What’s your favourite animal to film?
A A hunting leopard takes some beating, but any bird in flight is great fun and a challenge to film.
Q What’s your favourite wildlife programme?
A Possibly a film called Hokkaido – Garden Of The Gods made by Patrick Morris at the BBC Natural History Unit. I watched it a long time ago, it was a very emotional film. I don’t want to see it again in case it disappoints me all this time later. I love the memory, so don’t need to see it again. The early Alan Root films I loved at the time in my early teens. It’s what made me want to be a wildlife cameraman. I think the Expedition series would do the same for me nowadays if I were a young fella!
Q What’s your proudest sequence of filmmaking?
A I think I am a better filmmaker each year and am learning all the time. Some stuff I was really proud of a few years back, I look at now and think it is really badly shot or quite rubbish. So I would have to say something recent. I am most proud of the Russian Tiger film I made back in January – I think that it’s the best film I have made so far – by far! Sequence wise, I am really looking forward to seeing the Barnacle Geese from this summer too. We worked really hard to get it and I’m proud of that regardless of how it looks.
Q Which do you prefer? Filming or presenting?
A Depends on my mood, but both can be great fun and terribly
hard work. I can film without too much mental effort – so with presenting I sometimes don’t like having to hide the fact that I am an absolute idiot.
Q Wildlife or people?
A I love the simplicity of animals and the complexity of people.
Q Birds or mammals?
A I would have said mammals every time a year or so ago, but I am really ‘getting’ and loving birds for the first time ever!
Q Spring or autumn?
A I loved this last autumn as my life this year has mirrored the seasons, so I’m looking forward to a dormant winter. I do love the vitality of spring.
Q Analogue film or digital tape?
A Digital is great – given the choice I would never ever go back to shooting on film.
Q Finish the sentence ‘Wildlife filmmaking is…’
A Nice work if you can get it.
Q Have you got a family of young wildlife enthusiasts?
A My son and daughter both really love wildlife. I’ve tried to instill in them that wildlife isn’t something you necessarily have to go and look for. It can be a bird or a fox in the garden, or the leaves changing colour; it’s something to try and appreciate in some way as often as possible.
Q Are you optimistic about the planet they will inherit?
A I have good days and bad days; sometimes I think it’s a great place to live and other days you read something and think ‘well, what hope is there?’ I thought my children were going to grow up in a world where there weren’t any tigers left in the wild, but I think I’ve completely changed my view on that. I think there will be tigers living in the wild in 50 years time – we just have to make sure that does happen.
essence info
Gordon Buchanan: Lost Adventures UK Tour22 March to 7 April 2016, various venues, and Friday 1 April at Dorking Halls
Website: www.dorkinghalls.co.uk
Telephone: 01306 881717