Waiting at the end of the runway somewhere in Saudia Arabia for the next jet to arrive.
Crew At Work
A selection of photos over the years
Aerial filming of a dramatic recreation in the Drakensberg (a World Heritage Site)
(Above) The squeal of tyres on the runway in blazing 43ºC heat, Saudi Arabia
The Saudi client and David consider their next shot before being sucked into a Rolls engine.
Another blistering Saudi Arabian runway at mid-afternoon
David in a village in Zambia, filming a story on HIV Aids for CBC
David using a new Swazi-style tripod
David films from his “bedroom” in Timbuktu, Mali, in west Africa in April, 2006
The UN Humanitarian Air Service plane we flew in to Bamyan, Afghanistan, April 2007
(Below) Filming in the Okavango Delta, Botswana, using a “mokoro” canoe as a camera platform, July 2006.
Filming off the back of an off-road motorbike at the BMW training school, Mpumalanga Province (above and right). I sat backwards on the bike of the trainer, Jan, and filmed off-road action at “magic hour”. Required some trust in Jan’s ability, I can tell you!
David got a mudbath filming Okavango elephants from one metre away. He stripped the brand new camera and cleaned it piece by piece, then took a cold shower.
The Panavision camera that cooked itself at dawn on a remote desert location in Australia (left).
(Right) Filming a stunt for a feature film.
(Left) Abseiling with a camera during the shooting of S’Camto Groundbreakers reality show.
Filming elephants in Botswana for Animal Planet’s launch flagship show, ESPU (Endangered Species’ Protection Unit) in 1997. The lens is a Canon 150-600mm modified film lens.
(Right) Soundman Tony Bensusan (l-r), David and UK Director Nick Brown in the Namib-Naukluft National Park, Namibia, while filming the award-winning film “The Dune People” for Arte. The film won David a Visible Spectrum Award.
Snow in Lesotho (above) after a hair-raising drive up the mountain pass while filming a corporate film for the Cobra Club.
Above: David shoots at the rock face down a platinum mine near Rustenburg. Hot, humid, wet, dusty, dark and dirty, cameras HATE mines!
(Above Right) David shoots an establishing shot of an Anglo building in Fox Street, Jozi.
(Right) David & soundman Mzukisi Mtshiselo (right) waiting for the cage to the surface down an Anglo platinum mine, 2008.
Above: Benjy and Joel Madden of the US rock group Good Charlotte pose with rebel fighters in the Central African Republic. The pair were there to promote Unicef projects in the CAR (Nov 2008).
Below: (from L - R) David with filmmakers Nobuo Isobe (Japan), Michel Noll (France) and Zhang
Wen Qing (China) while editing his film “The Cradock Four” just outside Paris (July 2009).
(Below) In a water purification plant east of Tshwane, working on four corporate films for Ango American.
(Left) David films Bedouins entering Timbuktu to hear Libyan leader Gadaffi speak.
Crew At Work
A selection of photos over the years
(Right) After filming underwater scenes for reality show S’Camto Groundbreakers, on which David was DOP. Rob Wilson (middle) was one of the show’s operators and a diving medical professional.
Shooting a scene for an Isuzu commercial on location in New Zealand. David is at the camera, top right of frame.
Using a hothead and crane on an Edgars commercial in a smoke-filled studio,
Top Ndebele artist Francina Ndimande, with David outside her brightly and beautifully painted home in Mabhoko, northeast of Tshwane.
David sets a 20’ x 20’ silk scrim for an early morning shot on Day One of the Nedbank “Youths” commercial. The spot won a Silver Lion at Cannes, a statue at the London International Advertising Awards and other local awards.
Above: David shows a child the view of the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, a film for CBC directed by Canadian Hadley Obodiac.and (Below) in action in Somalia in 2008 for Unicef with US Idol Clay Aiken.
(Left) David shoots a commercial the day after he had a cancerous tumour removed from his neck. He spent a year on chemotherapy.
(Below) Struggle stalwart Walter Sisulu poses with David and award-winning US filmmaker Connie Field.
Both above photos show David on assignment for Unicef in India, using an Indian operator and translator, US Fund for Unicef producer Marissa can be seen conducting the interview and checking her notes.
