Scott and I both love travelling! Whenever we are not busy with work, we would be exploring a new part of the world, no matter how close or far.  For people who have been living the fast paced city life for the past 20 years, we particularly enjoy escaping, getting outdoors and in touch with nature; either hiking a mountain, bird watching in the early dawn of the day or spying on a tiger in a mysterious jungle like forest. We are both enthusiastic diving instructors and we adore swimming with all of the beautiful aquatic animals under the sea.  For the past 6 years, we have been very lucky to travel to some of the most remote areas in the world, such as visiting the bears in the Kamchatka Peninsula and interacting with manta rays and dolphins in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  Whilst we were traveling, we were obsessed with taking videos and photos as well as getting into the good habit of editing our footage into holiday videos, that we can enjoy revisiting and share with our friends and families. We want to share our story from starting as camera rookies to slowly developing ourselves into amateur photographers and videographers.

First inspiration – GoPro in the Galapagos Islands

We travelled to the Galapagos Islands for 2 week excursion, feeling excited to finally have thechance to see hundreds of hammerhead sharks and also the famous Galapagos tortoise. We spent a week on the boat, travelling to the most remote parts of the world, the Wolf Island and the Darwin Island. We were able to see everything you could possibly see there, school of hammerheads, Galapagos sea lions, a mola mola (sun fish), dolphins even silky sharks! It was an amazing experience and we felt so blessed to have explored this part of the world.  However, what was letting us down was our equipment. We only had a small cannon camera with a basic housing, in the condition low light and the limitations of the camera made our footage was extremely blurred.

On the same boat, we met some other divers who were using the GoPro 3. Their footage was really impressive, we instantly knew that we needed to invest in our equipment. One of the most impressive footage was captured by the videographer, using a selfie stick which he attatched his GoPro 3 to at the side of the boat and managed to get close ups of the silky sharks!

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When we got home, we bought our own GoPro.  We also researched a lot about the camera and we learnt how to use the lighting and different kinds of underwater filters. It took a lot of patience and practice to learn how to use our new equipment. The results were magnificent, we found that our holiday video looked much better and had significantly better quality. Below is a more recent piece that we captured underwater.

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As technology keeps changing and improving, we always ensure to keep update to date by upgrading the equipment if necessary and learning all the latest functions available.  One of the most impressive changes in the last few years has been the improvement of the iPhone.  The camera on the iPhone has improved so much and some of the best photos we have taken were with it.

Second inspiration – the drone

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We got our first drone in 2015, it was a DJI Phantom 2, which was quite an early technology.  There was no autopilot, return home function, the flight time was extremely short, it did not come with a camera, not foldable and extremely big!  When we bought it, it came with an upgrade kit, where we needed to perform an operation on the drone to enhance the transmitter.  It’s all very rustic! Since the drone didn't come with a camera, we attached our GoPro to the drone. We flew it a few times, the drone footage was phenomenal, it most definitely gives you another angle to see things, more than just a birdseye view. However, the DJI Phantom 2 was really problematic and hard to control.  We crashed it twice (lucky we got insurance)!  

The first time, the system just shut off itself and crashed to the ground.  it's better your experience with the last video of the drone below!

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The second time, we were flying it along Boracay Island to capture the long beach during sunset, we followed the coastline and flew it almost out of our sight.  Before we noticed, the drone had less than 25% of battery life left, which wasn't enough for it to return. We tried to find the drone in the sky and flew it back, which was almost impossible with the sun behind, the drone also became disorientated in a way that we could not tell which direction it was going and it seemed as though it was moving further away from us, then before we knew, it crashed into the sea.  We knew approximately where it fell, so we asked some local fisherman to try and find it but in vain as it was getting dark.  We were hoping that even if the drone was damaged, we could at least save the footage. Then the next morning just before we departed the hotel, a local fisherman came to us and gave us our drone back (with water of course!).  We were glad we got the body of the drone but it was a pity that the footage cannot be saved.

After two heartbroken crashes, we knew the drone technology was not quite ready for our ventures. So not until two years ago when they came out with the DJI Mavic Air we then made another attempt of photography and videography with a drone.  With the latest technology, it was much more stable and easy to fly. The drone recorded its original position and only took one button to return.  Also there were pre-set flight paths, to shoot cinematic scenes in 4k.  We can’t complain with the new drone, the footage definitely enhanced our holiday video and it is now a must bring whenever we go adventuring the world, hand in hand.

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This is an excellent video showcasing the ability of the new drone.

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Third inspiration – Camera with a telephoto lens

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As our holidays became more and more centered around nature and wildlife, we met a lot of photographers using the DSLR camera with a telephoto lens to capture the wildlife from a distance.  At first, we were a bit hesitant to get into the game, because we were already shooting a lot of videos with our drone.  But once we looked at their beautiful photos, it was hard not to: the sharpness, the way that the animal is portrayed, the mood, the ultimate moment to show intimate, energetic, proud or provocative, it’s a pure piece of art!  Therefore, we started our journey to become photographers.  We got our first camera, learnt some elementary principles with an online course, then we went out to shoot!

We took the opportunity to travel to Ranthambore National Park in India, where inside the nature reserve, you have plenty of opportunities to capture moments with the wildlife, from languar monkeys, sambar deers to peacocks, crocodiles and of course the star - Royal Bengal tigers! The experience definitely showed us how difficult it is to be a great photographer. You have to be up early, trying to get a good spot, then staying in an open top jeep under the 45°C blazing sun for whole day, with intense direct sunlight just hoping for some wildlife actions. Sometimes you get caught in the rain or hail storm. Definitely not the cozy kind of holiday we had been used to!

We were very lucky on the first day, we saw a tiger hunting a sambar deer, many other visitors in the hotel told us that they have been coming to the area for 15 years but had never witnessed such a thing. It was the most adrenaline driven moment we'd experienced, that is best to tell by photos.

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Not only do we use the camera on land, we bring in down underwater together with us whilst diving. We managed to get a housing and lighting system, which took some time to get used to, but with our experiences in underwater videography, we got hold of it pretty quick. Last year, when we visited the Sorroco Islands, we thought we created one of the best holiday video we have done so far (more to come!), as it combines our skills in videography, drone videography and photography, applying on the nature and wildlife we love, it's a product perfect for our passion for sure!