Eden: untamed Planet is a 6 part series produced by BBC Studios for BBC America and AMC. Borneo is the location for episode one and I was fortunate to work as a long-lens cameraman on two sequences filmed around one of my favourite locations – the Kinabatangan river. I’m known mostly for my underwater work but over 20 years living in Borneo I have spent a lot of time shooting topside in the rainforest.
The first sequence focused on a completely new hunting behaviour by one of Borneo’s most iconic species, the Hornbill. Every evening we hiked up to the top of a limestone rock formation to film Oriental Pied Hornbills attempting to feed on fruit bats as they streamed out of a huge cave. Hornbills are not really known for their aerial hunting ability, and normally feed on much slower moving fruit! The results were dramatic and pretty amusing. You can see a snippet of the sequence in the video above. I used a combination of Red Helium and Red Gemini with the Canon CN20 50-1000mm lens.
The second, and probably my favourite, sequence involved long mornings spent waiting patiently on the river as we tracked a troop of proboscis monkeys. Another charismatic, and endemic, Bornean species, these monkeys had to cross a tributary which was too wide even for their exceptional jumping ability. Patience and stealth were needed in some extremely uncomfortable swelteringly hot and humid conditions. The monkeys were shy which meant we had to sit a long way back in order to let them feel comfortable enough to attempt the jump. Due to the nature of the tributary we could only use a relatively small, wobbly boat which made working a 1000mm lens at long distance relatively demanding!
Our camera crew consisted of myself, Chris Tan, and Will Foster Grundy alongside our fixer and wildlife guide Cede Prudente and his team. Produced and directed by Ingrid Kvale. Thanks to everyone for making this shoot a success. As of 2022 the series is available to view on BBC iPlayer for those in the UK.
Producer: Ingrid Kvale
Series Producer: Steve Cole
Executive Producer: Mark Brownlow