Steve Downer - Specialist Wildlife Cameraman & Director of Photography
I'm a film and video Lighting Cameraman and Director of Photography with credits on over 100 international television programmes, and the winner of numerous awards for cinematography including two News & Documentary EMMY’s for Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft -Cinematographers for the National Geographic film The Last Frog, and for ABC’s Living Edens - Denali, Alaska’s Last Wilderness. My National Geographic Film King Cobra, filmed in southern India over a period of five months, won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Program Achievement in 1998 and was nominated for Outstanding Cinematography. In November 2006, Broadcast magazine listed me as one of the HOT 100 television talents of the year.
Wildlife, Nature, Environment, Science, Macro, Micro, Timelapse
I have considerable experience of filming wild animals - from big cats, venomous snakes and Komodo Dragons, to the microscopic mites that live in the ear of a moth. I'm renowned within the UK and worldwide television industry for my skills in filming complex animal behaviour both on location and in specially designed studio habitats, and for developing and using specialist techniques including deep focus optics, macro filming and time-lapse.
I've worked in locations across the world including Europe, North, South & Central America, the Caibbean, India, China, Japan, Africa, Arabia, Australia, Indonesia, Burma, Alaska and the Canadian High Arctic.
Television, Cinema and Web Broadcasting
The prestigious tv series I have contributed to include the BBC 's :
Planet Earth
Blue Planet
Coast
Spring Watch
Wildlife on One
The Natural World
The Trials of Life
The Life of Plants
Life in the Undergrowth
Land of the Eagle
Predators
Nightmares of Nature
Dragons Alive
Nature of Britain
The Living Isles
Living Britain
and numerous programmes for Channel Four, ITV, National Geographic, Animal Planet, Discovery Channel & PBS.
My non-wildlife work has included UK independent feature and short films for cinema, music videos, and over 60 web commercials.
You can view clips from some of these programmes on my YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/user/stevedownerfilms
Film and High Definition Video
I have experience of shooting on many film and video formats, including Super 35mm, Super 16, RED, HDCAM, HDCAM-SR, DVC PROHD (tape & P2), ALL-Intra, DigiBeta, BetaSX,, MiniDV, DVCAM & HDV. I've trained in the use of the SONY 750/900, PANASONIC VARICAM F27, ARRI D20 / D21, & RED ONE 4k / RED EPIC 5K
High Definition cameras. I own comprehensive JVC HD110E and PANASONIC GH3 video kits, with optics ranging from telephoto lenses for long range filming, to macro lenses for filming the tiniest details of insects. Through my association with ANIMALS ON BLUE, since 2010 I've been developing green screen macro filming techniques using the company's RED ONE MYSTERIUM-X & RED EPIC 4K & 5K cameras.
Library being developed from 2013.
Sample footage can be viewed here http://vimeo.com/80088339
Steve Downer Wildlife Cinematographer
Birmingham, UK
Telephone: +44 (0)7706 014301
+44 (0)7967 759716
e-mail: stevedownerfilms@aol.com
SKYPE: stevedownerfilms
Site last updated 22nd January 2014
