Film & Editing Blog - Behind the Scenes

We're well into the Inca Trail trek and in this photo I'm taking a well earned break from photographing and filming the adventure to enjoy the views of the stunning mountains and emerald lakes. We've just come over the highest point in the pass which if I remember correctly was about 4500m above sea level.

Just before this highest point was an old abandoned silver mine, which to get to you had to hike off from the path up a steep scree zig zagged path. But it was worth it. I donned the head torch and took the small HF S21 camcorder and went right into the mine. It was dark and damp and thankfully lacking anything with teeth or claws! I saw what looked like some traces of silver in there too and our guide Willow said there were plans to re-open the mine in the future, I wish I'd packed a pickax, but then again... with all the camera and sound equipment I was loaded down enough!

You'll get to see some of the footage of the mine in the final video which we're putting together to promote charity events in Peru for our client Student Adventures.

Blimey! it's a hard day and it's only lunchtime! We've trecked for about 4 hours in the baking heat and high altitude and I'm really glad we've got this break. It also gives me a chance to pull down the footage from my 5D mk II onto the MacBook Pro so I can take a look. We are days away from any power supply so I'm using the Goal Zero Sherpa Solar Powered kit which consists of a solar array, battery (very heavy!!!!) and inverter. This allows me to completely recharge the MacBook pro and still has enough juice left to recharge several 5D batteries and the HF s21 battery. A bonus of the heat and sunshine is that there's plenty of sunlight to recharge the solar array battery! :)

In this picture you can see the 5D mk II rig connected to the MacBook Pro via USB and the laptop is plugged into the Goal Zero Solar Array.

The yellow tent is the kitchen tent where Alex our cook is preparing something yummy to eat!

It's hot hot hot! We've started our trek along the Inca Trail and I'm carrying the filming equipment I described in my behind the scenes blog post. It's hard work and in this shot I've stopped to film the participants crossing a bridge over the river. I don't know if it's the same river I saw earlier in the day but one things for sure this amazing landscape has been forged by water and glaciers. I've done a lot of walking in my time especially in Wales, Italy, the Lake District and Scotland but I'm blown away by the sheer scale of this place. When you're up high you can see for miles and it's just mountain after mountain! Awesome!

It's our first proper day on the Inca Trail. Yesterday we warmed up at the Inca site Sacsayhuaman and today we're heading off into the wilderness so to say. No more hotel beds or showers for the next 4 days. It's campsites and walking all the way along the Inca Trail.

We asked our driver Marcus to stop so we could take in this amazing view of the valey on the way to the site. I got some great footage using the 5D mark II on the Zacuto/Jag35 rig. Our guide Willow snapped this picture. It really shows the scale of things. Especially when you consider we started at Cuzco (Qusco) which is over 3000m above sea level!

Our guide, Willow, a local man from Qosqo (the Incan spelling of Cuzco) took this picture of me while filming using the 5D mark II on the Zacuto/Jag35 hibrid DSLR rig.

Sacsayhuaman which means "Satisfied Falcon" is an amazing site to visit. We leared a lot about the Inca architecture. As you can see there are no two blocks the same and the doorway has a trapezoid shape. This wall zig-zags along it's entire length, which gives it more strength to resist earthquakes. Also you can see that the walls taper upwards at an angle of about 13 degrees, again to provide more strength. Another feature is that there is no mortar in the walls, instead the blocks simply fit together like pieces of a puzzle! Lastly you can see that there is a stone mantle across the door. When the Spaniards destroyed the Inca's and took over their sites they would rebuild these but replace the mantles with wood.

As you can see it's a very hot day and it's great to be out here and filming! This place is extraordinary and it's amazing to think that people built this hundreds of years ago!