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Road To Peking Shoot

After recieving an email from a media company in China, whom wanted to work with me to shoot a humanities documentary in Melbourne, I was a little cautious not knowing their background. By Day 2 of 4, the bond between the 3 person crew and myself was strong. Working with the Chinese doco crew was an absolute pleasure and was a breath of fresh air. My 25 years experience filming across the world helped me to welcome, engage and fulfil their expectations of me as a foreign DOP.

It is a risk foreign companies must take when hiring local crews for big projects. As it is a risk for me to work with a foreign company for the first time. It was fun as I was able to use my local knowledge and take them to places like The Great Ocean Road, Lorne and highlights of Melbourne to take pictures worthy of a foreign documentary. A very highly rewarding job for me and hope to work with these folk again in the future

AMAZON DAY 11: KAMBO KAMBO

Matses Traditional Maloka, July 12, 2017

The day began like most have ended, with clear skies transitioning into sunrise meaning perfect conditions for flying the drone. The Matses family here were very interested to see my drone camera and I just about had enough battery to take some aerial shots of their maloka. I wanted to save some battery for the 50km trek back to civilisation. We took some amazing unstaged photos of the elders with my DSLR and you can see the amazement in their faces.

We did some more filming for a bow and arrow story and Kane’s voice over recording in the afternoon before the sun went down. A selection of fresh fish and plantain was again served for dinner and it was then announced that the locals would perform a traditional ceremony for us under the stars.

Kambo or ‘sapo’ is the name given to the traditional Shamanic frog venom cleanse that is used to strengthen and heal mind, body and spirit and has been used as a medicine amongst the northern Amazonian tribes for thousands of years. The Matses perform the ceremony to gain strength, immunity and for hunting ability. The secretion from the giant green frog is applied to the skin after small burns are made with the tip of a fire stick. Once applied, Kambo stimulates a purge while toxins and ‘bad luck’ are kicked out of the body, with symptons felt about 15minutes after and lasting for about 2 hours.

The stars now filled the sky above the maloka and the chief offered ‘sapo’ to me and I accepted. The ceremony only lasted 10 mins while the chief chanted a native song – and it certainly did purge the body and cleared the mind. Kambo has become popular around the world as a natural form of medicine, used in many new mainstream medicines and I thoroughly recommend the experience when performed traditionally.

AMAZON DAY 10: SERENITY

Buen Peru Village - Traditional Maloka, July 12 2017

The day began early again but this time to barking dogs and roosters. Not the chorus of insects I was used to. I was missing the remoteness and serenity of the previous camp, even though this village is as remote as you will find anyway. I guess its like leaving a beach campsite for a caravan park in town, you just want to go back to the peace and quiet. Paul, Kane and I had a casual 'production' meeting in the hammocks before we set off again for our next stage of the journey.

We waved goodbye to the wonderful and kind people of Buen Peru Village and also our small aluminum ‘tinny’ for even narrower, more uncomfortable canoes. It was a traditional hollow log canoe (with old lawnmower engine) that we were needing to travel a further 20 hours in over the next few days ( like a Melbourne - London flight) before a final 50km trek through dense jungle back to relative civilisation.

The reason for us changing boats; it was the dry season and the river upstream narrowed and was shallow meaning fallen trees and logs blocked the passage proving difficult to travel through in days to come. It was imperative that we canoed as far as possible towards our destination; we didn’t want to walk any further than we had planned.

Just to get a sense of the remoteness, the photo above on Google shows the river on right of frame (also the border of Peru and Brazil) with no civilised towns anywhere. We have spent the past week on and around Rio Galvez, (river upper frame). The photo below shows the village of Buen Peru which is not actually identified on Google maps yet. It can be seen as a cleared area south of the river Galvez and home to approximately 50 families, including our guides - the Matses chief, Hernan), Denis and his father Armando.

Buen Peru Village in cleared area by river, lower middle

The many hours in the canoe were pretty interesting, I was able to hold a good sitting position to film river wildlife and it did not disappoint again. We saw the usual families of Macaw eating in the trees, eagles, Toucan and families of otter, poking their heads out of the water before racing off at the sign of a boat coming. They often waddled out of the water and into the jungle, which I now think, may offer them up to a hungry Jaguar or large rodent. We also cruised past pristine sand banks, home to breeding turtles, where some of the eggs are often raided by tribes people for food, but not enough to affect the future of the species. These waters are truly diverse and healthy.

Drone shot with fallen trees and turtle breeding sand banks

Our next 3 nights were spent living with a family of Matses, completely separated from village life in their traditional house, an Amazon maloka (long house). After arriving, it was a short walk up a steep hill from the river, in a stunning landscape, with views of the gently flowing water, and home to Caiman, Anaconda, Dolphin, Otter and the deadly Piranha. There were no barking dogs, roosters or groups of screaming kids, this was remoteness like nothing I had seen before. These indigenous Matses have rejected the partly civilised world (village life) for incomprehensible freedom, not too dissimilar to the un-contacted tribes that are known to live 3 days trek further south along the Javary River, in far Eastern Peru and into Western Brazil.

Here lived two elder men Tumi, Roberto (Spanish name), and their three wives. They had two kids living with them; a boy and a girl, both aged about 5. It was intimidating meeting them at first; they didn’t really speak Spanish, only their native Mayorunas panoan dialect and we felt we were interrupting their peace and quiet.

The Matses LOVE having their photo taken

Their house was made of wood and thatched palm leaves from the forest, with dirt floor and they cooked on two open fires and slept in hammocks. It was so dark in there and when not hunting or collecting crops, they lay resting in the hammock, while the children played with machetes and climbed trees. Amazingly, they still mostly wore traditional garments and painted their faces, although I had suspected they did this for their special visitors. The women sat on the dirt and weaved carpet from palm leaves while the men showed off their spears and impressive necklaces, hoping to sell them to their guests. This was what I had expected to see in the Amazon and it didn’t disappoint.

Our first night with our new friends ended with a tobacco ceremony inside the maloka; a tradition of most native Indian tribes in South America.(see photo below) The chief blows a mixture of fresh tobacco and crushed leaves of the coca plant through a long pipe into each nostril and this ceremony aids in cleaning energies and empowers your well being. They believe it releases any sicknesses on the physical, emotional and spiritual levels, and opens up the third eye to more visual clarity, and that it certainly did. The men perform this ceremony with Indian chanting and smoke burning, often the night before hunting or war. Unsurprisingly it took me a long time to go to sleep that night, but I was cool with that as the stars were out and the Milky Way on show.

AMAZON DAY 9: - TAPIR OR ALLIGATOR

Rio Galvez, Peru, JULY 11, 2017

The chorus of insects and whistling rain forest birds never sounded so good and provided another relaxing wake up call. I was routinely waking now at 5am and ready to find a new adventure and capture great images as the days were racing by. We were already past the halfway mark of the expedition.

After more fish and instant coffee (with powdered milk) for breakfast, we packed away the tents and my camera equipment and departed the picturesque camp for Buen Peru Village once more, where we were to restock supplies and exchange our aluminum boat for smaller dugout canoes as the next week of the expedition would see us travel narrower and shallower river systems upstream and deeper into the remotest parts of the jungle, .

Below are some pics of a few of the incredible insects I photographed these past 4 days, including butterflies, moths and beetles. Hopefully they can one day be identified.

The long boat ride back to the small village again provided a good opportunity to film river landscapes and animals and we were again treated to great weather. It had not rained since our first day on the river and we were entertained by large families of jungle otter, pink dolphins surfacing, thousands of butterflies, macaw and many other small species of Amazonian birds. This ecosystem is the most healthy I have ever seen anywhere and I am one of few people in history who have been here to film it let alone with high definition cameras and drones.!

Charging gear with the Sherpa 100 Solar unit

Kingfisher leading us  down the river — Kingfisher leading us down the river

The afternoon was free so I interviewed Sergio and Dennis on camera and talked to them about their culture, way of life and importance of sustainability. I asked them about the need to teach their children the values and traditions of the Amazonian Indian Tribes. Sergio spoke passionately of the need to educate the world about maintaining a healthy rain forest and Dennis; learning how to hunt and survive from his father Armando. Dennis also told me that he now loves to take photographs of his favourite animals (Anaconda and Jaguar); he only has one memory card (in his small digital camera he acquired from the city) so he has to delete his photos when it’s full. No computers and hard drives in this part of the Amazon. I enjoyed giving him the occasional photography lesson particularly in shooting long exposures of the night sky.

What do the children of the Amazon do to keep themselves entertained? Like we did as kids, they swim in the river and climb trees. They play with and practice the bow and arrow, cut things with their machetes and they like to make things with wood and get dirty – very simple games that keep them happy. They also love to lie around in hammocks for hours, which make them very relaxed people.

After a week in the jungle I finally had a wash– yes I know I must have been smelly, but I didn't actually feel as dirty as i do in the city! I stripped off by the banks of the river with a piece of soap and a bucket and it was the best feeling in the world at that moment. Thankfully, I have no photos of me bathing Amazon style!

Day 9 of the shoot ended with a sunset river time lapse and some more fish and tapir for dinner. A local family had hunted the beast and slaughtered it in their canoes; the Amazon butchery. It was interesting to see a woman carrying a whole leg up the bank to their home, with a small Caiman (alligator) over her shoulder. They kindly shared the heart and liver with the visitors, which is a gesture befitting jungle royalty. I respectfully declined their offer of Tapir heart but enjoyed some liver and the ribs that were seasoned and smoked beautifully, tasting like beef. We had finally been accepted into the Matses tribe and I started to feel very much at home.

Buen Peru Matses Village, life on the river, girls in canoe.

AMAZON EXPEDITION DAY 8

Rio Galvez JULY 10 2017

We woke early again today due to the warm weather and deafening sounds of the rain forest through the polyester tent. Kane was introduced by the local hunters in how to make traps to catch food, using only the trees and vines. Aside from hunting with the bow and arrow, the Matses use different methods for certain mammals, like rodent, Tapir and Capybara. Dennis (Rafa Nadal lookalike) showed us how to use the trees to trap animals, firstly noticing their daily tracks and hoping they return during the night. If these Indians don’t catch food, they don’t eat so its vital they succeed.

We also climbed palm trees, using palm leaves wrapped around our ankles for grip. This technique is used to collect coconuts and also a way of escaping the dangers of the Jaguar. Just a few years ago when guns were introduced, the Matses hunted animals in large numbers, even for sport, but pleasingly now, they only kill what they need to survive - which keeps the population high and the food cycle balanced in the jungle.

The afternoon was slow so we decided to go fishing with Hernan and Sergio. The lake was about an hour boat trip upstream from the camp and a short hike from the river. It was pristine and in a perfect ecological state, and probably inhabited by Caiman and the Anaconda. In one hour we caught about 15 fish (mostly Wolf Fish) that was enough for the group for a few days so we left and delivered our meal to Alyssya, who prepared them for dinner - smoking them slowly over an open fire made from the local trees.

The evening sky was again lit by the full moon and therefore provided ideal conditions to hunt with Dennis. He can listen for the sounds of an animal, from a long distance away. These people have amazing senses, especially hearing and vision and within 30mins of trekking deep into the jungle, the expert hunter found a white turkey nesting in a tree. This was Kane’s first proper bow and arrow lesson, and learning on the job, we approached the large bird. The pressure was on Kane to produce food for the group. Dennis carefully passed his bow and arrow to Kane, while I quietly followed with the camera, framing up on the 15 year old who was about to take his first shot at a wild animal. This was Kane’s chance to prove to the Matses people that he was ready to be part of their tribe, and to return with a meal.

It’s probably a good time to reflect on the importance of sustainability in the Amazon. These people have existed in this wild diverse forest for thousands of years, and they have adapted perfectly to the harsh landscape, climate and dangers it brings. The animals are sacred to them and they thank them for providing their meal. They only remove the trees they need for wood and they only kill what they need to eat. They use all of it with no waste so the system works and the people live harmoniously with nature.

Returning from the hunt empty handed, the night ended with another search for Caiman, a quiet 2 hours floating downstream on the river, under another sky full of stars and the full moon. A highlight of the expedition was turning off the motor and listening to the stereophonic sounds of the jungle, on the hunt for the prehistoric reptile. We have been blessed with great weather so far making conditions perfect for filming in the Amazon and sighting the amazing wildlife this region has to offer.