Film & TelevisionGORDON HILES is an international cameraman for both the film and television industry, specialising in aerial; adventure sports, wildlife and underwater filming.
I have been involved in varied land-based wildlife expeditions filming for renowned television programs, including filming the white water river rafting adventures on the Zambezi, Orange River, Kunene River and Bio-Bio River in Chile. I’m regularly filming diving expeditions around South Africa (still one of the better dive areas of the world), Mozambique, Tanzania/Zanzibar, Red Sea, Maldives a few times, Persian Gulf, Fiji, and Galapagos.
My underwater filming activity began in 1984 which was very new to South Africa then, and to the best of my knowledge, there were only two other people in SA apart from myself offering this service. The first film was at Dyer Island near Gansbaai/Hermanus where I filmed the Cape Fur Seals as well as the first images of Great White Sharks in the area. Here too I also filmed the Southern Right Whales in Hermanus. Today of course that is now a world tourist hotspot for shark viewing and whale watching.
Over the years, I have covered vast expanses of land filming both aerial wildlife expeditions and off-road racing. During the latter part of 2015, I worked alongside ‘Aerials of Africa’ filming for the Smithsonian Channel, capturing images of South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Namibia from the air. This project was to highlight the geographical, urban, wildlife, social, historical and many other aspects of these areas in a documentary series made specifically for international viewing.
Looking back over my career, one of my greatest highlights was meeting a 6m Great White Shark underwater; this was seconded on another occasion by a 15 meter whale rushing passed me (a meter away) whilst filming the sardine run.
A spectacular highlight too was filming into the eye of a volcano in Chile after walking across a glacier to get there. And on another occasion, a highlight not to be recommended was being charged by a black rhino while filming in the Pilansberg. Working behind the camera is exciting and thrilling but certainly has its hidden dangers too!
Contact: Gordon Hiles email:
info@seacamfilms.com