{"id":2150,"date":"2022-06-27T19:07:11","date_gmt":"2022-06-27T19:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wandercapetown.com\/?p=2150"},"modified":"2024-03-11T13:07:15","modified_gmt":"2024-03-11T13:07:15","slug":"garrreth-bird","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wandercapetown.com\/photographer\/garrreth-bird\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with adventure photographer and cinematographer, Garrreth Bird"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Garrreth\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Garrreth in his favourite place – on the mountain<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Garrreth Bird is a Cape Town<\/a>-based photographer, cinematographer and videographer particularly well-known in the adventure and outdoor space. He’s worked with National Geographic, Animal Planet, and hundreds of local and international brands and production companies. While he has a beautiful eye for photography, cinematography is his greatest passion, with dozens of documentaries, short films and corporate films under his belt.<\/p>

I met Garrreth for a chat about his work and his passions, his thoughts on Cape Town\u2019s adventure scene, and his path to becoming the photographer and cinematographer he is today!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Tell me a bit more about yourself<\/h2>

I\u2019m a Capetonian, and I\u2019ve always been sort of outdoorsy, so I\u2019ve been taking pictures outdoors forever. I got into the film industry a million years ago, and worked my way through various departments, and then started shooting, myself. And so I\u2019ve been an independant filmmaker and photographer for over a decade now. I love the mountains specifically, so I try to combine my passion and my work. But over and above that, I just love great adventure films, so I make my videos out of passion as well.<\/p>

My favourite endeavour is rock climbing<\/a>. Especially if you\u2019re a Capetonian – there\u2019s so much out there.<\/p>

Yes I saw you do a lot of climbing! How do you tend to shoot them – do you usually climb up before the person you\u2019re photographing and kind of hang and photograph, or how does it work?<\/h3>

Well, one of the best ways to get images is to be part of the action. So, there\u2019s definitely an access that you get from being enveloped in the thing you\u2019re shooting. On the other hand, it\u2019s very hard to shoot climbing unless you set it up properly – not the shot, but where you\u2019re going to be; in other words, are separate from the climbing. And shots of people leading – going first – you need to be somewhere else. So that\u2019s quite complex to get into the right position, and sometimes you\u2019ve got to get ahead or scramble on some sketchy little thing on the side. It\u2019s also very handy to be on the mission, so that you can take shots of the little moments as they unfold.<\/p>

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Why did you become a photographer \/ cinematographer?<\/h2>

When I was starting out, I didn\u2019t really know what I wanted to do. I travelled a lot and I started sending postcards back to people here – this is that long ago – and I just realised that choosing these postcards and looking at all these beautiful images was one of the most inspiring things\u2026 so that was one of the first keys, was that wow – this is something I love. And then having a camera on my travels and slowly improving my eye and my technical skills over the years. So it was through that and my love of films and music and how they connect emotionally that I started realising that this is actually my zone.<\/p>

So you find choosing the music for your videos to be an important part of the process as well?<\/h3>

Ja absolutely, I love music and I feel very connected to something that has a beautiful soundtrack. There are some parameters in terms of rights and suitability, and the music should push the story forward rather than being just the music you prefer. But no, it\u2019s a very satisfying part of the process, when the music clicks.<\/p>