Calling all students!
We are happy to announce a brand new feature on our site! We are launching a Student Column which features student success stories, and latest news from our past and current students.
If you would like to contribute to our student column, then please get in touch at shani@nhuafrica.com .
Stay connected by joining our WFA group or becoming a fan on Facebook .
Aaron Gekoski
Aaron Gekoski, UK
“All has gone very well since completing the amazing course .I helped produce a documentary on Africa’s shark finning crisis, Shiver. We are now in talks with major broadcasters to shoot an international version, which I will produce. We hope to commence filming in the coming weeks. I also have articles coming out this month in National Geographic Traveller, Getaway and FHM and write regularly for Travel Mag SA, Divesite and African Diver magazines.
So once again I would like to wholeheartedly recommend the course. It’s a fantastic stepping stone into the industry.
My work can be viewed on www.aarongekoski.com “
Alexander Sletten
Alexander Sletten, Norway
“I did a documentary for an SA based production company called the “The Trapper and the Amazon” – where we spend six weeks in the depth of the Amazonian jungle shadowing animal trapper expert Darien Simpson on his quest to trap Jaguars for scientific studies.
I’m currently working on a Rhino film commissioned by the NHU Africa as camera and sound and established my own company, Apex images. The idea is to start, slowly but surely, produce content for local and international clients, fingers crossed.”
Ashwika Kapur
Ashwika Kapur, India
“It is possible to have a career that enables you to live in the midst of the wild outdoors, seeing and telling the remarkable stories found in nature through the eyes of an artist and a conservationist. I have spent the last year giving further shape to my dream and have occupied myself in assignments that have taken me to various places: the Kenyan savannahs, the rainforests of Borneo, and some exotic jungles and wetlands in India.
You can have a look at some of my work at www.ashwikakapur.com , though the website is due an update!”
Judy lehmberg
Judy Lehmberg, USA
“I retired from biology teaching in May, 2009 and took my new RED camera to Yellowstone National Park to make a movie about what has happened to a species of native fish, the Yellowstone cutthroat trout, since lake trout, from the Great Lakes were illegally put into Yellowstone Lake. The lake trout eat cutthroat trout whose population has nose dived. The cutthroat trout has over 30 species of animals that are dependent on it for their survival including grizzly bears, osprey, bald eagles, otters, dippers, great blue herons, and other animals. The lake trout have decimated the cutthroat population and, because they live only in deep water, are not substitutes for the animals who normally eat cutthroat.
This is a rather circular story because over 150 years ago lamprey were accidently introduced into the Great Lakes where they almost wiped out lake trout. Then the lake trout were introduced into Yellowstone Lake where they are wiping out the cutthroat. In the meantime biologists from the Great Lakes have taken lake trout from Yellowstone. They are breeding them and reintroducing them to the Great Lakes to try to increase lake trout populations there.
Because this story covers such a diverse list of species I have had the opportunity to film all of the animals listed above. Grizzly bears are the most exciting, but can be difficult to find. Others like the osprey and the bald eagle are relatively easy to find but can be difficult to catch them doing what you want to film. I spent over 30 hours with my camera pointed at a bald eagle nest waiting for them to bring their chick a cutthroat trout. They brought in a snowshoe hare leg, a bird, something I couldn’t identify and then, after a total of 30 hours they brought in a cutthroat. Then they brought in another cutthroat about 30 minutes later! I was so excited about the first one I almost missed the second one.
I took my cutthroat movie idea to the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival in September, 2009 and found a company that is producing it for me. It should be finished this summer. It has taken a while because the summer filming season is pretty short in Yellowstone.
In the meantime I am finishing up a kids environmentally oriented music video with a singer named Jim Stoltz. I am also working on a “how to” movie on fly fishing. I have sold some wolf footage to National Geographic that was in their “Expedition Wild – Inside a Wolf Pack” and Aquavision TV Productions in Joburg has my footage on their website for sale.
I was lucky to be able to get my RED camera. While I was trying to decide which camera to buy a pipeline company announced they wanted to put a natural gas pipeline through our land. I knew I couldn’t stop them, but I negotiated with them long enough that the money they paid us almost paid for my camera. I have really enjoyed using it. It shoots up to 4K resolution and can accommodate Nikon lenses, which my husband already had boat loads of, everything from an 11 mm to a 500 mm. I now have about 40 hard drives with over 80 TB of footage, but that includes backups.
I have worked more than I ever did when I was teaching biology and enjoyed every minute of it. I had some wonderful teachers and met a lot of really nice people.”
