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Brazil

The quiet before the storm

Arriving at a sleepy southern Brazilian beach 5 days ago, none of our team could have predicted the scenes that would be surrounding us today.   Back then, the area around our hotel resembled the opening scene of 28 Days Later due to fact that we have chosen to come here in Brazil’s winter season when the city’s population shrinks dramatically in the absence of its seasonal inhabitants.

Over the last few days we’ve all got very used to the quiet life here on our secluded cove,  especially the 20 minute walk to work from our hotel . On our journey down the mile long deserted coastline we are accompanied only by the odd jogger and the beach’s resident population of turkey vultures which congregates here at first light in order to siphon off the last night’s bounty of carrion, washed ashore as the city slept.

Well,  today that all changed.   We came here to film the local fishermen.  What we weren’t banking on was the fact that we ourselves might end up becoming the subject of inquistive cameras as word got out and the might of Brazil’s media descended upon our lonely beach to see what a BBC TV crew were doing in the area.

Needless to say, when you spend your life pointing cameras at people for a living,  it’s only fair that you get as good as you give,  so Director Tom and Rachael,  our researcher,  were happy to step up to the podium,  taking turns to speak to the myriad of assembled reporters…

Tom talks to Teleglobal TV..

.. and UNISOL TV..

.. and poses for the local paper

Rachael graces Bandeirantes TV..

.. and the city's official website..

.. and a fan's dubious home video

Cameraman Justin on the other hand, had to put his foot down in the end and point blank refused to talk to Canine Monthly…

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This particular Human Planet shoot has demanded that I spend a fair bit of my time attempting to take pictures of dolphins breaching the ocean’s surface.  It’s not something I’ve ever spent much time doing, but it has subsequently become a fascinating and quite addictive pastime.  As an ode to my newest hobby, here is a clip of what for me still remains the most astonishing sequence ever recorded of an animal breaching at sea…  Simon King shooting with a high speed camera for BBC’s Planet Earth in South Africa…

I think I must have watched this clip over fifty times since I first saw the original film… and it still gives me goose bumps.  Combined with its ethereal soundtrack the images elicit such a graceful yet dramatic melange of emotions inside.  A flawless exemplification of the bitter-sweet beauty of mother nature. Truly astounding.