Feb 2008 and we were offered an opportunity to supply our camera system to French film crew fiming a feature and television series about the life and works of French photographer Yann Arthurs Bertrand. Bertrand's extraordinary body of aerial landscape and human effect photography have made him a cultural icon in France and the feature and TV series crew had been travelling the world under Bertrands guidance showcasing his work and capturing awesome footage as they went. The trip to South America was to film the Iguazu Falls and other natural wonders.

Nathan travelled with well known and highly respected cinemaphotographer Mike Brennan to first, Chile, Brazil then Argentina and awaited the arrival of Yann Arthurs Bertrand and crew. Once all had arrived the Cineflex V14 was mounted to a local chopper in the Iguazu Falls area and testing began.

Once the fastidious French technicians were happy with our output the shoot got underway in ernest. Several days were spent capturing both ground and aerial footage and when all were happy the crew packed up and headed for the airport. Interestingly this is when the entire crew were arrested and incarcerated in the local jail. The local production liason person from the Iguaza Falls area had accused the crew of leaving without paying for flight and film permissions and they were now required to appear before a local magistrate before being allowed to leave the country.

The local Police treated the crew very well and made their jail time as comfortable as possible but Nathan felt it was time we contacted the local consulate as did the French crew.

Yann Arthurs Bertrand being a French national treasure and very well connected in Europe had the effect of causing a low level international incident. This type of scam in this part of the world is apparently quite common but most cop it, pay up and leave. In this case the local corrupt official got more than she bargained for and ended up backing away from her false and illegal claims. Most of the crew left within a week. Nathan managed to get out with Mike Brennan once their passports were returned and caught a number of connecting flights to get back to Australia. Just another interesting shoot to add to the resume!

Please enjoy some photos of the trip and please don't hold Nathans criminal record against him!! (he is still dining out on the story and is open to offers)

By the way the falls aerial footage is apparently fantastic!