I left the London Film School in 1974 having met Chris Morphet, who was already a cameraman and became my mentor. At the time you had to have a Union membership to work in the industry and needed a recognised job to obtain one. There was however non union work to be had in corporate work. I started assisting Chris on jobs for medical companies but after a while it became clear I needed to get a union ticket to get more work.
I am here with the Eclair NPR camera, which in the mid 70s was the workhorse for documentaries along with the Arriflex although the French NPR was considered better for hand held work. The tripod was an all metal Ronford, a British design, solid but very heavy, as was a lot of the equipment when I started as a camera assistant.
Rhythm of Resistance 1979 - South Africa - Director Jeremy Marre, Nic Knowland on Camera- me assisting
We were in Iran for 6 weeks over the summer of 76, ironically a very hot summer in Britain - We traveled round the country filming famous historical sites, sometimes traveling by helicopters flown by ex Vietnam US pilots who were somewhat gungho
The Crossroads of Civilization - a six part series devised and fronted by David Frost who had sold the idea to the Shah of Iran. A strange job where we were followed around by the savak and the sound man had trouble with his radio mikes when we interviewed the Shah as he was wearing body armour.
Here is Nic with David Frost and the director
1977
I had assisted Chris Morphet a few times on non union jobs then after a while went to work for Kodak as I had heard the BECTU union was trying to establish membership there and were giving employees full membership (which was transferable to other grades) I worked there for 3 months then went into the union office and transferred my ticket to the camera department. Chris then asked me to assist him on a job in Jamaica!!!
Make it stand out.
I was amazed to go to South Africa as Nic’s assistant on a Jeremy Marre film called the Rythmn of Resistance - we filmed a lot of musicians who later appeared on the Album Gracelands made by Paul Simon, he was inspired to make the album having seen this documentary.
Make it stand out.
I worked for a variety of camerapeople to get experience but then joined a company called Tattooist International that was part owned by Nic Knowland. I moved in above the shop.
