Cameras: News and Updates

The Guild of Television Cameramen announced the winners of its 2013 awards during a presentation at the 'A Day in the Country' venue in Aynho, Oxfordshire, on Saturday 11 May.

The day included the GTC's 41st annual general meeting in the afternoon. Either side of the AGM, more than 60 members enjoyed a range of 'country pursuits' including 4x4 driving, rage buggies, clay pigeon shooting and archery. A range of camera-related equipment was brought along by sponsor companies for GTC members to try out.

The day culminated with the celebration of this year's best camerawork as nominated by GTC members. Winners of GTC awards are always keen to emphasise how highly valued this accolade from their peers is. The awards were announced and presented by the current chair of the GTC, Keith Massey.

This year's top award, the TiCA, went to Charles Lagus who was the BBC’s first natural history cameraman, working with Sir David Attenborough on the broadcaster’s initial nature series. Sir David recalls: "We simply disappeared for four to six months at a time, armed with nothing more than a couple of letters of introduction and our pockets stuffed with dollar bills. It was just the two of us; we didn’t have a director until about 15 years later!"

The Mike Baldock Award was presented to camera operator and 3D stereographer Holly Bantleman for her work with Raise the Roof in Kenya. She juggles a career in the UK with running the Kenya based charity which she founded at the age of just 24. The charity is enthusiastically supported by her employer, Telegenic, and many camera crew colleagues on location who are to be seen sporting Raise the Roof tee-shirts. It has already 'raised the roof' on the Barut Youth Development and Sports Centre.

The GTC Seal of Approval for an innovative piece of equipment was awarded to the Sony HDVF-EL75 studio colour viewfinder, praised for its contrast ratio of more than 1,000,000:1, efficient power consumption, wide viewing angle and extremely fast response time, meaning it is possible to focus on fast moving targets with a colour viewfinder.

The day culminated with the presentation of GTC Awards for Excellence. Winners this year are:

Fred Scott for Atma Refuge Camp, Syria (BBC News), BBC1.

Graham Maunder for Cold Chain Mission, BBC2.

Nat Hill for Coldplay MX World, BBC1.

Richard Cook and Christian and Paola Moullec for Earthflight, BBC HD.

Jonathan Young for Extreme World: Karachi, BBC1.

Tony Etwell for Grand Designs: The Water Tower, Channel 4.

Dave Minchin for Great Continental Rail Journeys, Boundless for BBC2.

Marcus Elliott for Heroes of the Skies: Wingwalker, Five.

Paul Kirsop for Hunted, Kudos for the BBC.

Jonathan Young and Balazs Bolygo for Indian Ocean with Simon Reeve, BBC 2.

The whole camera team for Later with Jools, BBC2 - a special award for continuing excellence.

Nigel and Peter Meakin for Michael Palin in Brazil, BBC2.

Fabian Wagner for Mrs Biggs (Episode 1), ITV 1.

Barrie Dodd and the whole camera team for Olympics Opening Ceremony, LOCOG for the BBC.
 
David Higgs for Restless, BBC1.

Marcel Zyskind for whole Crew Alastair Rae, Simon Tindall, Mark Silk, Jake Marcuson and Henry Landgrebe for Weightwatchers Commercial, Channel 4.

Main 'gold' sponsor for the day was Camera Corps, part of the Vitec Group, which brought along a selection of equipment including Q-Ball remote pan/tilt/zoom/focus heads and controllers for members to view. These were demonstrated by Neil Ashworth, Steve Lundie and Jeff White. The GTC is also very grateful to its other sponsors who all contributed to making the day such a success: Aerial Vue, Atomos, Dan Greenway, Ianiro Lighting, Miller Tripods, Panasonic, Polecam, Presteigne Charter, Quadcopters, Shooting Partners, Videosys Broadcast and Zest4TV.

Resources:

www.gtc.org.uk