{"id":261490,"date":"2026-01-01T10:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T10:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/261490\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T10:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T10:44:12","slug":"postman-turned-cinematographer-films-cheetahs-in-brand-new-ways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/261490\/","title":{"rendered":"Postman-Turned-Cinematographer Films Cheetahs In Brand New Ways"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Two<\/p>\n

In National Geographic\u2018s latest documentary, \u201cCheetahs Up Close,\u201d Emmy Award-winning wildlife photographer and cinematographer Bertie Gregory travels to the Serengeti to capture jaw-dropping close-up footage of cheetahs as they rest, hunt, and of course, run. Gregory and fellow Emmy Award-winning wildlife cinematographer Tom Walker<\/a> use long lenses, drones, and specialized equipment to capture remarkable shots, ensuring \u201cCheetahs Up Close\u201d is as beautiful as it is exciting. <\/p>\n

PetaPixel sat down with Walker to discuss his latest project, his career, and how challenging it is to use super-tele lenses to capture cheetahs as they chase down prey at speeds over 70 miles per hour (120 kilometers per hour). <\/p>\n

From Postman to Emmy Award-Winning Cinematographer <\/p>\n

Walker specializes in long-lens gimbal wildlife cinematography, and he\u2019s been at it for about 15 years. Like many exceptional photographers and cinematographers, Walker didn\u2019t attend post-secondary school to develop his craft. <\/p>\n

\"TwoDenis Mollel and Tom Walker sit in a safari jeep looking at wildlife through binoculars (credit: National Geographic\/Tom Walker) <\/p>\n

\u201cI used to be a postman, I had a normal job. But I was really into photography,\u201d Walker tells PetaPixel. Walker continues to do still photography, and it\u2019s exceptional work<\/a>. He believes his still photography will always complement his cinematography, and he always wants his motion picture work to have the same quality as a perfect still frame. <\/p>\n

\"AA cheetah strolls through the plains in from of a herd of antelope. (credit: National Geographic\/Tom Walker) <\/p>\n

\u201cI think everyone who does moving pictures should be ultimately really interested in still photography. It seems a bit strange not to,\u201d Walker says. \u201cI mean, I\u2019m just obsessed with images full stop, regardless of the subject, whether it\u2019s a moving image or a still photography image.\u201d <\/p>\n

It was Walker\u2019s love for photography and images that led him to do timelapses, and that was his in for professional work, including documentaries. Walker got involved with some professional projects looking for timelapse work, so he continued to ply his craft in his spare time and got opportunities \u201chere and there.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThen it sort of snowballed,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\"ThreeThree cheetahs eat a kill whilst being watched by a lioness. (credit: National Geographic\/Tom Walker) <\/p>\n

Since then, he has been cinematographer and Director of Photography on a long list<\/a> of productions for BBC, National Geographic, Netflix, Disney, and more. He has worked on some heavy hitters in the nature documentary field, including \u201c24 Hours on Earth\u201d, \u201cOurPlanet\u201d, and \u201cPlanet Earth\u201d, to name just a few. He has also worked with Bertie Gregory numerous times, including with cheetahs before, making \u201cCheetahs Up Close\u201d a natural fit. <\/p>\n

Rain Spinners and Superzooms <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been filming cheetahs for probably 10 years now, and I\u2019ve always been saying to Bertie it would be good to go and do cheetahs for one of his shows,\u201d Walker remarks. \u201cI\u2019ve known Bertie for 10 years or so. And yeah, it\u2019s always a good shoot and we can crossshoot at the same time. We\u2019ve got very complimentary skillsets and yeah, normally it pays off and delivers something quite interesting.\u201d <\/p>\n

Throughout \u201cCheetahs Up Close,\u201d both Gregory and Walker are shooting, using different rigs and kits and getting multiple angles of the same dynamic sequences. <\/p>\n

\"ABertie Gregory looks through his camera viewfinder at a male lion standing in front of a large rock in the early morning light. (credit: National Geographic\/Jigar Ganatra) <\/p>\n

Anything the duo can do to increase their odds is incredible because cheetahs are very difficult to capture. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s such a technically difficult subject,\u201d Walker says. He always learns something new each time he works with cheetahs, whether it is technical skills or behavioral biology. There are still many mysteries surrounding cheetah behavior, and \u201cCheetahs Up Close\u201d captured some of the first footage ever showing cheetahs hunting in a rainstorm, which is not just visually spectacular but also scientifically valuable. <\/p>\n

\"AA GSS camera with a rainspinner attachment. (credit: National Geographic\/Jigar Ganatra) \"AWater pouring onto a GSS camera with a rain spinner attachment to show how it works. (credit: National Geographic\/Jigar Ganatra) \"AA Mavic drone sealed with glue to improve waterproofing. (credit: National Geographic\/Jigar Ganatra)<\/p>\n

To nail the rain shots, Walker relied on a rain spinner, which is an attachment that goes on the front of the lens that, as its name suggests, spins very fast to keep water from collecting on the front element.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an approach that\u2019s not been done very much, if at all, with cheetahs, particularly when they go hunting in the rain. And I\u2019ve been there many years before and never had a rain spinner, so I knew the potential, but it was just normally impossible to capture,\u201d Walker says. \u201cI mean, predators hunt in the rain. They do it a lot more than you imagine. And it makes so much sense when you see all the prey dynamics change, they\u2019re all turning their back into the rain. So that was definitely a key target that we wanted to try and do, but it doesn\u2019t always rain heavily enough to show in the shots and it doesn\u2019t always happen.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"DarkA large rainstorm over the Serengeti. (credit: National Geographic\/Will Greenlees) \"AA cheetah catches up with a wildebeest during a hunt in a heavy rainstorm. (credit: National Geographic\/Tom Walker) \"AA cheetah stalks in front of a herd of onlooking zebras. (credit: National Geographic\/Tom Walker) <\/p>\n

As for the rest of the gear Walker used, he worked with a RED Raptor and the \u201cstandard wildlife go-to lens,\u201d the $75,000 Canon Cine-Servo 50-1000mm T5-8.9<\/a>. Using a Super35 RED, which effectively gives Walker 1500mm of reach, which he says is \u201cpretty essential for 80% of what we shoot.\u201d <\/p>\n

At those focal lengths, the depth of field is razor-thin, making it tough even when a subject is stationary, let alone when it\u2019s running at full speed. <\/p>\n

\"TwoTwo baby cheetahs cuddle close to their mother. (credit: National Geographic\/Tom Walker) \"Close-upA cheetah\u2019s face is lightly stained with blood after eating a kill. (credit: National Geographic\/Tom Walker) <\/p>\n

\u201cThe follow focus is very difficult,\u201d Walker says. He relies heavily not just on his skills and extensive experience, but also on the driver of the truck from which Walker is shooting. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s the technical side of just making things go along,\u201d Walker says. \u201cThere\u2019s the driver communication. I work with an amazing driver guide, Denis Mollel, who is, without question, I think the best in Africa at that kind of driving.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then you\u2019ve got all the light, how you want the image to look aesthetically, then the story. There\u2019s a lot going on in your head all at once. But technically speaking, yeah, the focus is a big challenge for sure once things start moving.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"TwoA drone takes off from the front bonnet of a safari Jeep whilst the pilot watches. (credit: National Geographic\/Jigar Ganatra) \"ThreeThree adult cheetah walk through the plains of the Serengeti with small birds flying overhead in the blue sky. (credit: National Geographic\/Tom Walker)
\n \"ATwo baby cheetahs cuddle close to mom on a rock. (credit: National Geographic\/Tom Walker) Photographing Cheetahs in Beautiful Light Is Rarely Easy <\/p>\n

Speaking of the light, \u201cCheetahs Up Close\u201d is stunning, with many sequences captured in beautiful light, which is a rarity with cheetahs as they are often most active when the Sun is at its highest and light at its least dynamic. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe only had about four weeks,\u201d Walker says. \u201cFor the length of the show, that\u2019s not very long.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cGetting nice light is not always easy, and a lot of the time it comes down to your instincts. That\u2019s where Dennis and Baz, the guides in the show, [come in], their instincts and knowledge\u2026 is absolutely critical.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Close-upA fluffy cheetah profile. (credit: National Geographic\/Tom Walker) <\/p>\n

Cheetahs are not easy to find in the early morning hours when light is rich and beautiful, so the team spent a lot of time trying to find the cheetahs and get into position before the Sun got too high. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a challenge for sure, but it pays off when you get it right,\u201d Walker explains. <\/p>\n

For Walker, though, he doesn\u2019t mind spending long hours out in the field with big cats and other predators. <\/p>\n

\"TwoTwo cheetahs cuddle together in the grass. (credit: National Geographic\/Tom Walker) <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve probably spent more of my adult life with large predators than I have with humans,\u201d he laughs, although not joking. This experience enables Walker to better predict what animals might do, although he is always at the mercy of weather, conditions, and luck to an extent. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really interesting to go back and see what you think you know and then what actually happens. When you get it right, and you on point with what happens next, that\u2019s really satisfying.\u201d <\/p>\n

You\u2019re Never Close to Finishing Cheetahs <\/p>\n

Even though Walker has worked with cheetahs essentially every year for the past decade, and has spent a ton of time out in the field with them, including with some of the same cheetahs he shot for \u201cCheetahs Up Close,\u201d he says the work is never finished. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think with cheetahs, because there\u2019s various challenges obviously with any animal, but with cheetahs being definitely on the upper scale in terms of the technical side, you never, ever feel like you\u2019re close to finishing cheetahs. You never feel like you\u2019ve completed a cheetah shoot ever, I don\u2019t think, because there\u2019s always more you could have got, there\u2019s always something you could have tried differently. So in that sense, I\u2019m always just wanting to go back,\u201d says Walker. <\/p>\n

\"ThreeThree cheetahs stand on a large rock looking out at the Serengeti. (credit: National Geographic\/Tom Walker)
\n \"ThreeThree adult cheetah walk through the plains of the Serengeti with small birds flying overhead in the blue sky. (credit: National Geographic\/Tom Walker) \u2018Cheetahs Up Close\u2019 Premieres This Week <\/p>\n

\u201cCheetahs Up Close\u201d shows cheetahs in a new light, capturing their behavior in exciting, unique ways unlike any show before. They are a complex, sophisticated species and one that never gets tiring to watch. Each cheetah has their own way of doing things, unique approaches to hunting. <\/p>\n

\u201cCheetahs Up Close\u201d premieres on National Geographic on January 1 and on Disney+ and Hulu the following day, January 2. <\/p>\n

Image credits:<\/strong> National Geographic. Individual credits are in the image captions. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In National Geographic\u2018s latest documentary, \u201cCheetahs Up Close,\u201d Emmy Award-winning wildlife photographer and cinematographer Bertie Gregory travels to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[273],"tags":[100,134575,134576,134577,1887,18,19,17,95379,95380,3618,100980,133,134578,461],"class_list":{"0":"post-261490","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-animals","9":"tag-bertiegregory","10":"tag-cheetahs","11":"tag-cheetahsupclose","12":"tag-disney","13":"tag-eire","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-natgeo","17":"tag-nationalgeographic","18":"tag-nature","19":"tag-predators","20":"tag-science","21":"tag-tomwalker","22":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}