The Art of Shooting Wildlife

In this profile for Zerb, GTC Managing Editor Alison Chapman talks to Sophie Darlington ASC about a career built on patience, stillness and the long lens. Sophie traces her path into wildlife film-making back to a chance trip to Tanzania at nineteen, and the apprenticeship that followed under the legendary Dutch cinematographer Baron Hugo van Lawick — an education that began with camp chores and ended, a year on, with her first turn behind the camera.

The conversation ranges across the discipline of long-lens work — described as a kind of meditation in stillness — her enduring partnership with the ARRI Amira, and the trust and teamwork behind major BBC series such as Dynasties, where she served as Director of Photography on the award-nominated ‘Lion’ episode. Sophie also speaks candidly about risk in the field, the toll wildlife film-making takes on family life, and her belief that beauty remains one of the most persuasive tools a film-maker has for reaching an audience on the urgency of conservation.

Full interview: Zerb, Issue 89, Spring 2019, pp. 30–35. Interview by Alison Chapman for the Guild of Television Camera Professionals (GTC) and the International Association of Wildlife Film-makers (IAWF). gtc.org.uk