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David Attenborough//good note


David Attenborough//good note
Photo Information
Copyright: Line Tscherning Damgaard (Burnham) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 762 W: 98 N: 646] (2449)
Genre: People
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2001-05
Categories: Humorous, Nature, Ceremony
Photo Version: Original Version, Workshop
Date Submitted: 2004-07-02 3:57
Viewed: 1414
Points: 17
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
I promised a good note : When I was working in Ecuador three years ago I had the pleasure of meeting BBC’s own David Attenborough http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/mammals/. He came to do a piece on some possums and the world’s smallest monkey. The interesting bit is what happened before his arrival. A month before the actual shooting 6 people arrived at our little volunteers lodge, they were set up at a nice hotel, but came and worked with us on this project. The thing is they needed one of those small monkeys to climb up a branch, eat a bug and have Sir David watch it. So first things first, we were sent to find a monkey and we knew of an old lady in a nearby village who (wrongly) kept one as a pet. The crew found it usefull, only it had been fed mainly sweets and Coca Cola, so the little fellow had to be trained to eat insects, pretty difficult with the old lady thinking that was just disgusting! The crew gave her a camera to play with which left us with three weeks to train the monkey and by the way catch a male and female possum, build a cage for them and make them mate in front of the camera :o) After about two weeks of covering bugs in sugar, the little monkey seemed to like eating grasshoppers, so we were nearly ready for the big day. The crew went to find the perfect little sunny spot with the perfect little branch for the perfect little monkey to climb :o) When all this was ready we had just one night left and went to a village for a night of salsa and Ecuadorian beer. The next day we heard the sound of a canoo, and quickly got out to see who was there, and there he was dressed for the jungle and in a natural looking make up - Sir David Attenborough. He said hello to all of us and allowed us to come along and see the fruits of one month of preperation, provided we kept a safe distance and remained silent.

I'v used my 2000 characters, so the story continues in the discussion below called "the note continues"
mitternacht, RGatward, rabani, Rinie_Hoff, cgrindahl, Galeota, GrahamB, bazal, Darren, Kenny10pin, Jeppe, snuggleaphagus, djnik2004 has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To Hanssie: The picture that didn't tell the story..Burnham 1 07-02 17:41
To GrahamB: Love him too..Burnham 2 07-02 06:08
To Ken: It sure does.Burnham 2 07-02 04:47
To cgrindahl: Doubt it..Burnham 1 07-02 04:26
The note continues..Burnham 1 07-02 03:58
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Critiques [Translate]

Well, the photo could be sharper, but the note is worth it. All that effort for a few seconds of broadcast TV!

...And very very funny as well. To think a famous person telling us to keep away and quiet while he documents a rare animal in "natural" habitat which you had "created" unknowingly for him. Talk about staging.

This a delightful story Line, only you've destroyed for ever my credulity when it comes to nature specials. I'll be eternally thinking about the months spent to conjure up tricky feats designed simply to entertain me but which in fact have nothing to do with reality. You and your friends were real troopers. I wonder if BBC gave credit in the small print of the "documentary?" You surely deserved it.

  • Great 
  • Jeppe Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 4587 W: 393 N: 4175] (18494)
  • [2004-07-02 5:12]

Well Line - I'm not surprised, in fact I knew about this be course many of those series ends with a "how this was made" part :-) But Its great to hear the story from you and your own experience. Thanks for sharing - With all the grey weather here - you surely must looking forward to visit this fine place again :-)

Great story Line and for sure a precious souvenir to you.

Interesting story and good work on a poor strting image.
Most people here in the UK have grown up watching David Attenborough on the TV - a nature programme doesn't seem right if he is not in the film or doing the voice-over.
His recent autobiography is fascinating as he has been involved in TV from the very beginning, at one point he was also offered the job of running BBC TV but prefered to make programmes insted.
As a contrst to your story the tales of some of the early films he made are very different with one camera man and David A doing the sound recording and presenting.
It's called 'Life on Air' if anyone is interested. ( a play on his famous 'Life on Earth' series name)

  •      
  • sohrab Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1362 W: 254 N: 1175] (7405)
  • [2004-07-02 8:01]

hello line
well in the beginning i was sooooo excited seeing attenborough's photograph, however after reading your note i have lost respect for him. sorry bout feeling this way, but i always imagined him to have been sitting on a branch or something and waiting to catch a natural moment , like the first flight of a baby bird or something. im pretty disappointed that he stages his shots.:( anyway take care. it's a nice photograph though

  • Great 
  • bazal Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2537 W: 124 N: 2378] (7884)
  • [2004-07-02 9:08]

Very interesting posting, line ! Sir David Attenborough is known even in France by nature lovers, since the satellite TV allowed us to see BBC programs. I'm not surprised by the way that some parts of the reportages are made and it would be impossible to wait during hours and days to catch every decisive view. So some scenes must be staged...
A great experience you share here !

  • Good 
  • Darren Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1561 W: 120 N: 1061] (6795)
  • [2004-07-02 10:53]

Hi Line. What a great note and a very interesting view into the making of a nature "documentary". I remember watching a program about how some Nature Program photo/video shoot was done, so I am not surprised at how things are set up. I believe even much of Nat Geo is done in a similar way. Anyways, very interesting reading about your brush with fame.

The composition of your photo is actually quite good, and the green tones throughout are really appealing too. You know about the other aspects ;)

Nice shot, the man looks really small compared the his surroundings, really good shot and nice note

Today it´s not the picture, it´s the story !
Well, well, what a story, beautiful !
I think, I will call some newspapers, Die Welt, The Observer, La Libre Belgique and the Washington Post to contact you...
By the way, you´re a `special one´ here on TE, you crazy girl !

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