ANDY TAYLOR ACS

 

cinematographer & drone pilot

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Andy Taylor is an ACS accredited freelance director of photography and CASA certified drone pilot based in Sydney. He has been working as a cameraman for 35 years, filming extensively throughout Australia and travelling to over 110 countries and territories on every continent.

 

Considered one of Australia’s most respected, reliable and versatile cinematographers, Andy specialises in shooting documentaries, commercial productions, network promotions, TVC's dramatised re-enactments and multi-camera interviews.

 

Granted accreditation by the Australian Cinematographers Society in 2002 – the highest honour that is bestowed on an ACS member - Andy has won 30 ACS Awards and 6 prestigious Walkley Awards for cinematography.

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Andy has recently worked on the following productions:

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Documentaries:

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·    Coming Soon! - 2 x 90-minute feature documentaries for IN-Films.

     Exposed – The Ghost Train Fire - 3 x 90min documentary series for Netflix and ABC-TV.

·    Mysteries of the outback with Ray Martin - 90 min documentary for QLD Tourism & SBS.

·    Chasing the Light - Norfolk Island - 1 hr documentary for Tourism Australia and SBS.

·    Shark Beach with Chris Hemsworth - 1 hr documentary for Nat Geo / Disney+ (b-camera).

·    Revelation - 3-part documentary series with Sarah Ferguson for In-Films, ABC-TV & Netflix.

·    Griff’s Great Australian Rail Trip - 6 x 1 hr travel series with Griff Rhys-Jones - ABC & ITV.

·    An Australian Hero – Keith Payne VC - 1 hr documentary with Ray Martin for SBS.

·    Firestarter: The Story of Bangarra - documentary series for In-Films and ABC-TV.

·    Michael Hutchence: The Last Rockstar - 2 x 1 hr documentary for Seven.

 

Factual and True Crime series:

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CBS 60 Minutes (USA) and 60 Minutes Australia, Under Investigation with Liz Hayes (Nine), Spotlight, Sunday Night and Murder Uncovered (Seven), Four Corners, Catalyst and Exposed (ABC), plus various programs for BBC Studios, Wildbear Entertainment and Selling Sunset season 7 for Netflix..

 

Network Promotions for Nine:

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Today, A Current Affair, The 2023 Logies, Under Investigation with Liz Hayes, Nine News (national presenters), Beauty and the Geek, Australian Ninja Warrior and The Hundred with Andy Lee.

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Corporate and Commercial:

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McDonalds, Mercedes Benz, Jaguar, Virgin Australia, Tourism Australia, Destination NSW, Queensland Tourism, Canon, NAB, Fujifilm, NBN Co, Nokia, Contiki, Camilla and Marc, AJE, John Holland, Base Air, The NSW Police Force, NRL, F45 Training, Will Studd, Air Adventure Australia, Sydney Flight College and the Australian War Memorial.

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​About Andy:

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With an easy going and positive attitude Andy is reliable and dependable, working quickly and collaboratively with all creatives, production staff, presenters, and talent. He consistently delivers beautifully lit and perfectly composed cinematic pictures with the highest production standards.

 

Andy is a multi-skilled operator and capable of working as a shooter/producer/director, working solo as a one-man band if required. He has a wealth of experience shooting and lighting multi-camera interviews and complex dramatised re-enactments. 

 

As an owner/operator with cutting edge professional equipment including the Arri Alexa Mini LF cinema camera with Signature Prime lenses and three Canon Cinema EOS 4K cameras (all Netflix approved), Andy has the equipment, skills, and ability to cover anything that is thrown at him. He has a selection of Canon cine-prime and zoom lenses, tripods, gimbal, slider, dolly, easyrig and other camera support and monitoring options, plus drones, stills photography gear, a complete professional audio kit and an extensive lighting kit.

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A CASA certified drone pilot, Andy holds a remote pilots license and operators’ certificate

(RePL & ReOC) with CASA RPAS.0798 approval to operate within the Sydney Harbour R405A/B restricted airspace. He has been flying drones since 2013, recently shooting aerial work for NSW Local and State Governments, National Geographic, Disney+, Channel Nine, ABC-TV and Surf Life Saving Australia. Andy currently owns and operates a DJI Inspire 2 with the X5s camera, Cine SSD with Pro-Res license, the new Mavic 3 Pro Cine with RC Pro controller and Mini 3 Pro micro RPA. 

 

Andy began his career at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1986 where he started as a studio cameraman, working on shows like Play School, Mr Squiggle and Countdown. He quickly secured a field position in the ABC’s highly respected Cine-Camera department as a film camera assistant and then a News & Current affairs cameraman. In 1992 he was posted to the ABC Moscow bureau where he covered the collapse of the former Soviet Union, the 1993 Moscow Uprising and wars in Afghanistan and Abkhazia. In 1995 he was posted to the ABC London bureau where he filmed events in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, shooting stories for News, 7.30 Report and Foreign Correspondent.

 

In 1997 Andy returned to Sydney and was appointed to the position of Senior News & Current Affairs Cameraman and was a full-time staff cinematographer filming Four Corners (the longest running show on Australian TV) where he shot 96 complete 45-minute documentary style stories over 12 years. As well as assignments for ABC Foreign Correspondent, Australian Story, Landline and several ABC documentary productions. Andy has also shot for foreign broadcasters: National Geographic, CBS 60 Minutes, Dateline NBC, BBC Panorama, Reuters TV, ITV and CNN.

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For the following 8 years (2009-2017) Andy was a senior staff cinematographer at 60 Minutes Australia, filming stories covering every genre, including: human interest, true crime, wildlife and adventure, science and medical, politics, celebrity profiles, wars, riots, civil unrest, and natural disasters.

 

Exotic assignments Andy filmed for 60 Minutes: include scuba diving with Leopard Seals in Antarctica, trekking through the most remote parts of the Amazon Rainforest, the Kokoda Track in PNG, filming over the rim of active volcanos in Vanuatu, climbing to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and to Everest Base Camp in Nepal. He’s been to North Korea and Cuba, on safari in the Masai Mara and Kenya, explored the incredible Crystal Caves of Mexico and the smugglers tunnels below the Gaza Strip, raided the Brazilian Favela’s with the anti-kidnapping police, boarded people smuggling boats off Indonesia with the Australian Navy and covered the dolphin slaughter in Taiji Japan.

 

Over the years Andy has worked with many of Australia’s most respected journalists and presenters including Ray Martin, Chris Masters, Liz Hayes, Andrew Denton, Caro Meldrum-Hanna, Sarah Ferguson, Leigh Sales, Tony Jones, Mark Colvin, Michael Usher, Tara Brown, Ally Langdon, Karl Stefanovic, Charles Wooley and Peter Overton. Plus, many international celebrities such as: Chris Hemsworth, Bruce Springsteen, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Pink, The Foo Fighters, Ricky Martin, Tom Jones, Kylie Minogue, Jennifer Lopez, Will Ferrell, Bill Murray, Leonard DiCaprio, Cher, Nicole Kidman, Olivia Newton-John, Delta Goodrem, Human Nature, Sir Richard Branson, and Sir David Attenborough.

 

His work has taken him to over 115 countries and territories, filming royalty, rock stars, politicians, warlords, and terrorists, often in the most amazing locations around the world including the USA

(40+ states), Canada, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Australia and the Pacific. Andy has covered many wars and conflicts: Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, Gaza, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Rwanda, Zaire, Angola, the Balkans, East Timor, PNG, Northern Ireland, North Korea and the former Soviet Union, as well as major natural disasters and earthquakes in Fukushima, Haiti and the 2004 boxing day tsunami in Ache.

 

Andy is no stranger to difficult and dangerous situations, he has been shot at, shelled, ambushed, and attacked, arrested by the KGB, kidnapped by the IRA, and confirmed dead in a plane that was shot down over the Black Sea. In 1991 he spent three months in the Middle East covering the first Gulf War in Israel, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq. While based in Russia he filmed the 1993 Moscow uprising - including tanks shelling the Russian Parliament and the battle at Ostankino Television Centre where seven journalists were killed, including legendary British combat cameraman Rory Peck.

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As a PADI Advanced scuba diver, Andy has filmed underwater with Leopard Seals in Antarctica, Bull Sharks in Fiji, Crocodiles in the Okavango Delta - all without a cage, and Great Whites in South Australia, plus wreck diving in Palau and former nuclear test sites in the Monte Bello Islands and Bikini Atoll.

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Andy often presents cinematography, lighting and audio workshops for film students and professionals, including The Australian Cinematographers Society, Canon Australia and Sun Studios, Kayell Australia, Sennheiser Australia and Macquarie Universities Department of Media Communications Creative Arts, Language and Literature (MCCALL).

 

Andy is a Canon Cinema EOS Ambassador and SanDisk Pro Academy Mentor, a regular judge for the Australian Cinematographers Society Awards, the Sun Studios Emerging Photographer Awards (SEPA), the NRMA Kennedy Awards for Excellence in Journalism and the Australian Defence Force (ADF) 1st Joint Public Affairs Unit Photographic Awards.

 

 

 

Professional Reference

 

 

RAY MARTIN AM

 

 

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN                                                                            August 8, 2018

 

I have worked with Andy Taylor for more than a decade, on a wide range of television programs – from countless “60 Minutes” stories to documentaries, commercial projects and on-line productions.

 

I cannot recommend Andy Taylor highly enough. 

 

If there is a better cinematographer in Australia, then I am yet to meet that person.

 

He is fast and accurate, sensitive and ethical. He sees images as they unfold, almost before they happen.

That has to be instinctive, and, in the DNA, it is such a rare talent.

 

Having spent most of his working life winning awards for non-stop action and high-profile interviews in News & Current Affairs shows, Andy is just as capable of shooting exquisite, moody documentary-style programs or high-end commercial product.

 

Not only does he shoot beautiful pictures, but - having worked around the world as an ABC bureau cameraman – Andy Taylor automatically gives editors what they need. Knowing how to produce and direct a story, as well as being able to shoot it so perfectly, is what makes him so exceptional.

 

Andy Taylor is always fun to work with, no matter how urgent and stressed the shoot may be. It is clear that he likes people and mixes comfortably with everybody. He also knows how to bring out the best in on-screen talent, not only professionals. Because he is highly intelligent, worldly and easy- going he puts people at ease. These are all great assets.

 

If you are after the best pictures, innovation and an easy shoot I can highly recommend Andy Taylor ACS. Do yourself a favour.

 

Ray Martin

 

 

Accreditations - Training - Education

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• Australian Cinematographers Society - Accredited Member #286 (2002)

• Advanced Certificate in Film & TV Production - NSW TAFE (1984-87).

• Remote Pilots Certificate – Multi-Rotor <7Kg – RPAS Training & Solutions.

• Arri Academy - Certified Online Training for Large-Format Camera Systems.

• Certificate IV in Assessment and Workplace Training - ABC.

• Lighting Master Class – AFTRS (Russell Boyd, Dean Semler and Peter James).

• Studio Lighting – AFTRS short course.

• Advanced First Aid - St John Ambulance.

• Battlefield Survival, Hostile Environment and First Aid - British Army & AKE.

• Nuclear, Chemical & Biological Warfare course - Australian Army.

• Hostile Environment Awareness Training – Dynamiq Global.

• Helicopter Underwater Escape Training (HUET) - Westpac Rescue.

• Rural Fire Service - Bushfire Training 2022 - NSW RFS.

• Work Safely at Heights - Pinnancle Safety & Training (2022).

• Performance Management – ABC-TV.

• Working with Children Check – Service NSW.

• HSC - St Josephs College Hunters Hill (82).

• Boat License - Service NSW.

• USA Journalists i-visa - valid until Oct 2027.

 

 

Press

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• Sun Studios

• Australian Cinematographer Magazine

• Audio Technology

• Pro Sound Web

• Mix Magazine

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Contact:

 

Phone: +61 412 481144

andy@andytaylor.com.au

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