About Phil
Delivering Professional Solutions for Remote Locations
from Script to Screen & from Africa to Antarctica
Phil is an accomplished adventure imaging and remote location professional with an enviable track record of working on assignment in extreme and challenging environments across the globe from minus 40° to plus 50°C and to altitudes of 8,000m.
Whether you’re organising a ground breaking expedition, requiring a logistics and safety expert, wanting a motivational speaker or looking for an experienced location director cameraman with a keen eye for adventure, Phil is your man.
A consummate professional, Phil spends his time between homes in the historical university city of Cambridge, England and the beautiful Alpine village of Les Contamines-Montjoie, France.
Film Productions
Phil specialises in location directing and shooting in challenging environments across the world his location filming work includes Discovery International’s ‘Everest Beyond The Limit’, BBC2’s ‘Blizzard Race To The Pole, Channel 5’s Ice Break Heart and ‘Challenge 8000’ for Yorkshire Tyne Tees and Channel 4.
In addition to his location directing and shooting work Phil has helped developed a number of documentaries and factual productions across a range of factual genres including science, natural history, the environment, adventure travel and factual entertainment.
An award winning specialist researcher Phil developed his career in television production at BBC Science & Features in London and then later the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol.
Thanks to his professional mountain and outdoor qualifications and extensive expedition experience Phil is also well-placed to work with film crews, providing production stills, location stills and field support.
Sills Photography
As an accomplished adventure location photographer Phil completed an array of international assignments and has been commissioned by a number of outdoor and expedition companies and publications to shoot in remote and challenging environments across the world.
Whether you are looking to commission an adventure lifestyle shoot, need images for your web site or are looking for someone to sensitively portray a story of ethnic cultures then Phil is a dependable professional that delivers every time.
Expeditions
Phil is also a respected expedition leader and polar guide and is best known for his arduous and demanding expeditions to remote corners of the globe.
He has led over 30 international expeditions and has trekked through steamy jungles and arid deserts, climbed in the high Himalayas and explored the icy wastes of the Polar Regions working in temperatures from minus 40 °C to plus 50°C and to altitudes of up to 8,000m.
His list of achievements includes leading the remarkable 2006 ‘In the Footsteps of Mallory Expedition’, skiing to the Magnetic North Pole and filming on the North side of Everest up to 8,000 metres. Phil is Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and active supporter of the British Schools Exploring Society.
Expedition equipment
Phil has all personal clothing and equipment for working in all weather and temperatures in all four environmental extremes Polar, Mountain, Desert and Jungle. An extensive list of equipment can be supplied for expeditions of hired depending on the nature of the assignment. Items included base camp tents and equipment, technical mountaineering equipment and industrial rope access rigs.
TV Production Training
- Observational Directing & Camera Documentary Filmmakers Group
- Intermediate Lighting Workshop BBC Training Wood Norton
- Practical Lighting Operations Arri Lighting Academy
- Sony 570 Operations & Directing Bill Curtis Associates
- Location Camera Operations BBC Training Elstree
- Shooting DV West Herts Media Centre
- Editing With Final Cut Pro West Herts Media Centre
- Foundations In Digital Production Sony Broadcast
- Research, Journalism & Media Management C.I.T.E. Associates London
Professional Outdoor Qualifications
- International Mountain Leader (Full Carnet)
- Mountain Leader Winter Fully Trained
- Rock Climbing Instructor (Single Pitch Award)
- Industrial Rope Access Technician (IRATA Level 1)
- Defensive Driver Training, black top, graded & off road 4x4
- PADI Open Water Diver
- First Aid, Rescue & Emergency Care (REC), Advanced First Aid with paramedic training
- Diploma In Mountain Medicine Advanced Course
Education
- BSc Hons Human Physiology Specialised in Human Performance in Environmental Extremes inc. high altitude and cold water Immersion with field course at the Institute of Naval Medicine.
