Again, a thousand apologies for the lack of postage here. My film production career manages to go from strength to strength, and I barely have time to catch up. I am now a producer at Onion Media, and the challenges and excitement that the position offers never fail to surprise me. Five years ago, I was finishing my high school education, with very little idea of where I wanted to go. I knew I wanted to write, but the question was… write what?

One trip to a careers market in – of all places – Penrith, fixed that for good. A passion for the romance of the cinema, an awareness of the media and how technology was changing society, not to mention a love of all things art, led to my undergraduate degree, a Bachelor of Communication, passing in a blur, and Second Class Honours. And now I’m doing a Doctor of Philosophy in the same field, at the same uni.

In the past six months, I’ve travelled myself to New York, Boston and Washington DC, and for work I’ve flown to Brisbane, Dubai, and, most recently (yesterday), to Taree, in mid-NSW. The trip to Taree was, ostensibly, a lens test, but was also a chance for the new crew we’re working with to sink their teeth into a new project, and I must say it worked brilliantly well. We even came away with a short trailer to show my superiors and the client.

This extensive introduction is a means of outlining how I have come to meet a man by the name of Jim Frazier.

Dan & Jim
Dan & Jim Frazier in Jim’s workshop in Taree, NSW, with the Red ONE Camera.

Jim Frazier is an Australian cinematographer, most famous for his work with, among others, Sir David Attenborough. Many of the images you have seen in primetime on Sunday night nature documentaries were shot by Jim, camping out for months in trees, deserts and grottoes, to get the one perfect shot.

Of importance to Onion, professionally, is how Jim came to invent the now-famous Frazier lens. Much is confidential, suffice to say, personally, that Jim is an incredible and inspiring man, and one that I am proud to say I have met. His enthusiasm, intelligence, wit and larrikinism are truly inspirational to me.

This is a man who grows crystals, and photographs them for fun. He has made over 20,000 slides in 30 years, and they are beautiful. A man who fixes clocks (one of his first apprenticeships was to a George Street clockmaker). A man who pulls things apart, not only to see how they work, but to put them back together differently just to see what happens.

Watch this space, because what we are working on now will blow you away. It already has with me.

Until next time…