Course Tutors Our course tutors comprise both professionals in the digital wildlife photography and wildlife film making industry and those with specific skill sets covering techniques like macro work, specialist equipment or knowledge of programmes such as Final Cut Pro and Photoshop. All our tutors have many years experience in the field producing digital stills or film/video of publishable or broadcast quality. We have up to three tutors per course to ensure a manageable student to tutor ratio. All our tutors work with the emphasis on verbal tuition followed by detailed practical demonstration backed up by anecdotal information drawn from many years of experience. The Wildlife Film School tutors are well known for their relaxed and friendly but detailed approach to training and their willingness to impart their knowledge.
Chris O'Dell
Chris O’Dell BSC is a photographer and cinematographer, a graduate of the London International Film School. Initially trained as a stills photographer, he traveled widely in the 70s and 80s filming documentaries of every kind, including the world famous “Cosmos” with Carl Sagan, and “The Heart of the Dragon”, the story of China, for Channel 4. Chris was cameraman on two major wildlife series for Channel 4 with naturalists Gerald and Lee Durrell, “Ourselves and other Animals” and “The Amateur Naturalist”. As a qualified diver, he spent a lot of time filming underwater for the BBC and other clients. He ran a successful production company making arts and music programmes for the BBC. Since 1990 has been the director of photography on many very successful TV drama series including Agatha Christie’s Poirot, Sharpe, Hornblower, Inspector Morse, the Morse sequel Lewis, and many single dramas. Chris lives and works in West Cork and photographs the wonderful changing light on the landscape of West Cork for which he employs Nikon, Apple, Photoshop, and Epson equipment. Chris O’Dell was chairman of the 2009 Corona Fastnet Short Film Festival.
Sheena Jolley
Sheena Jolley One of Ireland’s celebrated wildlife photographers, Sheena Jolley was born in Wicklow, Ireland. Between 1999-2001 she studied Photography full time at North Oxfordshire College of Art thus combining her creative talents with her knowledge and love of nature. Sheena is dedicated to capturing award winning images of the indigenous wildlife of Ireland. Her work specialises in tight close-ups as well as a studies of animals in their environment. Purchased by collectors in both Europe and America her work has featured many times in a number of national publications such as The Irish Wildlife Trust magazine, broadsheets such as the Irish Examiner and the Irish Times and on regional TV. This year one of her photographs, a stunning image of a Rock Pipit feeding on sand flies along the tideline of Inishmore, reached the finals of the prestigeousVeolia Environment Wildlife photographer of the year Competition.
Vincent Hyland
Vincent Hyland Vincent Hyland is a multi award winning digital content creator specialising in underwater natural history. He produces interactive software content for education. He has been diving for over 32 years and filming underwater the past 20 years. Formerly a Geologist, Vincent became a programmer, then an illustrator of marine life, then a publisher and a musician who then became a digital content creator. He writes scripts, makes films, photographs, composes original music for his productions and is interested in the interactions between music composition and the natural world, taking the relationship forged between Eric Serra and Luc Besson as his benchmark. Some of Vincent’s award winning achievements are listed below: 1999/2000 – Founder of Wild Ireland on line and print Magazine 1999/2000 – Winner Best SME website of the year award (Wild Ireland on-line) / Sunday Business Post/Irish Internet awards 2000 – Galapagos Film on Whale Sharks 2000 – Winner Prix’ d’Europa for RTE/Wild Ireland – Nestwatch 2000 – Jacky and Daw. A wildlife Film 2001 – Feature documentary TV3 and leader of the first all Irish expedition to Antarctica 2002 – Winner Best consumer specialist magazine of the year award – Wild Ireland 2006 – BBC NHU documentary “Search for Ireland’s Giant Turtles” 2007 – Short film “Trapped” becomes 1st Irish underwater wildlife film featured on itunes and in Apple stores in North America 2007-2009 – 2 short films and one feature premièred at North Sea Film Festival, Seattle Irish Reels Film Festival, Dingle International Film Festival 2009 – First HD underwater film made in Ireland in an S.A.C and shown to international audiences 2010 – Vincent becomes Ireland’s first developer/publisher of Interactive White board content for Promethean
Nic Slocum
Nic Slocum PhD As an experienced naturalist and wildlife guide Nic Slocum is best known for his escorted tours taking enthusiasts out, both in Ireland and overseas, to view and photograph whales and dolphins with his company Whale Watch West Cork. Nic has maintained a lifelong passion for using photography and film to promote the conservation of our wildlife and wild places and has appeared as an expert commentator on RTE, Channel 4 and ITV. A zoologist by training, Nic has published articles on conservation related issues in both regional and national newspapers and is working on a book – Field Craft in Wildlife Photography and Film Making. Nic Slocum lives and works in West Cork and is a director of The Wildlife Film Schoolwhich runs courses in digital wildlife photography and all aspects of wildlife film making – from script writing to camera techniques from editing to sound recording – at home and abroad.