My first trip for work was an exciting one, with the task of creating a half-hour documentary tracing Bristolian family histories around the Somme.
Based around a bus tour, the trip was 4 days of intensive filming - but as with most projects, pre-production took the most work. Travellers had provided military historian Jeremy Banning with information about their families and anything specific they hoped to find out. This was a great opportunity for casting suitable contributors and we found some fantastic individuals to follow, leading to some heartfelt reveals.
I love filming observationally, the excitement and pressure of making sure you capture those moments that you only have one chance to get makes the end product even more worthwhile. All of the travellers were very welcoming of my intrusion, particularly the people I was closely following throughout this quite personal and emotional trip. A very sweet thank you note from one of the couples still sits on my desk now!
I made sure to look out for some memorials local to my own roots too, like the one pictured.
If you have a spare half hour, the documentary can be watched here.
October 2017