Taming tiger sharks by grabbing them by the tail, sitting still for 72 hours to film a seahorse giving birth, and flying drones to monitor turtles, birds and sharks in a fraction of the time conventional monitoring usually takes. 

This is all part of the job description for Emmy Award winning cinematographer Richard Fitzpatrick who was the special guest at the annual Reef Breakfast event hosted by the Board of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation in March.

Around 50 guests were treated to Richard’s amazing marine stories and a stunning visual presentation of his work at the event held in the Brisbane offices of Foundation pro bono partner PwC.

Richard, a qualified marine biologist, has spent more than 15,000 hours underwater filming, from the Great Barrier Reef to the Amazon, shooting more than 50 films for clients including the BBC, National Geographic and the Discovery Channel.

Richard and his company Biopixel, formed with his Rockhampton fishing mate turned tech entrepreneur Bevan Slattery, were behind the lens of around one third of the footage for the new Great Barrier Reef documentary series presented by Sir David Attenborough, set to air in Australia from 10 April.

Richard nominated Raine Island as his favourite spot on the Reef, coincidentally also one of Sir David’s favourite memories from his first-ever experience of the Great Barrier Reef.