Hi, I'm Alister a cinematographer and film maker based in the UK. I don't and have never been a Sony employee, but I do have a very good relationship with Sony that goes back many years.
I've been working in film and TV all my life. I studied photography at school and then went on to study electronics to degree level. A lucky break in the late 1980's allowed me to combine photography, electronics and my passion for rally cars when I landed a job designing some of the first broadcast quality camera systems used to film inside race and rally cars. For several years I travelled the world covering the world rally championship and many other motor racing series. Not just doing in car cameras but also track side filming. After this I became freelance and did many different things including TV news, corporate video, more motorsports as well as filming, editing and producing programmes about windsurfing and snowboarding. Eventually I got fed up with all the travelling, so got a job working as an editor in one of the UK's top post production houses. It was here that I learnt how to colour grade while still doing the occaisional shoot. Then another lucky break came when I got a comission from National Geograhic to produce a programme about storm chasing. The programme was called "Twister Tours" and was a hit that led to several spin offs and a lasting desire to shoot more of natures natural extremes. Around this time I also set up my first website, tvcameraman.info. A place to share hints and tips for camera users. In recent years I have filmed all kinds of things including drama, short films, 3D films, TV adverts, hurricanes and volcanoes. At the same time I still run my own website xdcam-user.com and now write about and hold workshops on many aspects of film and TV production. I never intended to get into the teaching or training, but it seems that the combination of my many years of experience and my technical background allows me to take often tricky subjects and explain them in a way that is easy to understand.
Alister Chapman
Cinematographer/Producer/Trainer
