From Crocs to Anacondas to Sharks: Filming Wildlife in Extreme Environments

0:00 Welcome back to another episode of the Beyond Jaws podcast. On today's episode, we have Johnny Harrington from Project 1Z Media, who's gonna tell us what it's like to be a cinematographer for a shark program. This is something that's always been a part of our podcast, as we talk about all the different ways that people can interact with sharks and document sharks. Obviously, cinematography has come a long way since the last 30 years or 40 years, shark documentaries have been viewed. And so Johnny comes in with a very interesting perspective of how he started his business, how he got into cinematography, how he hooked up with Forrest Galante, one of our, one of the friends of the program, and he tells us all about it on today's show. So let's get into the show with Johnny Harrington. Let's start the show. Hey everybody, welcome back to another exciting episode of the Beyond Jaws podcast. I'm your co-host Andrew Luan, here with my other co-host, Dr. David Oh, absolutely. I'm really looking forward to having Johnny on the show today. And he's another one of these cinematographers we've had on in the past. We've had Chris Fallows, Joe Romero, Andy Casagrande. And I think it brings a whole new perspective to the shark world. These are the guys that are doing the filming and everything. And Johnny's another one of these young guys who does a lot of the Shark Week shows, works with Forrest Galani extensively. But he does some other stuff as well. And it's one of those questions we know. people wanted like how can I be a be a nature photographer do film documentaries and

1:31 Hopefully Johnny can shed a little light into that on his whole journey to where Absolutely He's got quite the journey. So here is the interview with John Harrington enjoy and we'll talk to you after hey, Johnny Welcome to the beyond jaws podcast. Are you ready to talk about filming sharks? Welcome to the Beyond Jaws podcast. We have a really special guest this week in honor of Shark Week. You have the fabulous cinematographer and producer John Harrington, who you may have seen on Discovery Channel, the Shark Week, where he's done a number of episodes, at least six or so. including where he's worked as underwater director of photography. He's also involved in this year's Alien Sharks Ghosts of Japan. He's also done programs for Animal Planet's Extinct or Alive and Mysterious Creatures with Forrest Galani. He's also done other programs for the History Channel, among others. In 2015, he founded the Project 1Z Media, a company that does cinematography for network TV and branded content for some of the world's largest outdoor companies. He frequently works with friends of the Beyond Jaws podcast. Forrest Galani has been on the program.

2:40 And Jesse Colazzi was recently on our podcast as well. Johnny went to the University of Rhode Island where he did a bachelor's of fine arts degree. And Well, I always start off with like, how did you get interested in cinematography and filming and the Yeah, it's a loaded question. I mean, I kind of started out in photography, to be honest. And I grew up in Newport, Rhode Island, which is a very seasonal place in New England, where you have short summers that go by very quickly. And you try to make the most of those summers.

3:26 And I just remember my earlier days snorkeling on the beaches. surfing and spearfishing and mostly fishing. Um, that's where I kind of passed my time, whether with my friends or by myself. And, um, I just remember my mom gave me a waterproof disposable camera when I was probably 12 years old. Um, and I remember going, you know, to gooseberry beach in Newport and taking some photos. And I mean, I haven't seen them since then, but I'm sure they weren't great, but I just remember the fascination of like, The spearfishing hadn't happened then, but seeing little creatures and seaweed and things and the movement of the water kind of inspired me and instilled something within me to want to keep at that and share that with people, even if it was my mom and my brother at the time. But yeah, after that it was, I remember going to family events and my uncle, one of my uncles who lives in California now, he would always like take terrible family photos of everyone, super close ups and all, my aunts and my mom would get so mad at him because it was just the terrible angles, but he was like, actually a great photographer, but it was just fun and he'd burn a CD drive and he'd send it to the family and we'd all watch it. And just the memories that that provided with us as a family was like another step towards like, oh, this is really cool,

4:57 you know. And I ended up doing sports photography for my senior project in high school. I was playing basketball in Newport, and I had a wrist injury, so I couldn't play for half the season. And during our senior projects, I took up sports photography with a local photographer and I photographed one of our games when I couldn't play and shared it with all the teammates and my friends and got photos of my friends in the stands. From there it just kind of just kept going and videography and filming wasn't a part of that for another five years, but it just slowly through college with photography classes just kept becoming a part of my lifestyle along with my love for the ocean and fishing and spearfishing. Being in as as much of a wild environment that you can get in new england, which is You know, not that crazy comparative to where I live now in san diego, but you know, that's what we had at that time Did you ever um, I know No, you said you had you um, you know, they uh, uh, no fisheries officer In I I haven't no I The closest I got after graduating and moving to California and like starting to get into cinematography and documentary work and all this, I reached out to Green Fins, which is actually located on the University of Rhode Island campus where they're, I think they're one

6:29 of the first research facilities in the world to successfully breed captive yellowfin tuna. And it was a new program, or I think a few years old, but I think that was the extent of reaching out to the New England fisheries or scientific community to try to, hey, you guys need any commercial work? I'll come. I just want to see it. I want to help document what you guys are doing, because this is where I grew up, and this is really cool. This is what I'm doing out here. But still You did a lot of different projects throughout high school, it sounds like, doing your senior project on sports. What was motivating you? Starting off in nature, doing a lot of different things, what did you find got you better as a photographer? Was it the underwater photos or was it photos of your spear fishing or was it photos of doing projects in class, doing different – I'm assuming sports is different types of speeds of people running and dodging. all that kind of stuff, probably track and football and God knows what, you know, in high school sports compared to like underwater, which is a completely different medium. What Well, I mean, yeah, I mean, there are a lot of similarities with sports photography and wildlife in that there's a lot of fast moving objects. There's a lot of variables in the situations that

8:02 you're trying to capture. And, um, obviously I had a, a great mentor and that local photographer, um, who photographed, you know, us from, you know, high school baseball to, you know, whatever. Um, and it was a lot of that mentorship that gave me kind of the, the guidelines as to how to take a good photo in certain situations but then it was a lot of like go out and do it yourself and screw up a bunch of times and take it all back to the computer, upload it. It was a lot different than it was now. I mean it was nothing compared to what it was 40, 50 years ago on film but still it was a lot of trial and error and I remember Whether it was fishing or photography, late nights while I was in high school, kind of restless, didn't have anything to do and I would just go out to the water and photograph striped bass, you know, blitzing on the beaches. coming back and be like, these are all awful. This is what I have to do tomorrow to make this better. And you know, time lapses of the stars and all that kind of stuff.

9:07 So it's just, it was a matter of trial and error and failure to figure out what you're doing wrong and in order to find Yeah, true, true. When you started out, were you pretty much started using digital photography or were they still doing film? I started out with digital. I kind of messed around with film a little bit in more controlled situations. I went to a few camps in the summer where I was taught, you know, film development and went into dark rooms and stuff like that. But it was mostly digital. My dad had an old digital, an old Rebel SLR, you know, the SLR camera that I used to shoot on and, you At what point did you say, I'm going to go and study this as like a fine arts in college, like thinking that this could be a way to not only get a degree, but also potentially have a career out of photography? Or I'm not a, I wasn't a man of many plans or a boy of plans back then. I remember going to college and just being totally overwhelmed, you know, of like, what do I want to do? I love the ocean. I actually started out in marine biology and, you know, truthfully I was like, not mentally or like, I

10:37 wasn't prepared for college in my own ways. So I didn't do very well, but I liked that field a lot. So I, Also, I have a number of artistic people in my family. My uncle used to work on studio set designs for Hollywood motion pictures like King Kong and Independence Day. He used to make all those sets out of foam. So whenever I'd go to his house in California when I was a kid, I'd see the big movie posters up in his house and be like, this is awesome. And I remember when I told him I wanted to go to school or switch over to fine art, he's like, there's no money in fine art. Don't do it. It's tough. I'm like, I'm gonna try it. So, yeah, it was a lot of fine art. I actually started out in sculptural work. I was doing welding and ceramics and doing a lot of three-dimensional pieces while also doing some photography classes with a couple of great professors there at URI and got a lot of great advice. And after college, I had always gone back to California to visit family and see my cousins. I've got, you know, four or five aunts and uncles out here and had a great, you know, relationship to California because I was actually born in Newport Beach, California and moved to Rhode Island when I was a baby. So we frequently visit our family out here. I just remember it was the summer after finishing college and

12:09 I was bartending and we were at my buddy's house one night and I was like, I'm going to move to California. I brought it up and I just decided, I'm going to move out there and try it out, see what happens. He's like, I'll go. I'll go with you. I was like, alright. Then two other of my friends ended up coming as well. We did a month-long road trip from Rhode Island to San Diego. It was life-changing in that you get to experience so many different cultures within our own country that as a kid from New England, only visiting California and Philadelphia for vacations, you don't really experience. the Midwest, the Pacific Northwest, the beautiful, you know, 101. And I just remember taking photos and posting them on Instagram before Instagram was a thing and just sharing those moments with people and like, yeah, all right, this is a good start. You know, this is I kind of know what I'm doing, but not So is that is that the route you took? Like you went sort of north and then to the West Coast, like across like the Midwest, staying sort of north, so probably hitting like Pennsylvania. Was it like maybe a little bit in New York, Ohio, and then further along the Midwest, like the Dakotas and things like that, and then went to like Washington and then went down? Is that it? Like basically turn a hard Yeah, pretty much. It was a crazy trip. I

13:39 had my mom's old Ford Explorer that she gave to me that definitely wasn't going to make it. And my buddy ran a shop in Rhode Island. where I bought a 2001 Buick LeSabre. So, not a great cross country trip when you're moving your life across country. And I remember we put a, I went to U-Haul, I put a hitch on the back, we had a cooler with, you know, all sorts of stuff, weighted down, and we went from Rhode Island up to Niagara Falls, and then we went down through Chicago. And as soon as I got to Chicago, the transmission just crapped the bed. going up the bridge I remember pulling over and we were in like south side Chicago it was like worst place to break down with surfboards on the top like what are these kids doing here and I ended up like I had some money saved over from bartending and a bunch of cash saved up to make the move and do the plan as it needed to be. And I bought a brand new Toyota Tacoma in two days. And my mom was like, don't buy a new car, buy a used car. I was like, I'm buying a new truck and spent all my money on that before I even got to California. And then the trip continued on Because it's not as if you're moving to the cheapest place in the world either. California Oh, yeah. Yeah. It was a trip. I I could imagine. Did you go to Southern California? Was your

15:12 Yeah, I mean, the original idea was San Diego, and the first place we saw on the map when we were checking out apartments was Oceanside. And that was the most affordable in anything near the ocean. So that's where we landed, and I was there for three, four years, three years. And then I slowly moved down to, I'm in Ocean Beach right now, so if you hear airplanes flying over in the audio, that's, I'm So when you got out there, did you have any real plans like what I was going to try to pursue my dreams of taking photos of wildlife and the outdoor industry. I really didn't have any plans. I think that was the scariest thing I've ever done in my life, was leaving everything I had back home and my mom and my brother and my friends, everything I knew growing up. I feel like that's what a lot of people are afraid to do, is just get up and go get after it and go chase your dreams, whatever it may be.

16:21 Not having a plan probably not the best idea. But as I said, I wasn't a kid of plans back then just kind of Had goals and yeah, it was it was tough for You know two or three years when I moved out here because it's such the industry out here is you know as it is Yeah, well, yeah, and I guess what was your thought about what part of when you first went out? Did you have an idea? Were you looking at cinematography at that point? Because you were mostly Yeah. I was slowly starting to do both. Before I moved from Rhode Island, my buddies and I had made a bunch of home videos for school. I forgot to mention that. But we had fun home videos for class credits in high school. And we would just do it for fun in the summer. But it was mostly photography. Essentially, I just wanted to live my lifestyle and continue to fish and meet people in the industry. Hey, I can shoot photos. They're not great right now, but I just want to make friends. I ended up reaching out to a bunch of online forums before Instagram was a big thing and you can make those connections really easily like you can now. And meeting a few people, my buddy Kyle Faust who used to work for Aqualung and Omer spearfishing products like connected me with forest for the first time after a few years being out here. Forrest was just an ambassador for a couple of wetsuit companies and

17:53 spearfishing companies. He had done Naked and Afraid, so he had some on-screen time, but for a few years, I was his right-hand man and going to do these really low-budget, fun projects in Baja and around California, and learning my trade and just getting into meeting people in It looked like you started your business, your project, 1Z Media, you started that pretty early on after you got your degree. Did you start that before you came to California or was it Pretty much as soon as I got to Cali. I started Onesie Media because I had somewhat of a photo reel and somewhat of a video reel and I was just trying to solidify somewhat of a business and showcase my work online.

18:49 It didn't really become an actual business that made money for years, but that's when it started. It was relatively soon after So you kind of got early on when force was kind of starting out and you were just sort of starting out, you guys kind of met there and you started to work on some different projects together and everything. And did that kind of like word, how things go from there as far as working together and some of the stuff, like when you guys started, both of you guys were just kind of starting out, I guess the same time. And so you're trying to like figure out like, okay, we got a really good idea. Like what Pretty much, yeah. Forrest wasn't necessarily selling and pitching shows at that point. He was an ambassador or a talent for these different companies. I remember I would get a free wetsuit and a hundred bucks a day to show up on these shoots. not paying the rent in San Diego but you know the experience it you know it was um you know our first trip we drove all the way from um I drove actually I drove up to Meat Forest for the first time in Santa Barbara when Extinct or Alive season one came out He had a premiere event, so I drove four hours out of the way to meet him in person just to show face and show that I was interested and really dedicated to working with him. We had a good time. I came with the East

20:19 Coast energy and made him laugh a few times. Then we drove from there, like, I don't remember, 20 hours to Sonora, Mexico, where we were doing a commercial shoot for Hex Wetsuits, which is no longer in business, but we were doing spearfishing and all that kind of stuff. So I sat in the back of a loaded up SUV with six other guys for 20 hours in the back seat, because I was the Yeah, how did so how did you obviously you weren't making the paying the rent and stuff with that? What kind of do you do any other kind of interesting? I'll say interesting. What kind of jobs did you do to kind of like pay the rent while A few weddings. I had to figure out little real estate gigs here and there. Nothing that I was passionate about, but just things to pay the bills and really just dipping into the savings I had saved up when I moved to California for a while. Man, it was stressful. I guess that's a part of Especially with the type of work you're doing, you're traveling a lot, like going 20 hours down to Mexico. So it's not as if you're around to hold a full-time job or even a part-time job. So you kind of stuck with the, let's get these small projects where I can do quick

21:50 videos and shoots and things like that, like the real estate. and things like that, and to be able to do that. So that's Yeah, it was. Yeah, it sure was. I mean, it was like sometimes going out on my own and, you know, just walking up to cafes and trying to ask people if they wanted commercial work for their business and, you know, other companies just going and sometimes buying their products and giving it to friends and shooting them using it and then tagging them on Instagram, which was a lot harder to do back then to where most of the industry and branded content now is, um, they get a lot of their content from ambassadors, so they're not paying for content.

22:31 No, they're not. But back then it ended up working out to where I was like, alright, here's another 500 bucks here, here's another 1,000 bucks there, that'll hold me over in a house full of four people where that'll work. Yeah, for sure. Did you ever talk to your uncle out there who did set designs as you were going along in this and share some of your stories? Did he Yeah, I kind of forgot that I actually worked for him during that period where I wasn't getting a lot of work. I totally forgot about that. He lives in Fallbrook, so I would drive from Oceanside to Fallbrook and help him do construction work. So yeah, I did have another job because I had tried to apply for... I didn't try to apply, but I thought about applying to bartending gigs or anything. like you said, I was never around. If an opportunity arose, I'd have to leave on a dime. So worked for him for a while and he had, we went to the Tucson Fair. He not only did the movie stuff, but he would set up set designs for different fairs that would go around California. So the Del Mar Fairgrounds, we had a cool exhibit there and got to learn about, you know, work ethic and attention to detail in that kind of world to where it kind of applied to what I was doing in terms of like pre-production, production, and then like while you're there setting it up and making sure everything works. So it kind of was applicable

24:03 When you kind of got on with Forrest because you kind of like started doing work with him like when he was doing the Extinct or Alive series, that kind of like helped up your game as far as not having to work a lot of side jobs at that point. Yeah, for sure. So he went through season one. I had known him for a while. They had their own production crew. They had their shooters. They had everyone. I was definitely in no place to be involved in that at this point in my career until season two got picked up. And he went out and stuck his neck out and was like, hey, I got a kid, a super hungry kid who is a great shooter, in my opinion. And I think he'd be a good assistant on these projects. I interviewed with the producer and had a good conversation and I got signed on to Face the Beast, which was a two-part series before Extinct or Alive season 2 came on. So my first ever project was with them. My first real network TV project was with them in Myanmar looking for saltwater crocodiles, which to this day was still the craziest, craziest experience, I think, of anyone that I've worked with with him of our lives because I see how you expand upon that when you talk saltwater crocodiles and going to Myanmar. I have no one familiar

25:39 Yeah, so essentially the story revolved around World War II when I guess the British soldiers versus the Japanese soldiers were in Myanmar and they surrounded the Japanese soldiers in the in the swamp lands there, and they pushed them back and, you know, essentially it was the largest massacre by crocodiles on humans in history. So it was a story about going to investigate whether some of those crocodiles are still alive, get genetics from them, and see if they would have been alive 100 years ago or during World War II. So, you know, we went in and We were staying in these huts in the middle of nowhere with generator power, four reds trying to download footage every night, waiting, staying up until 4am because the generator would die and all of our footage would have to start over again and re-download. 100 degrees at night, we had bats sleeping in our rooms. you know venomous snakes everywhere you looked in the jungle around a place we were eating pretty sure we were fed rat a number of times for breakfast you know it's just like and then we'd have to wake up after two hours of sleep and go film at 6 a.m. 7 a.m. and 120 degree heat all day sounds like a lot of fun Do I actually want to do this Like, what is this? Part of why I was kind of hoping you'd bring up some of this stuff, because I'm

27:12 sure you experience this, but I know when I've done these shows, it's like people, they just see what's on TV and they think like, oh, that's kind of cool. They don't think about like the 100 degree heat, the eating cockroaches or rats. Not to mention the hanging out with the, you know, trying to film crocodiles. during the day and these conditions. I mean, people to me, it's like there's a whole series of TV series just like this behind the scenes in a lot of these shows. Yeah. Just the stuff that goes on. I think people just don't and just don't realize like the stuff I said, the power, you have generators trying to download everything. So you got everything backed up. You don't have to go out and hopefully reshoot it again. Yeah. Yeah. That's kind of a that was kind of a anyway. Interesting. That's an interesting story.

28:01 Yeah. It's intense. I mean, that was by far the most intense experience that we had. And just from pure exhaustion standpoint. Yeah. You know, we were. every shoot's like that in a sense where you're right, it's people see the shows and they, you know, they're like, oh, this looks somewhat like so much fun, which it is. I mean, we're living, living the dream, you know, finally with all the work you put into getting there. But it is exhausting. Yeah, Yeah. So you did that and they went on, you did the Extinct or Alive the second season there and that kind of Did that kind of help jumpstart other projects for you at that time? Beyond, I mean, we'll get to the Shark Week in a moment, but you got that, did it help jumpstart your career, programs like that? Totally, yeah. I mean, we had the luxury and the privilege through the kind of the OK from Forrest Production Company to be able to take footage that we shot on the projects and use it to promote ourselves, which is a wonderful thing to have and very rare in our industry where they're like, all right, yeah, you can put this on your website. Obviously, it's not your production, but you can promote your work. And once people see that you've you know, successfully made it back from Myanmar alive and made a TV show and, you know, all of those things and, you know, getting to meet people on the side who have seen your work through either his channel or on the network's social media

29:31 platforms and you're tied to it in a sense. It definitely led to other opportunities and meeting people that are doing completely separate things in the outdoor space that can kind of understand that, you know, not only are you pretty good at what you do, but you can hang, you know, you can go into situations and keep your cool and get the job done, which I think is the biggest thing. And, you know, I've talked to so many young people. It's like, you can't just be solid at what you do in your career, but you have to keep a level head and be easy to work with and get through things together because when you're in those situations in the field on the other side of the world and There's no connection to anything other than a sat phone. You're essentially at war with your crew together. You've got to watch each other's back, make sure safety's good, and people appreciate that, Yeah. A lot of the stuff you do is diving, obviously underwater filming. What kind of background? did you do to prepare yourself for doing underwater underwater filming? Is there any anything you did to help develop your skills there?

30:51 Yeah, I think it was growing up spearfishing in the murky, green, nasty waters of New England and, you know, slowly starting to work, you know, in the industry out in California and being comfortable in the water and understanding photography or cinematography. They both go hand in hand. You know, I know a lot of people who are very, very talented shooting underwater. And I know people that are very talented, but also can handle wildlife and handle big sharks and anacondas and things. I think the comfortability of being in the water and understanding your smallness in that space has allowed me to not think about that as much while you're always keeping that in the back of your head that you're in a wild environment, but that allows you to focus on your craft, which is equally as important for a successful image. So I think, you know, free diving was a big one for me, spearfishing growing up, but coming out to California, I got my free diving certification here. You know, you have to dive to 66 feet, you go through all the safety courses.

32:01 And following a couple of the projects I've worked on in the past when I was coming up with Forrest was with Hawaiian divers who were sent to San Diego or to Baja to do commercial projects. And I got to keep up with those guys who can dive to 150 feet, no problem. So it's like, Can't do that. I was getting to like maybe 80 90. Yeah good day, but the comfortability of understanding your body and your your Your again smallness in that space and being aware Really allowed me to kind of thrive and be comfortable with learning the technical skills of shooting in those environments You brought up a good point to that, you know, okay, you're you're obviously just diving in risk element, especially if you're free diving, you know, you only got so much time down there, or even doing some of the scuba diving you're doing, which can be kind of high risk. And I can speak from that, having done that shoot with you in Africa a few years ago, when we were off Alawal Shoal somewhere, and we're wondering what the hell everybody's going in the water for. But it's also beside the elements You're also dealing with wildlife, you know big wild, you know predatories like you mentioned anacondas saltwater crocs sharks Obviously, well, maybe obviously not but what kind of prepared you for that to have that extra? Knowledge like how do you deal? Okay, you're out in the Amazon you have like a 20-foot anaconda

33:32 or something? How do you prepare for Yeah, I mean I guess it's becoming a sponge to the people around you who are knowledgeable of those species. Before I was on these big network shoots, I remember following guys like Mike Dornellis, rest in peace, who was the godfather of shooting and touching and hands-on and situational awareness with large tiger sharks in the Bahamas and bull sharks in Florida. everything he did around the world is just like honing in on these kind of people who I want to be and you know turn into one day and understanding like how they handle situations and the footage those you know someone like Mike had was just incredible in that you could see that you know here's a here's some behavior that this shark's giving and he's explaining it and here's how you deter them or here's how you keep yourself in between him keep your camera in between the animal and yourself and then it's just personal experience after that it's like all right your first dive with tiger sharks Bahamas is different because it's you know, those those animals are a bit habituated But it at least that was one of my first network and big shark shoots was with those animals which was great because you know, they're not they're wild but they're They're used to people feeding them and they're not there to attack you or bite you they're there to be fed so that gives you opportunity to kind of feel out the room

35:03 and and experience that and kind of learn from it and then I mean, as you know, as Dave, as you know, it's those sharks, you know, those wild sharks in South Africa or around the world are really timid in there. They don't want to get close to you. It's really hard to get them to come in and interact and get those shots. So it's, you know, it was an accumulation of, you know, watching and observing and hearing things and taking advice and. just you know keeping a level head and just being constantly aware of your surroundings and doing things when you should do them and just You know maintaining your your presence in the water with these large animals that rule that space Yeah, I just get curious like and obviously you deal with you obviously do a lot of stuff with sharks and stuff So you build up a certain knowledge there But you mentioned like you're some of the other stuff when you deal with like saltwater crocs, which I wouldn't have to be out and some, well, I've been out with them, but I just try to keep my distance and like look at them from a distance because they're, they're, They don't judge. They don't judge. I, I, yeah, I'm on the same page, man. It's like, yeah, at a certain point I was like, all right, I kind of got sharks covered to a certain extent. I understand their behavioral cues and, um, I know what to do in certain situations, but you know, we didn't, we didn't get in the water with the shark, uh, with the saltwater crocodiles in Myanmar because it's, zero visibility, strictly on the boats, try to capture one and tag it. But

36:35 we did alligators in Florida. That was sketchy because I don't know if any human can understand a wild crocodilian or alligator. as much as we do understand sharks and the behavioral cues, because crocodiles, I don't know, same with anacondas. The first couple times I jumped in the water I think it's funny how you talk about these crocodiles, alligators, anacondas, and things. You're like, yeah, the first couple Most people are like, what are you doing? Why would you jump in when you see them? Put your camera in the water. Just figure it out from there.

37:20 So what makes you have sort of the gumption to be like, all right, I got to get this shot? And I know there's a risk. There is an undoubted risk of putting it as low as it might be with sharks. But you're looking at alligators, crocodiles, anacondas. You never know what's going to happen with them. What makes you have that courage to jump in knowing that there is a potential risk, however Yeah. You've got to have a certain mentality to do this as a living. I don't know where it came from. You always have fear and appreciation for something that's stronger than you in certain environments, but somebody's got to do it and something within me thinks that I can do that. It's a weird thing because it's like, this is dangerous, but if somebody's going to do it, I have confidence in myself and my mentors and the people around me. When we went to Brazil to do the anacondas, we were there with a professional guide and photographer who's been shooting them for 30 years. He's like, all right, these are things you don't want to do. These are things you can do. And I remember that project.

38:42 We spotted one on the bank, and our goal was to capture one and weigh it and take a DNA sample and all that stuff. And I was the first one in the water because I had to get the underwater shot. And luckily, the water's super clear. I was like, all right, at least I can see this thing. It's sunbathing. It's relaxed. It's not on the hunt. It's the middle of the day. I don't really know much about them, but if that guy tells me it's OK to get in, I'm going to get in because I trust that person. when dealing with something that I've never faced before, and it's been fine so far, but... Knock on And this goes to expand on my question too, you know, you You have you and your teammates and your crew have put yourselves in some sort of danger.

39:30 How much does, you know, safety play into these types of roles, you know, in terms of training, not only as a diver, but also as a camera person, just as a workplace? We see people in offices all the time taking CPR courses and first aid. Do you yourself have that type of training or do you have crews or a medic on board just to make sure that, God forbid, something does happen, that somebody's there Yeah, depending on the shoot and most shoots, actually pretty much all of them have a medic on staff who specializes in those fields and knows how to treat any potential wounds with the wildlife we're dealing with. But on top of that, it just comes down to really, you know, when we decide who our crews are on any of these projects, you know, that's a person that you trust with your life. at all times. You know, it's someone that, you know, when you're in, you know, if you're shooting something topside, you can communicate, you can talk to them. But when you're in, when you're underwater, there's, it's, it's all, you're almost like talking to each other without speaking. You know, you're looking at each other, you're making sure you're maintaining eye contact with both the animal and your dive buddy, which goes back to the fundamentals of free diving, which, you know, I came up, came up in. Yeah. And just watching each other's backs and trusting that the person that you're in the water with is going

41:01 to make the best decision for everyone in the water. Now, you know, that comes with a dive plan, you know, like Dave O'Meara in South Africa, I remember we were dealing with like 10 to 15 knot currents at 100 feet and you know the captain had to put us in at a perfect location to where we'd land on the reef and you know film what we were there to film and sometimes we missed and I'm like guys this is kind of getting this is like we're wasting time here so If we don't land on this reef, like, and I'm the, you know, somewhat of the new guy, we all kind of came to an agreement that if we don't hit it immediately, let's just go back up. So we have a shorter surface interval and let's go back down and try to hit it again. So it's like, it's, you know, dive plans. Yeah. You know, being knowledgeable of everything that you can encounter on those those dives is important because you got to know like it's not common, but you could have a white shark come in. It's not common, but you could have a, you know, a venomous snake come in or something like that. And these are the things you need to be aware of. And that's a part of the very critical Yeah. Well, I even, I even know the, like the show I did with you a few years ago on the land of the lost sharks, where like you just talked about, we had like pretty rippin' currents and I know at least a couple of days there we had like, you know, what, 10 foot swells in a six second period. It was pretty rough out there and I was thinking, I still remember thinking like, This was like nuts, you know, and I tell

42:32 a story. Forrest kept asking that guy, Spike, who was running the boat, like, is it OK to be out here? And Spike's like, yeah, it's OK. And you guys are going, Forrest never, he never asked the And that's like. something's wrong here. If I hear I just remember thinking to myself going like, man, I must be a real wimp, man. If these guys are gonna go in here, this is like crazy out here. And um. Oh, yeah. I remember you guys dropped it. Yeah. I just remember we had to fight cuz we had to thank and we thankfully we brought the I was a little surprised you guys ended up going but Spike said it was okay so I guess Spike said it was okay to go in but um having to find you guys cuz you guys got blown way off where we're That one dive you did there and it was just, it was sketch Yeah, that was a scary one. That was like one of my, I think that was my first shark week ever and I was a great free diver, I was an okay scuba diver. And I just remember going on one of those dives where we got on the reef, we did everything, we were at like 120 feet. And I remember Mark Romanoff was our DP. So he was on forest and my job was to film wildlife around us and maybe get a couple of behind the scenes of Mark filming forest and any other shots I can get. And I just remember being at that depth and I, you know, maybe it was too much gas. And I just remember filming this, this giant grouper for

44:03 about 20, 30 seconds. And with that much current not maintaining, you know, the awareness of where your crew is, I look back and nobody's around me. Oh, that's like, oh, God. And I could hear that, like, I was so far away that they were breaking up in the comms. And I was like, what did I just do? And so initially, like, I looked at my dive computer and I was like all right I'm just gonna go up and hopefully I'm near the boat had the safety sausage and I was nowhere near anyone and that's where I was there you guys were actually looking for me and I remember taking the next dive off because I was a bit rattled yeah the Yeah. Well, in that situation, in a current like that, you're trying to maintain safety, you're trying to keep an eye on people. And even in any other type of weather, whether it's less than that, how do you maintain keeping your awareness and also shooting what you're there to shoot? You know what I mean? Because that's what you're there for, that's your job. Is it a little bit of a sacrifice and sometimes of being aware and that's where the trust, like obviously that situation was a current, but in a regular situation is the trust of your dive buddy to be like, Hey, I'm right here. You focus on, on the camera work and then I'll, I'll look around and Yeah. I mean, on some of the technical dives, I mean, when you're dealing with current, like even if you have, like we had South African safety divers

45:33 with us and, you know, somehow my safety diver disappeared, which is not the best feeling, but it is, it just, it, it all just comes with experience really. Um, It's like, all right, this is my limit, I can't go past this. Regardless of what's happening, this is the end of this dive. You could have the most incredible animal behavior or scene going on and you gotta call it because you're maintaining communication and you have that experience. And really, in a very risky situation, recognizing there's a threshold to that risk factor and you can't go beyond it or else something That could Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So you've been doing these Shark Week shows. You've got one coming up this year. Actually, it'll have aired by the time we Yeah, so... You don't have to give it away. Alien Sharks Japan. Yeah. Yeah, I don't really know what Yeah, no, I mean we flew, it'll be aired by, you know, the show comes out tomorrow night. Yeah, so you should be good. Got to experience the marine-rich environment of the Japan, you know, underwater ecosystem, which was incredible. You know, I think we ticked off 12 to 15 different shark species. Wow. you

47:07 know, cold water. You know, we were both doing reef dives, night dives. You know, we were utilizing some long lining vessels to try to capture and do some sampling on some alien shark species, deep water species. Dave, as you know, that's, you know, a very Efficient way to handle those situations. Yep. We had some bruv work Christine DeSilva was was on the project and she dropped bruvs every day. So we kind of gave it from you know 20 to 100 feet of diving and then you know 500 to 800 feet of long lining and then 800 to a you know 1,500 2,000 feet of bruv work on that episode and we came up with some cool stuff It was It was, it was cold. Japan is, we knew it was going to be cold, but you know, the water was, you know, 50, 50 degrees or so. It's cold. Um, but the top side was, you know, 20 to 40 degrees out. So hot buckets of water down the wetsuit. As You guys, were you guys filming? You guys filming around Saruga Bay was Saruga Bay you're filming. Okay. Now that there's a lot of really cool.

48:23 Yeah. I did a, I did a, I did an alien shark show there in 2017, and we got a bunch of, there was a couple of, we got one new species of sharks on that shoot, and then we got, the main target was goblin sharks. We got one new species, then we got another species. It was only like the 10th one I've ever been seen of the species there, which is pretty cool on that one. So when you say diverse, it's a pretty diverse area to go. And so yeah, I can only imagine you had some really amazing stuff to be able to film there during that shoot. And you guys, I think, I went in like March or so, which is right, you had to kind of duck in and out of storms, roll through for a day or two.

49:08 And do you guys, so you guys kind of went, I think went a few months ago, but I don't know if it's still wintertime or spring yet, but. I think it was like February or March, I can't remember. It's incredible that cold, cold, definitely still cold, but incredible to kind of see that much life in a place that's been fished for thousands of years. The Japanese culture is so into it. For a long period, I might be wrong, but that was all they ate was fish for a long time, culturally. But Did you not expect that? Had anybody warned you that there'd be a lot of different life? Because I didn't know before talking to Dave about his trips there that it was that diverse in the oceans there. Were you aware of I mean, I did a little bit of research. I do some research before every project and I knew that, you know, there's a likelihood of seeing this, that, and the third, but not to the extent of some of those reefs. You know, there's some MPAs and areas that we dove that were really, really wild and beautiful. But it is nice, you know, to see that, you know, from the stretches of our planet that there are still ecosystems that seem to be doing okay, which on paper aren't, but to at least capture it and show some promise

50:42 Yeah. It's definitely a culture that's very connected to Did you guys happen to go to the Tsukiji fish market there, which is like the largest fish market in the world you guys In Tokyo to me a majority of the crew didn't I think we sent Liam one of our assistants there to get some b-roll I Believe that was in the story, but I kind of I think it got scratched out of the story So I didn't get to personally see it, which is kind of a bummer. But yeah, I say if you ever have a chance definitely enjoyed some Yeah, It's like the world's biggest fish market, but you'll just see some amazing fishes there, of course sharks and rays and stuff, but it's amazing if you go there, just the diversity of things you'll see there. I mean, obviously they're being sold for food, but you just see a whole variety of things that are really, really Yeah, I wish I could. I'm planning on going back.

51:41 I gotta go back. When I came back from that trip, I was like, the culture, the people are so nice, the food. You can't beat Japanese cuisine. Yeah, it was too bad. Usually on these trips, if you get away with it, you can stay, you can have production fly you out a few weeks later or a week later so you can enjoy it. But I wasn't able to do that on this trip, which is a bummer. Next Did you enjoy some of the sushi while Oh my God, too much sushi. I had to take a couple months off. Some of the hotels we were staying at, we were on a strict schedule, so it was like buffet, all right guys, buffet in the morning, buffet at night, and it was like the same spread every day. It was delicious, but we were able to get out and explore. get some good ramen and sushi and all Let me ask you this. When you do a shoot like this, like say this lost shark, the alien sharks, and then you know it's coming up, I assume you watch the last cut before it gets sent to the to sort of the network, maybe, maybe not. But what do you look forward to? Do you watch the show when it goes live, like when it's on the network? Do you watch it? And if you do, what Um, I mean, so when we were in the field, um, JQ

53:14 Brantley, who is the topside director of photography and our underwater team, like we try as, as tired as we are and as much as possible to review footage in the field to make sure everything was captured properly or if there's things we need to reshoot. So we've got a good sense as to what we've captured. Um, but it really comes down to our boy, Jesse Kalasi and looking forward to what he's created, you know, when those shows come out and it's always a pleasant surprise. Um, I mean, from Extinct or Alive Season 2 to every Shark Week we've done and other shows, the guy works magic and he really brings everything to life. So that's what I'm most excited for. I always send him a text like, you're a damn wizard, Harry. You did it again. He If you haven't caught it, check out Jesse Colazzi's episode we did recently. I found it fascinating what goes on in actually putting together the program. He gets all this film, he gets the music, he works the magic there to really pull the whole show together.

54:21 I don't know if it's traditional for an editor to do this, but he's always on the pre-production calls. He's like, hey guys, When I go into a project that's, aside from networks, it's like I edit, so I have an editor's mentality where it's like, this is what we need for a project. And he does that so well in that, you know, he's on the calls with Forrest and the whole crew. He's like, I have ideas for transitions in and out of these scenes. You know, if you guys want to shoot stuff like this, he's never pushy, but he's like, I have a cool idea. And those ideas always end up working out in our favor at the end. And it's just really wonderful And willing to experiment like just from an idea right Yeah elevates the film Did you do any other shark week shows this year was that just the one for Japan you So I was supposed to go to Florida with the boys. They had another show called dead zone but during Japan actually Experienced a pretty bad sinus Problem.

55:27 I had like barotrauma of my frontal lobe. Oh Yeah, I had like most of the dives I was coming out bleeding from my nose because I must have had a sinus infection going on so I had to like It was kind of a bummer because, you know, I'm the underwater DOP and I had to take a bunch of dives off on that trip, but, you know, the guys are, you know, JQ Brantley and Mike Nolte, they're both very talented, so I wasn't worried about it, but this one was, I was like, ah, I wish I could have been under there a little longer, so I wasn't able to make that project, but... I ended up picking up a BBC gig with Mark Romanoff, who you know as Dave, and we got to go up and film a pretty special project up there during that window, so So is there something that, as your career continues, you've gotten to do some pretty cool things, filming Crocs, You know, Anaconda is filming different types of sharks and deep sea sharks and things like that. Is there a particular animal or type of show that is on your bucket list that you haven't Man, that's tough. I mean, I still haven't done white sharks. That's got to be number one for me. Gotcha.

56:57 I know. Plenty of them up here. I saw what you texted me like two or three weeks ago. You just spotted 40 or something. I was like, yeah, it's like Del Mar down here. Yeah, there's a lot of sharks here too. Yeah, I want to swim with those guys. But really, I don't really have a preference as to the projects I work on, so long as they maintain a level of conservation and human connection to our wild world that we live in. So I guess I'm known for doing Shark Week and things like this, but I just as equally love shooting projects of humans in that environment as well. Our connection to the environment is so important and to capture that and promote that to people who don't necessarily understand it or aren't attached to it in the ways that I am is very important to me. in terms of maintaining and preserving what is so important to our world, which is our marine and our ecological world.

58:09 Another question, too, is you're doing a lot with your company now, in addition to the programs you're doing, you're doing branding now with products and stuff? This is another potential avenue you went in just to be able to increase your business and, and, and I guess, job money opportunities, getting into going into some of these different directions. Nothing wrong Yeah, totally. Yeah, I mean, what one of the greatest pieces of advice I got from my photography teacher in college was, You're going to have your project that you want to make so badly that probably isn't going to make you money. You're going to deal with that battle for your entire career and there's projects that you have to take to pay the bills. That sat with me and I did the wedding thing. I'll never do it again. I'd rather swim with crocodiles and sharks for the rest of my life even if it's free than deal with an angry bride. or like an angry uncle I did a wedding once and it the One of the uncles sat next to me on the couch when I was filming the groomsmen having their you know Their whiskey and he's like, you know kid. There's nothing worse than a photographer who screws up the wedding. I was Wow. Thank you interesting. Yeah, I was that helpful, but Terrible

59:44 But, no, I mean, all those, my production company focuses heavily on branded content in the outdoor industry. So it's adventure media, and it's really, you know, it's not just to pay the bills, it's, you know, I only take on the projects and pitch and come up with projects that allows me to maintain my lifestyle and work with people I enjoy working with. So, you know, I just want to keep doing fun things. making a living and experiencing, you know, just, just diving deeper into the human experience. So What do you just, this has been, this was really fascinating. Fascinating.

1:00:25 Johnny, hearing, hearing about your career and stuff. What, what advice would you have for some young person who's just starting out as maybe he's in high school or college thinking they want to go in this direction? What Man, be hardworking. Work hard and be absorbent to the people that you're working around you. Take advice, learn from your mistakes. And I think having self-confidence is the biggest thing that you can have in any career. That was a struggle for me. It's like, you know, I was nervous coming on this podcast and I'm like, this is an easy conversation, you know, and it's like, it's just like, you know, it's just, I dealt with that for a while in my career coming up with like, oh man, there's no work coming, you know, I might not be that good, you know, things aren't working out and then all of a sudden somebody calls you and there's an opportunity and you're nervous about that opportunity because it's something bigger than what you've done previously. Having the confidence and work ethic to go into it with that mentality I think is the biggest thing that I've come to understand. When the Florida Shark Week shoot didn't work out, Mark called me and was like, hey, there's a BBC project. I'm like, BBC? holy moly man like all right yeah i can do it i'm like what is that project gonna in my head i'm like what's that gonna be like you know this is top of the top and you know we i i

1:01:59 worried about it for you know a couple weeks leading into the project until i got there and worked with someone that i trusted and who trusted me and all of a sudden it's just another day on the job so i think for anyone young coming into any industry um in any field it's just having the confidence and work ethic and ability to work with people, you know, the relationships that come with any industry is so important. You know, everything's cutthroat and things can get stressful and maintaining a level head and understanding that you're just a piece of the puzzle that's going to make whatever your project is successful and, um, you know, and having fun and being a fun person to be around, It's all great. That's great. Well, Johnny, thanks very much. We really appreciate you taking the time to come on the show and, uh, Best of luck with your upcoming projects, and hopefully you'll get back to Japan sometime and be able to enjoy a little more of the scenery next time you go. Absolutely. And the show's already aired when this comes out, but if you haven't, you get a chance on Shark Week this year, Alien Sharks, Ghosts of Japan, Johnny Harrington and Forrest Galani and the crew. Be sure to check it out.

1:03:17 Thank you so much, guys. Andrew, it was great meeting you. Dave, good to see you again. Hopefully we can get in the water, man. Get Thank you so much, Johnny. We appreciate it. All right, guys. Take Thank you, Johnny, for being on the Beyond Jaws podcast. Really love to have you on and hear all those interesting stories. Dave, what'd you think about being... Could you see yourself as a cinematographer doing this kind of Possibly at one time or another. I mean, I think all of us go through a phase where we think like, it'd be great to travel the world and do filming and everything. And I mean, I kind of do that, but I just take pictures just for me. which is probably just as well that they're just for me, because I don't think anybody's gonna really be wanting to see, even I might enjoy them. They're the quality other people are gonna wanna actually pay money for.

1:04:09 But it's really interesting to how, yeah, I mean, it's really interesting how these guys kinda got interested in, and they got interested in the filming early on, and then they went from the filming to, you know, it wasn't like they necessarily started with sharks, but they got into the whole filming thing, and then sharks somewhere along the way, like Johnny, For Scalani, they started doing these nature documentaries, and then one thing led to another, and the next thing he knows, they're doing shark documentaries. So Well, and also like the risks he took, you know, traveling with a few buddies to go to California, I believe it was San Diego, to be like, you know what, I'm gonna live there. From Rhode Island, I'm gonna go cross country, and I'm gonna live there. Barely getting there. His car broke down and I think it's Chicago He said had to buy a new car because it wasn't gonna work And then still got there and then you know just by being out there and networking and figuring out where to be It's not very different from science in terms of you've got to hook up with the you know The right people at the right time a little bit of that's luck But it's also the gumption of being able to have the wherewithal to say hey, you know what? I gotta start talking to people and I got started getting out there and And that's what he did and his career has blossomed ever since so I think this is something that we you know it talking to more people like like Johnny is awesome because we get to really hear how difficult it is to break into these types of of Documentaries right and I think another thing too with in like with Johnny's case and stuff is like there's and I you've heard me I've talked about it a few

1:05:41 times, but when you do these shows They're pretty physically demanding you pretty good shape, and of course, especially me, since I'm older than these guys, but even these young guys, you gotta be in pretty good physical shape, because it's rough out there, it's not an easy, you go on a two to three week shoot, and you're beat, you're pretty beat by the end of the trip. You're exhausted. And not to mention all those things he's had to deal with, he talked about one of his first shoots that went into all these crocodiles in Myanmar, and some other places, and it's just like, you know, and that was his first, one of his first expeditions he ever did. So you gotta, I guess one of those things you learn on the job or And it could go horribly bad.

1:06:25 Absolutely. And some of those stories, you know, he talked about that South Africa trip he did with you with the current that they had to deal with under water. And, you know, you've talked to me about those off recording and it sounded pretty scary in certain situations. You have to know what you're doing. You have to be very aware of the risks and and make sure that you put yourself in a safe position. And so it's interesting to hear these stories and some of the major challenges that people face. And like you said, you never know, too. You're paying a lot of money to go to a place from halfway across the world to shoot, and you have to get what you want in the shoot, but then the weather may not cooperate. And that might be a longer stay. It might be a shorter stay. You might not get the footage that you want.

1:07:07 You may get the footage that you want, but it really just depends on what's available to you. and what the weather situation is Oh yeah, and as you said, we talked about one story that I was involved with them on where they kind of push it a little bit on what they're doing. And there's definitely that limit they're pushing to see if they can do it. And when I was out on that trip, we did have a pretty close call. And so yeah, and it can be pretty unforgiving when you're out in poor conditions and stuff. Really bad really quick. So I think it's a lot of insight though. And I think you know people I hope they enjoy the show they get a chance to hear some of the other side of like what's involved with some of these shows and You know, so I think it's I think just gives people a different perspective on And all of the people that interest in the whole shark world and stuff. So anyway, Absolutely. I'm sure they did and let us know what you thought if you can you can hit us up on Instagram Dave if they want to get ahold of you, how would they do so?

1:08:10 Instagram, lostsharkguy on Instagram, lostsharks on X, and lostsharks on Facebook. Best Perfect. And if you wanted to subscribe to our YouTube channel, you can just go to the link in the show notes. Our YouTube channel is there. Subscribe, watch the videos, you get to see the people, you get to see their expressions, you get to see our expressions. We have a great time, as you all do when listening to the audio, you can listen to the video as well. But thank you again, Dave, and thank you, Johnny, for joining us on today's episode of the Beyond Jaws podcast. From Dave and I, we really want to thank you. This has been another Beyond Jaws episode. Have a great day. We'll talk