Out of the classroom
and into the wild

This is how University of Queensland alumnus Abi Lees feels after a day at the office as a director for BBC's Natural History Unit.

As a Bachelor of Science/Journalism graduate, Abi's career has seen her travel to some of the most remote places in the world.

One of her biggest highlights was a recent 6-week shoot on the island of South Georgia, where a crew of six film-makers and four yachts-people sailed for seven days to arrive at a bay that has arguably the highest biomass of animals of any beach in the world.

"Once a week a tourist cruise boat would stop by for an hour, but otherwise we were completely on our own in this paradise."

Abi said every day was an ordeal to get onto the packed beach as an animal was occupying every square inch of sand.

"As South Georgia is a highly protected area, everybody must take care not to disturb the animals.

"Often we had to beach more than two miles from where we wanted to film to decrease the impact of our presence," she said.

"The elephant seals are in mating season, and the older males’ noses have grown large for the occasion.

"Their dominance calls are impressive and the bass resonates through the sand as you walk on it.

"They can also move pretty fast if they see a young male trying to sneak into their harem."

"It is a haven for fat, fluffy chicks that will soon lose their baby feathers and make their first swim before summer’s end.

"They are hilarious, and inquisitive. If I put my hiking pack down away from the camera it would take awhile to find it again. A large group of king penguin chicks would be engulfing it and blocking my view as they checked it out," she said.

"Walking down a beach like this, so far away from the rest of the world–where the internet and phone doesn't work–you feel alive."

Abi said she is incredibly grateful to have had experienced South Georgia and film it for the world to see, but what she took away most was that our wild places must be protected.

"Wild places aren’t just out-of-the-way national parks that only a privileged few get to set eyes on. Wild places are pockets in our cities where we let animals and plants thrive, if we let them. Change starts at home."

"As a child I was always drawn to the wilderness. I grew up in Australia, and as soon as I came home from school, I would take my shoes off and run into the bush with my sisters and the other kids on my isolated street. We were engulfed in nature on all four sides.

Abi has completed two trips already this year. Filming chinstrap penguins on a volcanic island, followed by a two month journey aboard a polar research vessel filming in the Antarctic autumn.

She credits her time at UQ for laying the groundwork for a career in science journalism in the form of wildlife filmmaking. 

"The BBC Natural History Unit prides itself in filming new species and newly discovered animal behaviours, and a biology background is pretty much essential to be successful at filming often elusive animals, or capturing rare behaviour," Abi said.

The second half of a director’s job - aside from finding the animal behaviour and location to film - is to create a pleasing and entertaining narrative from the footage that is shot.

"Studying journalism has allowed me to visualise storylines and even come up with alternative narratives quicker than if I had not received the training," she said. 

"Often in natural history film-making, the animal, more often than not, does not do what you want it to do so coming up with a new story on the spot is a skill I often turn to during these times."