Keith has spent over 35 years immersed in the world of challenge as a documentary filmmaker, storyteller and specialist in remote area, natural history and adventure film. He has journeyed through some of the world’s most difficult environments, camera-in-hand, to capture the essence of adventure in diverse locations from the summit of Everest and the South Pole, to unexplored mountains of Arctic Greenland and cave systems in Venezuela and Papua New Guinea. Overcoming challenge and adversity through up-close and personal story-telling has been the hallmark of his career across some 80 projects on 7 continents.
Keith received an ‘International EMMY for cinematography’ for his work on the BBC’s flagship series ‘The Human Planet’, the Guild of Television Camera Professional’s ‘Award for Excellence’ for the filming of exploratory expedition into the lost worlds of Venezuela and the International Explorers Festival ‘Camera Extreme Award’ for his work on the BAFTA Outstanding British Film ‘Touching the Void’. Other productions in which he’s been involved have won dozens of international film awards. In 2019 he was awarded the ‘Grand Prize’ for his contribution to mountain filmmaking from the International Alliance of Mountain Film, representing 27 of the world’s mountain and adventure film festivals. In 2023, he received the Royal Television Society’s Camera Craft Award.
His ground-breaking adventure film work has been shown on the BBC, Disney+, Netflix, Discovery, Channel 4, ITV, National Geographic, Pathe Films and 20th Century Fox and at film festivals around the world. He has also produced content for some of the world’s most respected outdoor brands including Berghaus, Mountain Equipment and Scarpa.
His feature-length documentary ‘Bonington – Mountaineer’, about the life of one of the world’s best-known mountaineers, received its Premiere at the prestigious Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival and won ‘Best Mountaineering Film’ at the Bilbao International Film Festival and the Grand Prize at the International Echo Film Festival plus awards from Poland (Warsaw), Czechia (Teplice), and from New Zealand.
Keith is also one of the founding directors of Beyond Boundaries Films – a film funding organisation that offers production grants and mentorship to up-and-coming adventure filmmakers.
He has also been on mountain film festival jury panels in Vancouver, Banff, Kendal, Amsterdam, Teplice, Ladek and Warsaw.
As a freelance trainer he has been co-lead faculty for 19 years at the Adventure Filmmakers’ Workshop at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Canada. He has run film workshops in Venezuela and the UK. He is also a lecturer (FHEA) in Wildlife Media (BA Hons) with the University of Cumbria. He has also guest-lectured at Stanford University, USA and has tutored to the BBC’s National Training Centre in guerrilla-style filmmaking.
He has been key-note speaker to companies such as the Royal Bank of Scotland, Kraft Foods and Novartis Pharmaceuticals, plus international conferences, charities and to organisations including the Royal Television Society, BAFTA and the Royal Geographical Society.
In 2012, Keith reached the summit of Everest while filming and producing inspirational content for Samsung Electronics with material shown online, in cinemas and on the big screens in Piccadilli Circus, London. As a two-person team, supported by 3 Sherpas their mission fulfilled 90 years of Everest history and 88 years of Olympic history in the run up to the London games. Subsequently, Keith and his climbing partner were invited to run with the Olympic Torch the day before the opening ceremony of those Games.
His written articles have appeared in many of the UK’s climbing and outdoor magazines and his book ‘The Adventure Game, featuring stories and inspiration from the first 25 years of filming career won the Jury Award at the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival.
