Conservationist and visual storyteller Shaun Wolfe is committed to capturing beautiful and impactful imagery with the goal of shifting public perception and influencing government policy. Based in Hawaii and Southern California, he’s an independent above-and-below-water cinematographer and filmmaker.  He spends his days capturing content for all of the big names, including Netflix, Apple TV, and Disney+. We connected with Shaun and learned more about his visual storytelling journey, career development, the future of underwater filmmaking, and the importance of being flexible in work and in life.

I understand that you came to visual storytelling in a nontraditional way. What part of your journey surprised you the most?

Haha, all of it! I never expected to be doing what I do now.

My path has been anything but traditional. I think 19-year-old me, an undergrad music performance major who interned at record labels, would be shocked and really stoked to see where I am now. 

I didn’t really start shooting underwater footage or shooting seriously at all until I was 26. Chronologically, my work went from being a music industry intern to outdoor guiding and restaurant work, to aquariums and science diving. Meanwhile, I completed my master’s degree at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara. I spent a lot of that time struggling to find full-time work and traveling. Needless to say, it’s been a wild ride. 

What surprises me the most is how all of my past experiences are pretty useful to my current work. Some of my experiences like guiding and science diving help on the hard skills side, while the blue-collar mentality instilled in me from my restaurant work and working with musicians, help on the soft skills side.

I always sort of dreamed of a life like the one I have, where I get to travel a lot for work and see some really amazing stuff. I don’t think I envisioned the instability that could come with that, which was naive. There are pros and cons to every career, but I’m glad I’m doing what I do and wouldn’t have it any other way.

That’s been quite the journey! Looking back, what are some accomplishments that you are most proud of?

It’s hard for me to choose specific accomplishments as I think I’m more proud of my overall progress as a cinematographer and human being than I am of any single achievement.

I did just wrap on a big natural history series for Wild Space Productions, where I shot or partially shot three segments of an episode as a camera operator. I think working on this series would be number one. The team in the UK trusted me massively during some big shoots and to earn that level of respect from people who’ve been doing this for decades was a big deal for me.

In addition to that series, I’d have to include getting the Our World Underwater Scholarship Society National Park Service Internship because of the effect it’s had on my life and career. That was really a launching point for me; it showed me what was possible, gave me the tools I needed to begin on my path, and for the first time, I was surrounded by people who believed in me.

Knowing what you know now, would you have made any changes to your path?

It’s hard to say since I wasn’t always focused on this career path. I guess above all else, I wish I could’ve told my younger self that this career was possible. If I believed that, then the biggest thing I would have done differently is networking. As a freelancer in the natural history, documentary, and commercial/branded content niches, VERY few jobs get posted. It’s all about who you know and the quality of that relationship.

I’d also tell myself to proactively reach out to all the people making art I was interested in. Find the people you connect with in the industry and build those relationships.

Important things to consider. Switching gears a bit, how has the pandemic affected your work and in what ways have you risen to the challenges brought forth by the shutdowns?

The pandemic was brutal for the first 6 months in particular, though I really didn’t get a solid job for the first 11 months of the pandemic. I think I got maybe 4 days of paid work in the first 6 months, so that was really hard. It was made worse by the fact that I upgraded to a RED camera and made several other upgrades 2 months before everything shut down. That was super difficult financially and in terms of my mental health; it was also really hard because I felt like my career momentum had stopped dead in its tracks. 

Right before COVID-19, I had two of the biggest jobs of my career until that point, working on Izzy’s Koala World (Nomadica Films for Netflix) and Tiny World (Plimsoll Productions for AppleTV). Then I had nothing for what seemed like forever. So I spent that time shooting some of my own footage, trying to build new skills, taking online cinema courses, and networking.

Now that work has picked back up, let’s dive into motivation. Do you have strategies to overcome creative burnout?

I take advantage of those moments where I’m hyper-motivated. When I’m feeling good, it’s time to wake up early and do that 2-week time-lapse. When I’m feeling excited by a project, I’ll edit until 3 am and it’s done. When I work really hard like that, I feel better about taking time to do non-work-related fun things when I’m not feeling as motivated. This sort of extreme work cycle mimics what I’m used to working on shoots for a few weeks/months at a time and then having time at home, and I enjoy that. I like putting 150% in for a short period, knowing I left it all out there, and then recharging.

Another thing I do is shoot stills for fun. Since most of my work has moved to motion picture, it’s good to go out with one lens and my stills camera and just shoot what I see, street photography style. Creatively, that was how I first picked up a camera and it’s good to remember why I thought this was fun in the first place. 

What word would best describe how you work and why?

 ‘Flexible’ 

Nothing ever goes to plan on shoots. Gear breaks, storyboards end up being impossible, weather hits, animals scatter, paperwork is lost, access is denied…the list goes on and on. You prepare as much as possible to limit these things, but they happen and you need to just roll with the punches. I can adapt to whatever conditions or equipment we have available. I cannot tell you how many random items I’ve used to create a cinema kit: a push broom for a speed rail, an office chair for a dolly, paper towels for diffusion…the list goes on.

Flexibility is absolutely key! Any advice for up-and-coming filmmakers?

It’s wild the amount there is to learn in this industry. I think I’d reinforce the networking point I made before. Those folks are also going to be the ones who know where opportunities are. I would say DO NOT get discouraged and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t. This is a really challenging path, but “challenging” is not the same as “impossible”. Most people in the industry are really friendly and willing to help.

Other than that, I’d say when you’re starting out, don’t turn down work unless there is a really, really good reason to do so. You can learn something on every shoot you’re on. I don’t really think it matters if you’re a production assistant on a product shoot for a shoe company or you’re an underwater camera assistant on Blue Planet 3, you’ll learn something from both shoots and all of that knowledge is useful. 

Lastly, we are constantly expected to self-promote as freelancers. If you’re anything like me, this is a really uncomfortable thing to do. I don’t mind talking about myself, but I really don’t enjoy boasting. Well, you don’t need to boast exactly, but you do need to project confidence even when you may not feel it. Every single camera person in the industry has had jobs where they felt like the job’s level far exceeded their skill level at the time. There’s a fine line to walk when talking to producers. You don’t want to overpromise, but you don’t want to lose the job because you said you didn’t know how to do something that you could’ve figured out in an hour. Project confidence and be confident. If you’re likely getting hired to do something, it’s because the people hiring believe you can do it. If it’s something you don’t know how to do and won’t be able to learn fairly quickly, that’s the time to be honest.

Looking into the future of underwater filmmaking, where do you think it’s headed?

From a technical standpoint, underwater work continues to incorporate more and more of what we see on big narrative and commercial sets, with lighting and grip on the seafloor, VFX, and studio sets. I think it’ll continue that way, which will hopefully mean more assistant opportunities for young folks, which are few and far between currently. 

I think from a leadership standpoint, things are changing. Genuine conversations are happening in the natural history industry, particularly about diversity and inclusion in staffing, which stories get told, and how. I’m pretty stoked about this and hope it keeps up this way! I had such a difficult time getting into the industry as a white guy from a middle-class background, which means it’s so much harder for those from more diverse backgrounds. I hope we have more opportunities for indigenous peoples, people of color, the LGBTQIA+ community, etc., and that they’re paid a fair, living wage.

I also hope that the ‘story’ conversations keep happening, and I think they will. There might continue to be a place for the traditional natural history pieces where you see no signs of humans or human impact, but I don’t think that will be the norm moving forward. I also think human characters are going to start playing a role and we’re going to see some human-based or human-led stories too. In these instances, I think (or I hope) that the teams telling the stories will reflect the human characters in it, as they’ll have the best perspective on that story and tell it most authentically. 

Let’s close it out with talking a bit about what’s next for you – what are you most excited about coming up?

2022 has been so insanely busy for me so far. There have been loads of exciting projects I’ve gotten to be a part of that will be released in the coming years and I have a few international shoots for some exciting wildlife series that will hopefully round out the year and spill into 2023. As is the case with the industry, everything is heavily NDA’d or I’d tell you all about it! 

🤿 🎥 🐠 You can follow Shaun wherever his camera takes him next at shaunwolfephoto.com and on Instagram @shaunwolfephoto