This week the South African camera operator and steadicam operator, Ashlea Downes. Among Ashlea’s credits are the popular Netflix series Bridgerton on which she is working with a previous guest on this podcast, Alicia Robbins. Ashlea has also worked on House of the Dragon, Wicked, Skyfall, Spider-Man: Far From Home and His Dark Materials. Ashlea was born in Pretoria, South African in 1985. Her father, Ant, was an accountant and business owner, and her mother, Alex, an artist and art teacher. Her brother, Scott, is a hand painted sign artist. Ashlea grew up enjoying sports and the outdoors; she was a competitive rider, taking after her mother who was a keen horsewoman. She also swam, played water polo and netball but academia was not her rap. Instead she followed her father’s interest in photography and her mother’s talent for art. Her love of wildlife gave her aspirations to be a wildlife documentary filmmaker so it was no surprise that these influences steered her to the AFDA Film School where she graduated with a degree in Cinematography. After college, her relentless determination and ambition to break into the industry opened up opportunities that would prove the foundation of her career, and soon she would find herself being called up for the Bond movie Skyfall filming in Turkey and then to the UK to film at the London Olympics. A turning point in her career was moving to the UK shortly after where she met her partner and found steady work from trainee to 2nd AC/ loader and then making her mark as a camera operator. Ashlea lives between Reading, England and Cape Town, South Africa with her husband Karl Taggart. She is currently working as a camera operator on Season 4 of Bridgerton.
 
Ashlea on IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4701569/
Instagram: @ashlea_downes 
https://www.instagram.com/ashlea_downes
 
Ashlea’s favorite women in visual arts:
Charlotte Bruus Christensen
Mandy Walker
Reed Morano
Rachel Morrison
Catherine Goldschmidt
Alicia Robbins
Alice Brook
Elana Garret 

Host: Chris Stafford
Produced by Hollowell Studios
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