Europe
Professional Video
Content creation & presentation
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The great big paddle
The Great Big Paddle is a charity event in which Dave Cornthwaite will attempt to paddle 1450 miles along
Australia’s longest river, the Murray, in order to raise awareness about its deteriorating condition. He will be using the compact solid-state GY-HM100 camcorder to film his
exploits. 
“I am an adventurer, author and expedition manager, working as a freelancer and taking on a number of unusual projects,” Dave explains. “These often tend to be endurance
expeditions with an environmental slant or a unique form of transport. Much of my filming has taken place in Australia to date, although water journeys from London to Northern Africa
and then down the Amazon are to come.”
Dave decided to setup a multi-journey paddling project, The Great Big Paddle, which involved kayaking, canoeing and stand-up paddling in three journeys. This was to aid a solar and
water charity project, as well as fulfilling a passion for the environment through travel and sport, and it has helped raise awareness of the plight of one particular Australian river
- the Murray. The river is dying from a combination of drought and poor river management. With water being such a precious commodity, especially in the outback, it was important to
document Dave’s journey. He chose the JVC GY-HM100, supplied by ProActive, to film the ten-week paddle, from the source of the Murray in New South Wales to the river’s
mouth in Goolwa, South Australia.
“I needed a light, portable, tapeless HD camera for three months of hiking and kayaking,” he states. “The GY-HM100 fitted the bill perfectly as it is extremely compact and
records to SDHC cards.”
The SDHC cards used by the JVC camcorder offer a reliable and widely available storage option, requiring minimal space on the trip. The camcorder itself weighs only 1.4kg and can be
comfortably held with one hand - very important when travelling. In addition, the camcorder’s durable design made it the ideal choice for location shooting under even the most
demanding conditions.
“I’m using the GY-HM100 to capture establishing shots on the expedition,” Dave says. “Weekly web episodes are uploaded to several high profile websites, including National Geographic Adventure, Cotswold Outdoor, ExplorOz, and the Murray River website.
“The camcorder is great for drag and drop editing, which is handy as I usually have a short amount of time to upload footage. Now I have got the hang of it, I’m blasting out stuff in no time at all. I am also thoroughly impressed with the picture quality I’m getting from the GY-HM100; for such a small camera it’s really giving me some great footage to work with. I would recommend it to anyone.”
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