# @reddigitalcinema on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DJCjv1Yzdgr
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/29961875-reddigitalcinema-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/fb6cbf3e89.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-04-29T18:08:05.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** RED Digital Cinema (@reddigitalcinema) — https://gondola.cc/reddigitalcinema

## Caption

#HabitatUncoveR3D with Helen Hobin, helen.hobin

BAFTA-nominated cinematographer Helen Hobin spent nine consecutive months living in Antarctica, filming emperor penguins for National Geographic’s (natgeo) #SecretsofthePenguins, produced by talesmithtv.

Working with DoP Pete McCowen and Field Producer alexponniah she joined a small team of “overwinterers” at awiexpedition station Neumayer III. With no flights during the Antarctic winter, it was just 12 people and 20,000 penguins.

“We knew that getting replacement kit would be impossible on location, and so we invested a lot of time into prepping our gear with the brilliant team at filmsat59_rental. We chose the #VRAPTOR for its dynamic range, low-light capabilities and ruggedness. On one filming day the temperature dropped as low as -46.8°C absolute, and often our eyes would try to freeze shut, or even freeze open. Fierce storms erased all sense of orientation, and for two months the sun didn’t breach the horizon.

We used polar covers by kirstencustombags to help keep the accessories warm, and rigged dovetail plates to quickly swap between having the camera top-mounted and underslung. Custom foam cut pelis allowed us to keep brittle cables rigged in place. We built small wooden sleds onto snowboards to move our cameras quickly over the ice and deb_broadcast_engineering_ created a lightweight snow ‘quadpod’ for me to film from the perspective of the tiny chicks.

The changing of the light constantly reinvented the landscape, and it was a privilege to capture on reddigitalcinema the remarkable resilience of the emperors as they raised their young through one of the harshest winters on earth.”

Footage stills from helen.hobin, BTS photos by helen.hobin and alexponniah

## Stats

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- **Comments:** 11

## Tags

habitatuncover3d, secretsofthepenguins, vraptor

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