Shooting Producer on the Song Saa Collective’s Regenerative Tourism Film, Koh Rong Archipelago, Cambodia

Song Saa Private Island from the drone

In June I worked as shooting producer on a short film about the Song Saa Collective in Cambodia’s Koh Rong Archipelago. Regenerative Tourism is part of Pacific Asia: Tourism with Purpose, a digital series that the UK production company Content With Purpose produces for the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).

The film looks at how Song Saa Private Island, a resort off the Cambodian coast, funds the marine conservation and community work of the Song Saa Foundation. I was on the job with Vicheka, my long-term assistant, who has worked with me on a lot of shoots.

A change of plan on Thursday evening

The shoot came together at short notice. One of the people due to be featured had returned to their home country for family reasons, so I had a call with Content With Purpose and Melita Koulmandas, the founder of the Song Saa Collective, on the Thursday evening to work out what to do. Morokot Long, the Song Saa Foundation’s marine conservation and community engagement officer, agreed to step in. A holiday was coming up and she was due to travel back to her hometown, so we had to film before she left.

We made the final decision that evening. I packed the kit that night, started prep at 5.45 the next morning, and Vicheka and I were in a taxi out of Phnom Penh at 6am. At the coast we took Song Saa’s speedboat out to the island, and we filmed on Friday 19 and Saturday 20 June.

Arriving at Song Saa Private Island

I arrived slightly discombobulated, convinced I’d lost an hour somewhere. Song Saa runs on Hong Kong time, an hour ahead of the rest of Cambodia, so the island’s clocks and mine weren’t aligned.

Working with Content With Purpose

Content With Purpose specialises in ethical production. To keep the carbon footprint of its shoots down, it hires local crews rather than flying people in, which is how the job came to me in Phnom Penh. The production manager was Amy Allport.

Three interviews, two cameras

Content With Purpose wanted a two-camera interview setup, and I ran the interviews myself. The Sony A7 IV was A camera, with the A7S III on the second angle. I lit with a Zhiyun Molus X100 and recorded sound from a Sennheiser MKH 416 on a boom and a Sennheiser G4 radio mic, both going into the Sony XLR-K3M adapter, belt and braces.

The two-camera setup for Sideth Chun’s interview at the Discovery Centre.

Melita Koulmandas, Song Saa Collective

Melita Koulmandas is the founder and CEO of the Song Saa Collective. We interviewed her in one of the island’s villas, a stilt house looking out over the sea.

“I first found myself out here 20 years ago, in 2006,” she says. “When I first arrived, you could see what on the surface appeared to be this incredible, stunning, pristine environment was very rapidly in decline. Fish stocks had been pushed close to collapse. It was becoming more and more challenging for these fishing communities to provide for their families.”

She started working with the local community and the fisheries, and the house reef around Song Saa became, in her words, “the starting point for Cambodia’s first marine reserve.” The Song Saa reserve was the first marine reserve to be registered in Cambodia.

The two islands of Song Saa and the house reef between them

“Within 18 months we saw the fish stocks start to come back,” she says. “We saw baby barracudas, we saw spotted stingrays, and I was able to witness regeneration happening in real time.”

Interviewing Melita Koulmandas in one of the villas on Song Saa Private Island.

Morokot Long, Song Saa Foundation

Morokot’s interview was shot on the beach in the late afternoon, with the sea as a backdrop. She runs the foundation’s seagrass surveys, which she describes as “very detailed, metre by metre.”

Setting up Morokot Long's interview on the beach as the sun sets.

“Seagrass bed is one of the most important marine habitats,” she says. “It sustains a lot of life. It acts as a nursery ground for the juvenile fish, protects our coastline from waves and erosion. It also acts as a carbon sink.”

Morokot Long on the beach, with the second camera on the left.

Sideth Chun, Song Saa Foundation

Sideth Chun is the foundation’s community liaison officer, and we filmed his interview at the Discovery Centre. Morokot told us he’d recently qualified as a scuba diver. “When the local community takes this as their ownership, people like to protect what they care about and what they love,” Morokot says.

Sideth runs workshops on coral species for children in the community and takes them swimming. “They see the coral growing and they’re really interested,” he says. “They said they want to be like the part of the marine science and take care of their own marine environment.”

Interviewing Sideth Chun at the Discovery Centre.

On the water and in the air

Between interviews, we went out on the foundation’s boat with Morokot, Sideth and the dive team as they kitted up. I used the A7S III on the gimbal for the moving shots on the boats.

Filming the dive team as they kit up.

I shot the aerial footage on the DJI Air 3, covering the island, its boardwalk and the house reef. I’ve written more about flying drones in Cambodia and the permissions involved.

Flying the Air 3 from the deck on Song Saa Private Island.

Tourism that pays for conservation

Six years after Melita first arrived, she designed and built Song Saa Private Island to support the conservation work, alongside an international not-for-profit foundation.

“The resort commercial business became the engine,” she says. “It provided infrastructure for the conservation work, provides housing for the marine scientists and the team to live in. It brings awareness to this area through media and PR. And then through guest donations, grants, fundraising through the foundation, we’re able to conduct data-driven research.”

It’s the same link between visitors and conservation that I saw on the Tonle Sap, where protected bird sanctuaries bring income to communities through eco-tourism. Melita summarises this perfectly at the end of the film: “Tourism has to move from extraction to contribution.”

Staying on the island

It’s not often I get to stay somewhere like Song Saa, and I think Vicheka enjoyed it even more than I did. We didn’t have time to make much use of the island’s facilities, but we did eat at the restaurant. My highlight was an Asian-style confit duck salad with green mango, where the acidity of the mango cut through the saltiness of the duck.

The overwater villas on Song Saa Private Island.

Handover and release

At the end of the shoot, I uploaded all the footage to Content With Purpose’s Drive for the edit. Pacific Asia: Tourism with Purpose was previewed at PATA Travel Mart 2026 and launched in Bangkok on 8 September 2026. The films are free to watch on Content With Purpose’s site, alongside partners including the Hawai’i Tourism Authority and Travelife.

Thanks to Melita, Sideth and the Song Saa team, and to Morokot for stepping in at short notice. If you’re after a shooting producer for a travel or conservation story, I’ve also produced, directed and shot segments for the BBC Travel Show. You can see more of my work as an NGO videographer in Cambodia.

Working on something similar? Drop me a line, I’d be happy to discuss how I can help.

Photographing Conflict Damage at Preah Vihear Temple for the Australian Financial Review

Abbot Sun Sang in the ruins of Wat Keo Sekha Kiri Svarak, the pagoda on the mountain at Preah Vihear. © George Jefferies

In mid-September I travelled to Preah Vihear temple in northern Cambodia as a photojournalist and video journalist, working alongside the journalist and author Nick Ray. The UNESCO World Heritage Site sits on a clifftop on Cambodia's border with Thailand and had been closed to visitors since the fighting in July and December 2025. Nick's story, illustrated with my photographs, ran in the Australian Financial Review's Weekend Fin magazine, online on 15 October and in print on 17 October 2026.

The print edition of Weekend Fin, 17 October 2026.

How the trip came together

Nick was heading to the northwest of Cambodia to research his section of a new Lonely Planet book, and Preah Vihear was on his list. As soon as he mentioned it, I asked to come along. I'd wanted to see the temple and the damage for myself since the fighting last year. We went on spec, with no commission in place, planning to shoot the story first and then work together to sell it.

Nick organised the access through the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, whose minister, H.E. Dr Phoeurng Sackona, I'd interviewed for the feature documentary Loot. The ministry pointed us to Dr Darith Ea, director of the Department of Conservation and Archaeology at the National Authority for Preah Vihear. Nick and Darith go back to 2000, when Lara Croft: Tomb Raider filmed at the Angkor temples and Nick worked on the production as a line producer. The authority wanted international attention on what had happened to the temple, and they made us welcome from the start.

Battambang to Sra Em

We spent the first night in Battambang, then drove on to Tbeng Meanchey, the provincial capital of Preah Vihear, where Nick looked at hotels for the guidebook. From there we continued to Sra Em, the closest town to the temple. That evening we met Darith and a couple of his staff to introduce ourselves and go over what we'd be allowed to do and what the situation was on the mountain. We had dinner with them afterwards. The mood was sombre.

We set off at about 7.30 the next morning and wound our way up the mountain road. We'd been told to expect a couple of hours at the top, and we ended up spending about four.

The abbot and the pagoda

Our first stop on the way up was Wat Keo Sekha Kiri Svarak, the modern pagoda on the mountain. Abbot Sun Sang has lived at Preah Vihear since 1998. He took us around the pagoda, where most of the buildings are in ruins, including the monks' sleeping quarters. He has gathered the broken Buddha images and fragments together and is keeping them as evidence of what happened.

“The Buddha images were broken, we gathered up so many pieces, all equal to relics of the Buddha's own body,” he said. “We don't want war to happen. We want there to be peace in the country and for everyone to have freedom and wellbeing, peace and harmony, together with the Buddhist community.”

Abbot Sun Sang with a broken Buddha head. He has gathered the damaged statues together at the pagoda. © George Jefferies

The damage to the temple

From the pagoda we went up to the temple itself. Preah Vihear was built by successive Angkorian kings between the ninth and 12th centuries, and runs for around 800 metres along the slope to the cliff edge through five gopuras, or gateways. Gopura V, the gateway that appears on the 2,000 riel banknote, is now a pile of sandstone blocks. A crumpled crane belonging to the Archaeological Survey of India lies beside it. Their team had spent the previous three years restoring the gateway.

“It is really serious damage, especially to the significant attributes, including the famous Gopura V here, as you can see,” Darith said. “Before it was still standing, now it has completely collapsed.” His team has documented 562 separate points of damage across the site.

After an assessment by UNESCO and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), the first jobs are documenting the damage with photography, photogrammetry and 3D scanning, collecting the broken fragments, and propping up the structures at risk of collapse. “I think the restoration of the temple will take 20 or 30 years,” Darith said.

Working around the restrictions

Parts of the site nearest the border, including the northern staircase, were off limits. The Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) has been through the temple since the fighting and believes the mines and unexploded ordnance have been cleared, but the red warning signs are still up and we stuck to the paths and the main temple structures.

Shooting stills and video on the move

We didn't know how long we'd have at the top or exactly what we'd be allowed to film, so I kept the kit light, moved quickly and worked with available light throughout.

I shot stills on the Sony A7 IV with a Sony FE 24-105mm f/4 G, and used the same camera for handheld video with the Sony XLR-K3M adapter kit and its shotgun mic on the hot shoe. A second body, the Sony A7S III with a Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8, was on a gimbal with a Rode VideoMic for following Darith and the abbot as they walked us through the site. Sinat, one of Nick's guides, came up with us as an assistant and held the boom during the interviews. We'd worked together before on CNN's Nomad with Carlton McCoy.

From 500 frames to the magazine

I shot just under 500 frames over the morning. Afterwards the magazine asked to see what we had, and we sent around 25 selects. Once they'd seen the photos, they asked Nick to write the piece. I delivered the final selection as full-size JPEGs and DNG raw files.

The online version carries six of my photographs, and the print edition opened with the abbot at Gopura I across the top of page 34, with a second frame of him holding a broken Buddha head on the facing page.

Abbot Sun Sang amid shell damage at Gopura I, Preah Vihear temple, Cambodia

Abbot Sun Sang amid the damage to Gopura I. © George Jefferies

Cambodian military police officer looking at shell damage on the sandstone walls of Preah Vihear temple

A Cambodian military police officer looks at shell damage to the temple walls. © George Jefferies

Archaeological Survey of India crane collapsed beside Gopura V at Preah Vihear temple

The Archaeological Survey of India’s crane, crumpled beside Gopura V. © George Jefferies

Abbot Sun Sang with broken Buddha statues at Wat Keo Sekha Kiri Svarak, Preah Vihear

Abbot Sun Sang with the broken Buddha images at the pagoda. © George Jefferies

I also shot video throughout the day, including the interviews with Darith and the abbot. The stills and footage from Preah Vihear are available to license for editorial and broadcast use. You can read Nick's full story on the AFR website.

Back down the mountain

Four hours wasn't long, but it was enough to see the scale of the damage and to hear from the people looking after the temple. Darith and his team are ready to start the long work of restoration as soon as the situation allows. For more on covering the border dispute, see my post on filming CNA Insider's documentary on the Thailand-Cambodia border.

For licensing, commissions and collaborations across Cambodia and Southeast Asia, get in touch. You can see more of my work as a photographer in Cambodia and as a video journalist.

Director of Photography on Condé Nast Traveler's Where the Chefs Eat in Phnom Penh

I was director of photography on Condé Nast Traveler's Where the Chefs Eat episode in Phnom Penh, which has now passed a million views on YouTube. A Pro Chef's Favorite Places to Eat in Phnom Penh, Cambodia follows Rotanak Ros, better known as Chef Nak, to three of the places she eats in the Cambodian capital. They are a Khmer restaurant on Street 360, a modern Khmer tasting menu at the Old Market and a grilled seafood spot on Samdech Monireth Boulevard.

Condé Nast Traveler's Where the Chefs Eat with Chef Nak in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Director of photography: George Jefferies

How the job came together

I was hired locally through Bophay OukChan of Cambodia Film Fixers, who was the fixer on the shoot. I've written about working with Bophay before, in my post on flying drones in Cambodia. The production came through Mbrella Films, Joshua Dixon's production company in Bangkok.

The episode was directed by Preshita Saha, a director at Condé Nast who oversees the shoots for the series. We met her at the hotel on the morning of the shoot and were filming within half an hour.

The crew was small. I was director of photography and operated A camera. Kongkea Vann was B camera, and Sokha Hun recorded sound. I'd worked with Sokha before on Loot, the feature documentary about Douglas Latchford and the theft and return of looted Khmer artefacts to Cambodia. On Loot I filmed the master interview with Thanaren Than, a former cultural heritage investigator, and the return of 14 artefacts from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

It was my first time working with Kongkea, but I'd seen his work at this year's Cambodia International Film Festival. He was director of photography on Fresh as Daisy, Socheata Van's short about two young women from conservative families in the same Phnom Penh neighbourhood, which screened in the festival's Cambodia in Short programme. He's a Cambodian filmmaker and cinematographer, and he co-directed and shot the short film Sound of the Night with Chanrado Sok. That film was nominated for the Pardino d'oro at the Locarno Film Festival.

Setting up two cameras to match

We shot handheld on two Sony FX6s, and the job began with a technical preparation meeting the day before the shoot to match the two cameras. As director of photography, I was responsible for lining them up so the footage would cut together in the edit. Both were set to S-Log3 in S-Gamut3.Cine with a 180-degree shutter, recording internally in XAVC-I. File names were set up to differentiate Cam A from Cam B.

Each camera carried a Deity TC-1 timecode unit, and we checked that both were syncing with the Sound Devices MixPre-10 that Sokha was recording into. Each camera was also fitted with an Atomos Ninja V as a monitor, which gave us the option of recording ProRes RAW. The footage was being uploaded straight to the production's cloud storage, though, and the file sizes would have been massive and taken a long time to upload.

At the start of each scene, we shot an X-Rite ColorChecker Passport on both cameras so the colourist could match them. That was followed by a slate app on my phone with a short description, so the editors knew which scene they were looking at.

We both shot on the Sony FE 24-105mm f/4 G OSS, using Cinesaddles. The whole episode was shot in under eight hours at locations across the city, so although we had more lenses in the bag, there wasn't time to change them. The built-in stabilisation helps when you're shooting at that pace. The zoom range also covers you in a small kitchen, where you need to get as wide as you can, and lets you punch in for a close-up at the 105mm end, as long as you can hold it steady.

Matching the series style

Before the shoot, Kongkea and I watched earlier episodes of Where the Chefs Eat together to study the framing and shooting style, so our footage would match the rest of the series. There was no gimbal and no drone. Everything was handheld.

I assigned Kongkea the close-ups of the food being prepared and served. That left me free to stay with Chef Nak and get the meat and bones of each scene, picking off food shots wherever I could. We worked with the available light throughout and made everything look as good as we could.

Three restaurants

The first stop was Meatophum, on Street 360 near Tuol Sleng. Chef Nak talked with the owner, Meas Phanida, and worked through a mixed banana blossom salad, fried fish with seasonal pickles, Khmer beef sour soup and mango sticky rice.

Where to Get the Best Cambodian Food in Phnom Penh, filmed at Meatophum for Condé Nast Traveler

Next was Pi Sa, at the Old Market, which serves a modern Khmer tasting menu. The episode closes by naming Pi Sa as a 2026 Condé Nast Traveler Hot List restaurant winner. I'd definitely go back for the tasting menu, and for the quality of the food, it's good value.

Inside Pi Sa, Phnom Penh, filmed for Condé Nast Traveler

The last stop was 123 Grilled Seafood on Samdech Monireth Boulevard, past the Olympic Stadium. This was street food at night, so we worked with the light that was there and positioned Chef Nak where it fell best. If friends and I fancied seafood, it's where I'd take them.

Grilled seafood at 123 Grilled Seafood, Phnom Penh, filmed for Condé Nast Traveler

Working with Chef Nak again

I first met Chef Nak when I was working as camera assistant and drone operator on CNN's Nomad with Carlton McCoy. We filmed with her at a floating village on the Tonle Sap, near Siem Reap.

In this episode of Where the Chefs Eat, she describes how the capital's food comes together. "Something amazing about food culture in Phnom Penh is that it is a hub," she says. "When people come, they bring their own traditions from where they grew up and that makes the whole thing quite diverse."

Handover

At the end of the shoot, I uploaded the footage directly to the production's cloud storage, wrote up camera notes and went through everything with the team. The morning after we wrapped, we were on the road to Siem Reap to film an episode of Ask a Local for Condé Nast Traveler, so I carried on uploading from the road. I'll cover that shoot in a separate post.

A million views

The episode has now passed a million views on Condé Nast Traveler's YouTube channel, and three shorts cut from it have been published alongside it.

You can see more of my work as a director of photography in Cambodia, including the CNA Insider documentary on the Funan Techo Canal, where I also ran a two-camera setup.

Got a shoot coming up in Cambodia or Southeast Asia? Feel free to get in touch.

Director of Photography on Loot: Filming the Return of 14 Looted Khmer Artefacts to Cambodia

In July 2024 I worked as director of photography on segments of Loot: A Story of Crime and Redemption, a feature documentary by Canadian production company New Theory Pictures, filming the return of 14 looted Khmer artefacts from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The brief covered the repatriation, from the plane landing to the formal handover at the National Museum, and a large part of the filming told the story of Thanaren Than, a former cultural heritage investigator.

Loot: A Story of Crime and Redemption, directed by Don Millar for New Theory Pictures

Directed by Don Millar, the film traces the looting of Cambodia's temples during decades of conflict, the British dealer Douglas Latchford at the centre of the trade, and the long effort to bring the stolen pieces home. The team had been working on it for a long time, filming across Cambodia, Thailand, the US and the UK. I came in at the end of that process, for the moment the Met's pieces arrived back in Cambodia.

Preparing with the Production Team

I had a couple of meetings with producer Cole Northey and Don Millar, followed by a separate session with the film's cinematographer, Peter CS Lee, to go through his DP lookbook. It was a comprehensive, well-prepared document covering framing, movement, lighting and camera settings, so our conversation focused on the technical detail and the shooting style he wanted. From prep and planning through the shoot to footage handover, I was on the job for more than a week.

Filming with Thanaren Than

Thanaren is a former cultural heritage investigator who is personally connected to the statues, and her story ties the film to Cambodia's own efforts to investigate the looting. She was the first person we filmed. Her master interview was shot in the gardens of the National Museum as a two-camera setup, using the framings Peter had set out in the lookbook.

After the interview we filmed B-roll with her, all of it on the gimbal: riding in a tuk-tuk, walking along the riverside and making a blessing at a small pagoda. She then travelled out to the airport with us, and we filmed informal interviews with her along the way.

On the Runway at Phnom Penh International Airport

At Phnom Penh International Airport we were on the runway as the plane landed and filmed the crates carrying the artefacts being unloaded. It started raining soon after the artefacts arrived, which in Cambodia is taken as a sign of good luck.

We interviewed Brad Gordon in the rain about how he felt seeing the pieces come home. Brad is the American lawyer (now also a Cambodian citizen) who has represented the Cambodian government in its efforts to trace and recover looted antiquities for around a decade.

From the airport we followed the convoy back to the National Museum of Cambodia, where the museum team began unboxing the pieces.

The Handover Ceremony at the National Museum

The next day the artefacts were formally handed over at the National Museum in a ceremony presided over by H.E. Dr Phoeurng Sackona, Minister of Culture and Fine Arts, who has championed the campaign to bring Cambodia's looted heritage home. We filmed the unveiling of the returned pieces, which include a 10th-century stone sculpture of the goddess Uma from Koh Ker and a bronze Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara that the Met bought from Douglas Latchford in 1992.

The Met is one of the major museums that had displayed looted Khmer pieces, and its decision to return them was a significant moment for Cambodia. We interviewed both H.E. Phoeurng Sackona and H.E. Pen Moni Makara, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts.

The Technical Setup: Matching the Lookbook

Peter's lookbook set out a clear visual approach. Formal interviews were two cameras locked off, with talking heads shot into the corners of rooms and the subject lit slightly brighter than the background. Informal interviews were gimbal plus tripod or handheld. B-roll mixed wide static frames showing people in their environment with handheld coverage for moments that only happen once, and smooth gimbal moves for calmer sequences, establishing shots and moments of impact. He wanted gimbal movement to mimic the range of a set of speed rails, grounding the camerawork in classical technique.

For lighting, the direction was to lean into the naturalism of each location while pushing shape, shadow and contrast, and to shoot exteriors backlit when the sun was low. The colour reference sat between the bright sunlight and coloured streets of Cambodia and the cloudier light of London.

The production shot predominantly on the Sony FX3 in S-Log3 and S-Gamut3.Cine at 23.98fps, recording 10-bit 4:2:2 XAVC S-I. I shot with my Sony A7S III and Sony A7 IV, both in S-Log3 and recording to the highest-quality intra-frame codec each camera offers, so the footage would cut with the rest of the film in the grade. The A7S III shares its sensor with the FX3 and went on the gimbal for Thanaren's B-roll, and the two cameras ran together for the interviews. It's a similar two-camera interview setup to the one I used as DoP on CNA Insider's documentary on the Funan Techo Canal.

Loot on the Big Screen

Loot premiered at the International Festival of Films on Art in Montreal in March 2025 and has since screened at festivals including the Cambodia International Film Festival in Phnom Penh. It has now been officially launched in Cambodia and opened at Legend Cinema in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville on 16 October 2026. I attended a private screening there in early October 2026 and enjoyed seeing footage I'd shot on a big screen.

Loot on general release at Legend Cinema, Phnom Penh, from 16 October 2026

A 55-minute edit is also showing on Emirates' ice inflight entertainment, listed under Latest Documentaries, which I came across flying to France this summer.

My part in Loot was a small one. The team spent a long time building the story, and the edit by Nick Ogden and Nicholas T. Shepard brings it together well. Having spent four years on Last of the Elephant Men, which I co-directed with Arnaud Bouquet and Daniel Ferguson, I know how much work goes into a feature documentary before anyone sees it. Coming in at the end to film the pieces coming home was a good way to contribute to a story that matters a great deal to Cambodia.

You can see more of my documentary work as a director of photography and camera operator in Cambodia, or read about proposing and shooting the Cambodian side of the Thailand-Cambodia border story for CNA Insider. For commissions and collaborations across Cambodia and Southeast Asia, get in touch.

Flying Drones in Cambodia: Permissions, Experience and What You Need to Know

Drone showreel, aerial videography across Cambodia

I've been working as a drone operator in Cambodia since shortly after DJI launched the original Phantom in 2013. Since then I've flown the Phantom 2, 3, 4 and 4 Pro, the Mavic Pro, Mavic Pro 2, Mini 3 Pro, and now the DJI Air 3. I've used drones on productions ranging from NGO field work and corporate videos to broadcast documentary and feature film. The progress in that time has been remarkable, with the introduction of dual lenses, omnidirectional obstacle sensing, extended battery life, and stabilisation that makes aerial footage possible in conditions where earlier models simply couldn't fly.

This post covers the two locations where you'll definitely be asked for permission, Phnom Penh and the Angkor Archaeological Park, along with some notes on indoor flying, drone photography, and some highlights of my drone flying in Cambodia.

Flying in Phnom Penh

For television and documentary productions, the permissions process in Phnom Penh is a two-stage process. You apply first to the Ministry of Information, which processes the permit. You then take that letter to City Hall, where they countersign and confirm that you have approval to fly within the capital. If you're making a feature film, the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts is the relevant authority.

When I was flying for CNN's Nomad with Carlton McCoy, the local fixer gave me a copy of the permission letter, which was a good idea. Every time I took off, a security guard arrived and asked to see the permission. You will be asked to show your paperwork when openly flying in central Phnom Penh, so make sure you have it.

People have been detained for flying in restricted areas, and some incidents are well known in the production community here. For professional work in Phnom Penh, obtaining permission before you fly is not optional.

At the time of writing, there is a blanket ban on drone flights across Cambodia as a result of the Thailand-Cambodia border situation. Permissions are still being granted for the right projects, but this is worth factoring into your planning if you're scheduling a drone shoot in the near future.

Flying at the Angkor Archaeological Park

Angkor operates through the Apsara Authority, the body responsible for managing the archaeological park. You apply in writing and the process typically takes between two weeks and a month. The Apsara Authority will confirm whether permission is granted and advise on the fee, which is set case by case rather than at a fixed rate.

I've been lucky enough to fly my drone at the temples twice. The first was for Taste of Cambodia, a travel series for the Cambodia Ministry of Tourism produced with Hanuman Films, where I had a three-day permit covering Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm, the temple featured in Tomb Raider. The second was for CNN's Nomad with Carlton McCoy, shooting at Angkor Wat.

I was up before sunrise on the first two mornings of the Taste of Cambodia shoot at Angkor Wat, waiting for light that never came through the cloud. On the third morning it had rained overnight and, as the sun rose, mist lifted from the stone path leading up to the temple and the surrounding jungle. The footage from that morning made up for the earlier disappointments, and it's the kind of image that's only available if you have the right permissions and the patience to wait for the conditions to arrive.

Indoor Drone Work

Part of the drone work I do has been flying inside buildings, which is a different discipline from outdoor flying and one that demands a drone with reliable obstacle sensing.

For a corporate film for Endo Lighting, I flew inside AEON 3 Mall in Phnom Penh to capture their lighting installation. Flying up through the full height of the central atrium and along the skywalk, a key part of the design they wanted to show, gave the client footage that couldn't have been achieved any other way. You can see the video here.

For a video produced with Pixel Peers for the ILO's Better Factories project, I flew inside a garment factory in Kandal Province on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, documenting the manufacturing environment as part of their Better Factories programme.

I also flew inside Cambodia Zulite Stone's quartz manufacturing facility for a corporate film delivered for exhibition at a trade show in New York. The DJI Air 3's omnidirectional obstacle sensing makes it well suited to indoor work of this kind.

On a number of shoots, drone photography has been delivered alongside the video. The Air 3 and many other DJI drones make switching between modes straightforward. You press the left-hand shoulder button and it switches between photography and video. Once the settings for both are configured, it's easy to switch at the click of a button, and then another click either takes a photo or starts recording. Stills and video can be captured in the same session without significantly disrupting the shooting workflow. Both Endo Lighting and Cambodia Zulite Stone received drone photography deliverables alongside their films. Drone stills are something I can offer alongside videography on most shoots.

Flying Across Cambodia

Across Cambodia as well as Phnom Penh and Angkor, I've flown for a wide range of productions. Locations include Kampot and Kep on the coast, the highlands of Mondulkiri, Kratie, Stung Treng, Battambang and Kandal Province. Outside the capital and the archaeological park, enforcement is lighter and I've never been stopped when flying recreationally, though technically a local authority approval from the relevant sangkat is required alongside the Ministry of Information permit for professional productions.

Productions involving significant drone work include a 46-minute documentary for CNA Insider on the Funan Techo Canal, where I flew over the Mekong River, Battambang's rice paddies and the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port, and the Taste of Cambodia series for the Ministry of Tourism. For the CNN shoot I flew Central Market, Wat Phnom, Vattanac Tower, the CBD and the Angkor temples. For Wild Frontiers, one of the UK's leading adventure travel companies, I flew across India, Ukraine and Moldova. You can see a selection of that aerial work in my drone reel for Khreativa.

Cambodia as a Production Destination

The Cambodia Tourism Board recently launched a Location Scouting Programme designed to support international film, television, documentary and commercial productions. The programme covers up to five days of on-ground expenses during location scouting, including accommodation, local transport, fixer or guide services, and entry fees for national parks and heritage sites. Flights are not covered, but it's an encouraging development that reflects a genuine effort by the Cambodian government to attract international productions to the country.

Kit

My current drone is the DJI Air 3, with 28mm and 70mm lenses and omnidirectional obstacle sensing, suitable for both indoor and outdoor work. Additional drones are available to hire for productions requiring different specifications. Full production kit, including lighting, sound and grip, is available alongside drone services.

You can see more of my drone work on the drone operator page, and further examples across the corporateand documentary portfolio pages.

If you have questions about flying drones in Cambodia, whether for a production you're planning or just to understand the permissions process, feel free to get in touch. Based in Phnom Penh and available for assignments across Southeast Asia.