National Geographic cameraman Andy Casagrande interview
Andy Casagrande is a cameraman who filmed the stunning slow-motion footage of cheetahs in National Geographic Channel's amazing Great Migrations. We had a snappy chat with him about shooting the big cats and his favourite animal, the great white shark...
NG Kids Hi Andy! We love your footage of cheetahs in the Great Migrations show!
Andy Casagrande Thanks, I used new high-speed, slow-motion photography to film a mother cheetah stalking a zebra herd, preparing to feed her cubs. If you're filming cheetahs, you need to think like a cheetah. You need to think about how cheetahs hunt, how fast the can run, where they can hide, what they like to do, everything.
NGK Cool! We hear that you’re really keen on sharks...
Andy Since I can remember I have been fascinated with sharks, especially great whites. As a kid all I did was dream about sharks, read about sharks, write about sharks and watch sharks on TV every chance I got! I knew from the first time I saw a shark on TV that I wanted to devote my life to studying them and protecting them.
NGK Have you filmed great whites?
Andy Yes. I moved to Cape Town in South Africa when I was 25 to work as a research cameraman helping scientists identify sharks and their behaviours with video. Seal Island in False Bay there is the best place in the world to see great whites zooming up out of the water while they hunt seals, it’s unbelievable!
NGK Have you filmed them anywhere else?
Andy South Africa, Australia, Mexico... I hope some day to film in the Mediterranean where they have nearly been wiped out because of overfishing. But I know they’re still there and I want to film them!
NGK Isn’t it really scary to get in the water with sharks to film them?
Andy No. I think to myself “If I was a great white, I wouldn’t bite you”, and I trust them to feel the same! I wrote a song about it too, to try and help people be less scared of my favourite animals.
NGK Why are people so scared of sharks?
Andy Sharks get a bad reputation because, very rarely, they bite someone. For the most part it’s a mistake. Even though we are not on their menu, we sometimes swim around in their dining room and they can mistake a person for something like a seal. Me, I’m more scared of driving on the motorway!
NGK Why do we need to protect sharks?
Andy They are the ocean’s top predators, so they are crucial to keeping the seas’ ecosystems in balance. If we remove sharks, the oceans will suffer a great loss and so will we. Sharks were on this planet even before dinosaurs, so they deserve to live and enjoy the planet just as we do. So please protect the sharks!
Click here to see Andy's brilliant song about great white sharks! Find out more about the Great Migrations show at the National Geographic Channel website.
Check out our other cool features:
- WATCH! New dinosaur discovery
- Creature feature - orang-utans
- Amazing Titanic exhibition
- WATCH! Funny Ratuki videos
- Wicked Young Writers' Award
Pictures Ansy © NGT, cheetah and shark © Getty Images UK