Practical writing on cinematography, commercial production, and the business of making great video in Calgary and beyond.
Crewing a full cinema production in under five days for a U.S. production company, capturing the announcement of Ecolab's acquisition of Calgary's CoolIT Systems and the AI liquid-cooling story behind it.
Read More →An off-road tire launch shot like a car commercial — rigged tire POV, motion blur, and 120fps slow motion through the mud at McLean Creek, Alberta.
Read More →Two days on Calgary streets with a wrapped armored truck, a Canon C500 rigged vertical, DJI Action 5 POV rigs, and a money bag POV shot built for social.
Read More →How a social media call from director Doug Cook turned into an AMPIA 2025 award-winning spec commercial, shot in two days with a five-year-old, a snorricam rig, and Calgary's streets.
Read More →How a call from Westside Studio Toronto turned into a national broadcast campaign — and one of my frames made the final cut.
Read More →Calgary DP Dave Copithorne on securing the first-ever drone permit to film Athabasca Glacier, in collaboration with BC conservation artist Jan Kabatoff and curator Jessica Turner.
Read More →Calgary cinematographer Dave Copithorne on filming figure skater Elladj Baldé on frozen wilderness lakes in Kananaskis alongside director Mike Schultz and photographer Paul Ziszka.
Read More →If you've ever seen a DP line item in a production budget and wondered what you're paying for — this is the clearest explanation you'll find.
Read More →Costs, timelines, what the process actually looks like — everything a Calgary brand or marketer needs to know before booking a shoot.
Read More →Transport Canada rules, Calgary airspace, cinematic technique, and what separates great aerial footage from just footage from above.
Read More →After 15 years working with agencies across Western Canada, here's what the relationship actually looks like — and why it works better than a production house for most projects.
Read More →On most jobs a director of photography quietly hires and pays a crew of six to eight. Why that makes a DP a one-stop shop, and a better hire than a videographer.
Read More →Real 2026 ranges for day rates and corporate video, plus what actually drives the number, from a working Calgary DP and producer.
Read More →