About me.
Hi. My name is Iain Hawkins.
Welcome to the website for Hawkins Media and thanks for hanging around long enough to find out a little bit about me and my journey. Originally from Scotland I now reside in South Wales in the coastal town of Porthcawl with my partner Charlotte and our loyal pup Cody. As a keen surfer, when Im not flying drones or editing you’ll find me making surfing looking more difficult than it is in the murky waters of the Bristol Channel. As a team we contribute to the running of Hawkins Media, with Charlotte looking after marketing and myself overseeing operations and output. Cody looks after his biscuits and is chief security officer of the fleet.
My passion for videography was born from a love of filming action sports (snowboarding and surfing) and merging it with music to produce edits and content for major brands and athletes to use as promotional content. I’d sit for hours through the night editing GBs of footage from freestyle snowboard trips, competitions and promo nights, ruthlessly discarding the clips that didn’t make the cut and fine tuning edits until my eyes turned square. Operating with a tight crew of photographers, athletes and brand managers I created my own “brand” – The Motherlode Project.
Night hand rail shoot
Glasgow
Then…
The Motherlode Project was a collaborative media creating team showcasing emerging and current talent within the UK snowsports scene. Our goal was to highlight the potential winter superstars of the future by giving them exposure to U.K. media channels such as Whitelines, Document,Onboard and Snowboarduk. The exposure resulted in brand sponsorship to the athlete enabling them to fund trips to compete and train. Alongside having an amazing time sliding down mountains I was learning how to compose shots ,edit efficiently and also how to align with a brands identity on social platforms.
Mother lode definition – the source, a rich deposit. In gold mining terms it’s the big find.
My definition – finding the gold in UK snows ports, unearthing and exposing that talent.
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Now…
I am a commercial drone pilot (GVC qualified) with 5 years experience flying drones for photography and videography. I found drones through a photographer friend who visited and brought his DJI mini drone with him. The shots he took of the area in which we live blew my mind. The perspective was something I’d never seen of an area and landmarks I knew well. I had to buy my own and the journey began.
I now own and run Hawkins Media as a sole trader focussing on residential and commercial property photography and videography. I work with estate agents, property investors and construction companies to showcase the best and unique aspects of a property or site.
Future…
The future of drone technology and application is now. Drones are being used everywhere for jobs once deemed as high risk, time consuming or impossible. The possibilities are endless and companies are utilising the capabilities of drones in ways once never imagined. From surveying, inspection of overhead power lines and wind turbines, disaster relief, thermal imaging, emergency response, blood transport for NHS to delivering Amazon packages, the technology is there and ready to be applied.
As such, my goal is to continue to grow my skills with drone usage by investing in myself and equipment including upcoming training courses on photogrammetry and lidar application with an aim to offer more services to clients.
I love this job, this industry and the variety of opportunity it offers.
Thanks for reading.
Iain and team.
