This past August, I received a phone call from The Moving Visuals Company, a television and film production house in Singapore. They were contacting me on behalf of The HISTORY Channel, who was searching for a photographer to host a TV series, and they wanted to know if I was interested in such a role.
I can honestly say I hadn't awoken that morning thinking I wanted to be on television. However, as my father always says, "you never know if you never go", so I agreed to a meeting to discuss the opportunity further.
One thing led to another and a few weeks later -- following a screen test with the show's Creative Director and countless phone calls with the series' Executive Producer -- I learned that I had been selected as the program's host. And so began a three-month (and counting) adventure filming the television series Around The World With Voyager.
Sponsored by John Walker & Sons, and inspired by the rare 1920s travel guide Around the World -- a journal that documented cities and countries across the globe nearly one hundred years ago -- the TV show follows me on the 187-foot custom designed luxury yacht, Voyager, as I sail across Asia, from Shanghai to Mumbai, recreating the epic
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journeys of the early 20th Century traders. The series will comprise of five episodes, one created in each of Taiwan, Hong Kong, Philippines, India and Vietnam.
The show is one-half biography and one-half travelogue, as I disembark and meet with local icons -- a celebrity, an entrepreneur or an entertainer -- who define their cities as much as their cities have defined them. Each personality acts as my tour guide, taking me to five different locations that represent significant milestones in his/her life and have helped shape his/her professional and personal successes.
As host and photographer, my role is to learn about the icons and their lives, while at the same time documenting their personal journeys by shooting a definitive portrait of them at each of their five milestone locations.
Historic yet contemporary, Around The World With Voyager strives to uniquely document the evolving history of modern Asia.
This is the promotional trailer for the premiere episode, where my first port of call is Taipei. Here I meet Sean Anson Xu 徐安昇, one of Taiwan's most admired and ambitious entrepreneurs.
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Candidly, stepping out from behind my lens to host a television series has been quite a journey in its own right for me personally. It has been a challenging transition, but it has certainly been a rewarding opportunity. And although making television is a completely different endeavour from my world of still photography, I have absolutely enjoyed the experience of bringing these two worlds together in Around The World With Voyager.
Around The World With Voyager premieres on Monday 26 November at 11pm on HISTORY and HISTORY HD.
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Thank you so much, Gibson. It was an amazing adventure!!
Comment by Scott — December 13, 2012 @ 4:23 PM
This is great..an awesome piece
Comment by gibson — December 13, 2012 @ 3:34 PM
[…] interested, you can read about this and see promotional trailers for the first two episodes here and here). It was our final day of shooting and we were racing to our last location in […]
Pingback by 1000 Words Showcase, Week 13 | We Are JUXT — December 10, 2012 @ 6:42 AM
You are so sweet, Ida — thank you so very much for your extremely kind sentiments. I promise that I will always keep my camera in my hand. The TV show is an opportunity to explore a new, exciting facet of this for me and I’ve really enjoyed the challenge, as well as meeting all of the interesting personalities along the way… I, too, love the words of my father: “you never know if you never go” and I intend to always live by them. Thank you again.
Comment by Scott — November 15, 2012 @ 1:04 PM
Hi Scott congratulations ….. I’m happy and proud with a good chance in the course of your career and sure you will achieve success. But, please always keep strongly your camera in your hand because I always waiting and happy to see your photograph.
Love with the words of your father : ” you never know if you never go”
Good luck ….
Comment by Ida Wuryanti — November 14, 2012 @ 7:21 PM
Thank you both, Licheng and Kiran — I really appreciate this. It’s been a trip, in more ways than one!! I am grateful for your support, guys.
Comment by Scott — November 14, 2012 @ 5:46 PM
Looks fantastic mate.
Comment by Kiran Nagesh — November 14, 2012 @ 9:00 AM
Great stuff Scott! Congratulations on now having conquered both sides of the lens. Awaiting your next adventure!
Comment by Licheng — November 14, 2012 @ 7:52 AM