CURRENT WORK

Photo was taken under NMFS permit 26725.

2023. Sealife Productions worked off Maui filming humpback whales in 'Au'au Channel and hammerhead sharks in Pailolo Channel for a film produced by DocLights. Florian worked under NDA for a major streamer. We filmed orcas in Puget Sound (transients) and Norway for a project produced by DocLights. Our hearts are with friends impacted by Lahaina wildfire on August 8. šŸ’™

2022. Sealife Productions worked under NDAs for a major streamer. We also filmed orcas in Patagonia, Argentina, and Florian filmed Hawaii's erupting Mauna Loa, for programs directed by Florian and produced by Doclights.

2021. Florian worked as underwater cameraperson for the Netflix series "Our Great National Parks" narrated by Barack Obama. He filmed sea otters, sea lions, whales, dolphins and other sealife for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary episode, created by Wild Space Productions. We worked in Hawaii where Florian filmed for Doclights/NDR Naturfilm. In the spring we joined the Puget Sound Restoration Fund's Kelp Expedition and Florian created a short video "Kelp Lifeways" highlighting PSRF's work and the story of kelp in Washington waters. Footage was incorporated into PBS's Changing Seas episode Kelp: Hidden Treasure of the Salsih Sea. We also filmed salmon in the Pacific Northwest, seals in San Diego, and Mobula rays in the Sea of Cortez. Florian created a short video "Elwha River Salmon Recovery" telling the story of Elwha salmon after the two Elwha dams were removed. We also became FAA certified to fly drones commercially.

2020. We traveled to California where Florian filmed underwater in Monterey Bay for Wild Space Productions/Netflix. We filmed slamon for a project produced by Doclights/NDR Naturfilm.

2018-19. Florian filmed giant Pacific octopus for Doclights/NDR Naturfilm.

2017. Ā Florian filmed humpback whales in Tonga, and whale sharks, barracudas and jacks in the South China Sea. He filmed grizzly bears, bighorn sheep,Ā  bats, painted turtles and bald eagles in the Kootenay Rockies of British Columbia for the German film The Darkwoods. His films Discover the Olympic Coast and Return of the King played at the Clyde Theater in Langley, Washington.

2016. Florian filmed orcas underwater in Arctic Norway for Nautilus Films, a submersible in Honduras, and oceanic whitetip sharks in the Bahamas for Animal Planet's River Monsters. He filmed giant Pacific octopus in the Salish Sea for NDR Naturfilm, sea otters underwater off Vancouver Island for CBC's Wild Canadian Year, and storms and sea otters off the Olympic coast for the BBC series Oceans. He filmed sperm whales, seals, dolphins, and porpoises in the North Sea for NDR Naturfilm.

2015. Florian's film America's National Park: Olympic airs on the National Geographic Channel as part of the Doclights/NDR Naturfilm series onĀ  America's National Parks. Florian filmed giant Pacific octopus for The Wild Canadian Year, a River Road Films and CBC production. He filmed in Denmark and Norway for a German production on the Skagerrak, and he was the principal underwater cameraman for Animal Planet's River Monsters with Jeremy Wade.Ā 

Florian produced the video Rockfish Recovery for NOAA about the status and recovery efforts of endangered rockfish populations. He also produced Discover the Olympic Coast, a 30-minute documentary, narrated by his daughter, that introduces the Olympic Coast and its wildlife to elementary school children. The film was produced in collaboration with North Pacific Coast Marine Resources Committee and the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary.

2013-14: Florian filmed on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, in the Salish Sea, and in Everglades National Park for a production by NDR Naturfilm and National Geographic. Florian was the leading underwater cameraman for The Doclights/NDR Naturfilm production Die Nordesee Unser Meer.

2012. Florian continues work on the Olympic Peninsula and in the Salish Sea for an NDR/National Geographic co-production. He also filmed alligators, crocodiles and other animals in Everglades National Park for NDR/National Geographic. Florian filmed humpback whales on the Silver Banks (DR) and the Indo-Pacific Lionfish invasion around Turks and Caicos for NOAA. He filmed horseshoe crabs in Delaware and coral reef fish behavior in Egypt's Red Sea for a new 3D production by Teschefilm for WDR (German television).

2011. Florian filmed on the Olympic Peninsula for a series produced by NDR and National Geographic. He worked aboard the Minibex filming the Remora submarine in deep water canyons of the Mediterranean Sea for Teschefilm, and he filmed in the Red Sea and Horseshoe crabs on the East Coast of the United States.

2010. Florian filmed and edited Amerika's Fjordland to be aired on German television. HeĀ  joined a team of NOAA scientists on a cruise in the Gulf of Mexico to film their work in response to the BP oil spill. He filmed in Greenland and Iceland for NDR Naturfilm.Ā 

2009-10. Florian was busy diving the depths of Puget Sound and around Vancouver Island, climbing awesome Mount St. Helens, and hiking in the rain forest of the Olympic peninsula to film and produce a documentary about the Salish Sea, America's Fjordland, for NDR Naturfilm. He also presented footage to enthusiastic local audiences in his film Beneath the Slaish Sea: An Underwater Odyssey through Puget Sound..

2008. Underwater cameraman for Icon Films in the Red Sea off the coast of Saudi Arabia filming coral reef life and scientific research. Filming the new ship hull design of the ACS Demonstrator in action in the waters of Norway and Sweden for the ship-building company DK Group. Diving expedition to the deepest and largest freshwater lake on the planet, Siberia's Lake Baikal. Florian filmed species unique to the Baikal for NDR Naturfilm's program Wild Russia, which also aired on Animal Planet in the U.S.

2007. Florian filmed and produced a three-part series on the North Sea for NDR Naturfilm, ABENTEUER NORDSEE: UNTER RIESENHAIEN UND TINTENFISCHEN; TAUCHGANG IN NORWEGENS FJORDEN; and ZWISCHEN KYLLERWALEN UND KEGELROBBEN. He co-presents in this expedition-style documentary. He was underwater cameraman for the BBC in Micronesia and Palau filming for the BBC-Discovery Channel co-production PACIFIC ABYSS. NDR Naturfilm produced a German version of this film, IN DEN TIEFEN DES PAZIFIKS, in which Florian is the presenter as well as cameraman.

2006: Underwater cameraman filming in Europe for NDR Naturfilm productions on the Baltic Sea (DIE OSTSEE), the North Sea (DIE NORDSEE), and the German Island of Helgoland (HAIE, HUMMER-HELGOLAND!). Filming gray seals in Helgoland, Germany for NDR Naturfilm.

2005. Filming seals around the Monterey peninsula for the film SEEHUND AHOI! produced by NDR Naturfilm. Florian also filmed in England, Scotland, Norway and Germany for a NDR Naturfilm production on the North Sea. Cameraman for the film AMERICAN SHARK produced by Granada/Wild for Discovery Channel. Filming migrating grey whales along the Pacific coast of North America for the BBC program INCREDIBLE JOURNEYS WITH STEVE LEONARD: THE WHALES' TALE.

2004. Underwater cameraman for the BBC filming strange fish and other mysterious creatures in the Amazon Basin for AMAZON ABYSS, a BBC-Discovery Channel co-production. A German version of this film, in which Florian presents as well as runs a camera, was produced by NDR Naturfilm. Underwater cameraman filming life in the North Sea for NDR Naturfilm. Diving recee for the BBC to the Amazon Basin filming deep water trenches for AMAZON ABYSS.

2003. Expedition to Guadalupe Island, Mexico to film Great white sharks. Underwater cameraman filming porpoises around the world, in Canada, California, Japan and Norway, for the film PORPOISES: LIFE & DEATH IN THE FAST LANE co-produced by Parthenon for National Geographic and NDR Naturfillm. Filming Norway's largest fishing trawler and documenting the impact trawlers have on the sea floor off the Lofoton Islands in Norway for COD AHOI, a program produced by Angel Productions for a Danish television company.

2002-03. Underwater cameraman filming life in the Mediterranean Sea off the island of Mallorca, Spain for the NDR Naturfilm production MALLORCA'S WILD COAST. Filming and directing NORWAY'S HIDDEN SECRETS, a film documenting the spectacular marine life hidden away in the depths of Norway's fjords. NORWAY'S HIDDEN SECRETSwas produced by NDR Naturfilm, with partners Parthenon for National Geographic and the Norwegian television company NRK. Two versions of the film were made, one in English and one in German, and aired in the United Kingdom, Germany and Norway.

NORWAY'S HIDDEN SECRETS has won numerous film awards, including: a UNESCO Prize at the 30th World Festival of Underwater Images in Antibes, France; a Main Award at the 2004 Waga Brothers International Wildlife Film Festival in Goniadz, Poland; a Merit Award for Photography at the 2004 IWFF International Wildlife Film Festival in Missoula, Montana; and a Special Award of the International Jury at the 2004 International Film Festival on the Environment and Natural and Cultural Heritage in the Czech Republic. The music for the film was composed by Uli Graner, Florian's brother.

2002. Filming in Arctic Norway for Danish television, and bearded seals under the ice around Spitzbergen for the BBC program STEVE LEONARD'S EXTREME ANIMALS. BBC WILDLIFE ON ONE: SUPER MUMS elephant seal shoot and filming for German television in California. Filming stock footage off Baja California in the Sea of Cortez.

2001. Expedition to Arctic Norway to film killer whales. Norwegian marine life film. Filming in California, from San Diego to Point Reyes, for the BBC program WILDLIFE ON ONE: NAVY SEALS. Filming Norwegian deep sea corals.

2000. Expedition to Arctic Norway to film killer whales. Filming elephant seals, sea otters, spawning squid and much more in California for the PBS program THE LIVING EDENS: BIG SUR produced by ABC/Kane Productions. Expedition to Cocos Island, Costa Rica and Malpelo Island, Columbia to film sharks and bait balls for the BBC's THE BLUE PLANET. Filming deep sea corals in Trondheimsfjord, Norway for the BBC production THE BLUE PLANET: THE DEEP.

1999. Working in California filming sea otters, sea lions and jellyfish for the BBC production THE BLUE PLANET: SEASONAL SEAS.

1998. Filming deep sea sharks in Norway's fjords for the BBC production THE BLUE PLANET: THE DEEP.