Jim Frazier reflects on life as wildlife cinematographer with David Attenborough

Jim Frazier spent years spent working with Sir David Attenborough (ABC Mid North Coast: Emma Siossian)

As he wanders through a grove of trees identifying native bird calls on his property, Jim Frazier is clearly content and in his element.

At 80 years old, he's lost none of the passion for nature that fuelled a prestigious career as a wildlife cinematographer, including travelling the world for Sir David Attenborough's nature documentaries.

"It's just a place of peace and quiescence, I just love it here," he said.

Frazier is humble about his achievements, which include award-winning documentaries, the invention of ground-breaking lenses, an Oscar, an Emmy, an honorary doctorate and an OAM.

Frazier says he has had many extraordinary experiences and interactions with wildlife. (Supplied: Jim Frazier)

"My goal was to try and put on film often very difficult subjects."

Frazier, who grew up in Armidale and has lived in Sydney, now enjoys time at his property at Bootawa, near Taree on the New South Wales Mid North Coast, where he and his wife Helen have spent around 20 years creating a bird and butterfly habitat.

"We planted hundreds and hundreds of different trees and butterfly-attracting plants and it's worked a treat," he said. 

Double-barred finches are one of many bird species seen on Jim Frazier's Tinonee property. (ABC Mid North Coast: Emma Siossian)

A life in words and pictures

Jim Frazier enjoyed working with David Attenborough and Densey Clyne for many years. (Supplied: Jim Frazier)

As the calls of double-barred finches and satin bowerbirds ring out, and the odd peacock proudly walks past, Frazier sits on his verandah sifting through a lifetime of memories for his autobiography.

He admits it's a daunting task.

Jim Frazier worked with David Attenborough for the Life on Earth and The Living Planet series. (Supplied: Jim Frazier)

"I have been going through thousands of photographs and slides and it's been a massive, massive job.

"I have had to contact a lot of friends and colleagues and they remind me of certain things." 

He hopes to have his autobiography published later this year.

'That intuitive instinct just told me things'

The challenges of filming insects and small animals inspired Frazier to invent a revolutionary new lens system. (Supplied: Jim Frazier)

Frazier says his cinematography career began unexpectedly through an association with author and naturalist the late Densey Clyne, whom he met in the 1960s. 

They made an award-winning film together about spiders, which impressed the BBC and opened doors.

"They [the BBC] said, 'By the way, we are just embarking with David Attenborough on a big series called Life on Earth," Frazier said.

Frazier and Attenborough worked together on many documentaries. (Supplied: Jim Frazier)

Frazier and Clyne went on to form a long working relationship with Attenborough and Frazier says he often had to improvise.

"We didn't see a lot of David Attenborough and I had to pull tricks along the way," he said.

"When we were filming in certain locations I would have to put my hand on something and they would film him somewhere else in the world.

Jim Frazier credits Densey Clyne with helping his career in many ways and says it was a great working partnership. (Supplied: Jim Frazier)

"He would squat down but it would be my hand that comes in and touches the subject and you always had to work like that because David couldn't be in every place at once and so you did what you could."

Frazier was often tasked with things no-one else had been able to achieve.

A regent bowerbird sits on Jim Frazier's hand. He says patience and an understanding of animal behaviour was crucial to his work. (Supplied: Jim Frazier)

"I was able to predict certain events, like for instance the birth of a koala … nobody was ever able to film it, I had one go and was able to film it, I knew instantly that koala was giving birth through a tiny flicking of the ear.

"Then I got called on to do all sorts of strange things … I got a reputation because of my different approach, I guess."

Revolutionary lens invention

Jim Frazier says his career in wildlife cinematography had been highly rewarding. (Supplied: Jim Frazier)

In a bid to make his life easier in the field, Frazier started tinkering with lenses.

It led to the creation of the Panavision-Frazier lens system that revolutionised the film industry, allowing the foreground and background of an image to be in focus at the same time and it won him an Oscar in the late 1990s.

"When I was filming particularly smaller wildlife, like spiders and things on the ground, I couldn't keep them in focus, and I thought there's got to be a better way than this," he said.

"And I have a few other inventions I haven't released yet up my sleeve."

'We need to preserve now what's left'

Jim Frazier has created an environment for birds and butterflies on his property near Taree, with views of the Manning River. (ABC Mid North Coast: Emma Siossian)

Frazier is committed to spreading a conservation message.

"I get very concerned about what the human race is doing to nature. We are killing it," he said.

Tawny frogmouths on Jim Frazier's property. (ABC Mid North Coast: Emma Siossian)

"We need to preserve now what's left on this Earth. There are some serious problems with bushfires, floods, we have deforestation happening on a global scale, we have global warming happening."

Frazier says his property has become a refuge for wildlife.

"I had an occasion [during drought] where the koalas flocked in here," he said.

Jim Frazier has nearly finished his autobiography, which has involved sifting through decades worth of photos and memories. (ABC Mid North Coast: Emma Siossian)

"In a place like this where we are surrounded and deluged in nature, I want to keep it that way."