Wildlife Cinematographer Christina Karliczek Skoglund

In episode #58 host Brett Stanley chats with Christina Karliczek Skoglund, an underwater wildlife and feature film cinematographer.

Christina grew up on the coast of Sweden, dreaming of shipwrecks, but it was a trip to New Zealand and Australia as a teenager that really gave her a taste for the underwater world of film.

They talk about her work with the BBC and National Geographic, and how she was massively inspired by her Aunt, Jutta Hosel Waters - one of the first women to officially work in Antarctica out of Australia in 1976.

Follow this guest: Instagram, Website

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Episode Summary

In this episode, host Brett Stanley interviews Christina Karliczek Skoglund, an accomplished underwater cinematographer and director, to delve into the intricate challenges and experiences she has faced in her career. Christina shares the difficulties of filming marine life, specifically sharks, which involve both technological hurdles like unpredictable shark hatching and environmental challenges like algae growth and adverse weather conditions. Her work requires a high level of adaptability and flexibility, as the unpredictable nature of wildlife filming demands readiness for any situation.

Christina discusses her transition to directing, motivated in part by the practical need to have more control over her schedule during her pregnancy. Currently, she is engaged in natural history shows and is preparing for a new personal project, alongside her work in underwater cinematography for feature films.

The conversation also touches on the decision-making process during shoots, emphasizing the importance of experience and situational assessment in determining whether to continue or halt a shoot due to unfavorable conditions or unforeseen circumstances.

Throughout the episode, Christina and Brett explore the significance of community, collaboration, and mutual inspiration within the underwater cinematography field. They reflect on the value of listening and learning from other creators, highlighting the interconnected and supportive nature of the community.

Christina's insights provide a profound understanding of the dedication, adaptability, and passion required in the specialized field of underwater cinematography, shedding light on both the technical and creative aspects of capturing the captivating world beneath the waves.

Transcript

Ep 58 - Christina Karliczek Skoglund 
 

Welcome back to the underwater podcast. And this week we're chatting with Christina Karliczek Skoglund, an underwater wildlife and feature film cinematographer.  

Christina grew up on the coast of Sweden, dreaming of shipwrecks, but it was a trip to New Zealand and Australia as a teenager that really gave her a taste for the underwater world of film. 

We BBC and National Geographic, and how she was massively inspired by her aunt, Jutta Hossel Waters. One of the first women to officially work in Antarctica out of Australia in 1976. Okay, let's dive in. 

[00:00:33] Brett Stanley: Christina, welcome to the underwater podcast. 

[00:00:35] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Thank you so much for having me here. Thank you. 

[00:00:38] Brett Stanley: Yeah, of course. where are you at the moment? Are you, I know you're based in Sweden. Is that where you are right 

[00:00:42] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: That is also where I am right now. Yes, on the west coast of Sweden in Gothenburg. 

[00:00:48] Brett Stanley: Oh, nice. cold at the moment. 

[00:00:50] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: It's slowly getting warmer, but we've had, we've had a dark, long winter time. 

[00:00:55] Brett Stanley: Yeah, I bet. Do you get the, like, do you get the kind of days of night kind of thing? Are you that high 

[00:01:00] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: No, I'm not that high up in Sweden, so I do get more like a bit of coastal weather here with it's, uh, yeah, just more windy and sometimes rainy. But yeah, I've got a coast and water. 

[00:01:14] Brett Stanley: Oh, that's good. Considering what you do, which is, uh, an amazing wildlife cinematographer, how did you kind of get into that? 

[00:01:21] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Well, it is a longer journey, I should say. But I do think it started out somewhere with me growing up in the Netherlands, actually, uh, at the North sea. And I was out with my family sailing a lot as a child and I spend a lot of time just also just playing by myself yeah, at the coast and living and being on, on a sailing boat and just being exposed to water. 

A lot of the time, and I think that's sort of lay a bit like, you know, like later the stone for me being so curious what's happening below the surface. And I was, I was always like yeah, looking at the sea charts as well as a child and mapping out where all these wrecks were indicated. And it just, Got me, yeah, just got me really interested and the same with marine animals. 

I, I, I knew everything about, you know, all the marine animals at that coast where I was living. And I even knew then already that there were sharks in the North sea, which not so many people knew about and still, it was like very cold, very murky water. So I didn't even know any divers when I was a child, unfortunately. 

it's not, it's not necessarily very inviting waters to be diving in, even though now as an adult, I know better. 

[00:02:50] Brett Stanley: So, so growing up like that, like, were you, so, so tell me about the, like the climate there. Is it the sort of place where you're, you're like jumping in the water and like, is it warm enough in the summertime? Do we swimming 

[00:03:00] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Well, you know, I mean, that's, that's what we do. That's what we did, of course, but for a lot of other people, it would be still way too cold. So, you know, summertime is better for swimming because the air temperature is warmer, but it would still be Yeah, it's, it's still, it's still where a lot of people don't even go into the water. 

But I think, I guess you get to, to learn that. And also I had, you know, my, my grandmother, she actually taught me as well to do like cold water showers when I was a child, when I was a young child. So I guess I, you know, got a bit of exposure to, To the cold. 

[00:03:45] Brett Stanley: Yeah. It toughened you up at an early age. 

[00:03:47] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Yeah, but again, no, it wasn't, it was, you know, it's it's, it's, it's still been really something that it's just caused so much imagination for me. The, the sea and what's below the sea. And of course, I mean, I've, I've, as I've grown up at the coast, which can be rough, I, I also knew. Always about how, you know, how dangerous it can be. 

And I knew also about stories of people that had gotten lost at sea. There's a lot of fishing, you know, commercial fishing activity in that area. A lot of people work like an oil industry on the North sea or. Work at the coast guards and at sea rescue. So yeah, I, I knew about that size of, of the water as well. 

And obviously sailing and, you know, sailing also like, for several days without seeing any, any land. Um, Yeah, definitely experienced some, some rough weather as well as a child. 

[00:04:50] Brett Stanley: So you had a good idea of, of the, the dangers of the ocean as well as just how beautiful it can be. 

[00:04:56] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Totally. 
 

[00:04:57] Brett Stanley: That's incredible. So, so what sort of like, did you, like, were you literally born to, and then hopped on a boat or was, did at a certain age you started sort of being on 

[00:05:06] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: I think I started being at the age from five or six years onwards on boats and I'd say the sailing boats like grew slightly over time in length. So 

[00:05:19] Brett Stanley: Right. 
 

[00:05:21] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: first it was a very small boat for our whole, yeah, our entire family. And then, yeah, I think my, my parents got, you know, sort of slowly upgraded gradually. 

And that's also how we got to sail longer distances, but I wasn't, you know, I wasn't living all the time on boats, but it's pretty much what my parents did in almost all of their spare time. So 

[00:05:45] Brett Stanley: Right. So it's kind of like, it's like, uh, so people with RVs and caravans, like go away for, for holidays and weekends and stuff. Is that sort of that sort of thing where they would take you guys 

[00:05:55] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Yeah. And I would just also like just be hang out with my dad when he was, you know, fixing stuff on the boat and repairing and basically, yeah, he would just take me along and, you know, I just. Pat to play and come up with something while he was busy doing oil changes and that kind of stuff. And yeah, 

[00:06:16] Brett Stanley: So you had to entertain yourself, basically. 

[00:06:17] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: a lot, definitely. And I'm also a bit like the little bit younger child. I've got two older sisters. So yeah, definitely got good to play and explore a lot by myself. 

[00:06:32] Brett Stanley: Right. And so I guess that's when you started to kind of imagine what these, you know, what these animals are doing under the water and, and, you know, these shipwrecks and it wasn't very kind of like a adventurous kind of thing. Like you wanted to go and see these shipwrecks and kind of, and, and discover shipwrecks. 

[00:06:48] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Yeah, I thought that was very, I mean, it just, you know, I mean, I was totally also in that age when, when I was fascinated with all sorts of like adventure and exploration stories and of course, and I mean, shipwrecks are such a, you know, sunken treasures and shipwrecks and, you know, what has happened. In that moment, those, those things I was, you know, just spiraling my, my imagination with and yeah, at the same time, just sort of imagining what, what else was living underneath. 

Yeah, the surface was interesting because again, it was very difficult to see from the surface because it's a bit of like tidal water, so it's quite murky, a lot of sediments and the further you go offshore, okay, the clearer it will be. But still, you know, it's you can't really see, so it's, it's even more like, you know, you need to read in books and learn about it somewhere else. 

[00:07:50] Brett Stanley: Is there a lot of mythology in, in the Netherlands in terms of in the ocean and stuff, you know, like when you're a kid, you kind of get, get caught up in, you know, the fantasy world of stuff. Did you kind of, was there like local legends and stuff that you kind of thought  

[00:08:03] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: It wasn't too much local legends. I, I, uh, like sort of seafarers lore there's a little bit, but it was mostly more through like also the books I was reading at that time, like, yeah, it's just sort of adventure, adventure, fantasy stories, and, you know, it's just sort of, that was what I, what I chose to, to pick in the library and yeah. 

More, more that I'd say.  

[00:08:26] Brett Stanley: so when you, when do you feel like you actually got to go on your first real adventure? 

[00:08:31] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: So I think my first real adventure was I went, like, was in New Zealand when I was about 16 years old, or maybe even before I was actually like, I went I was a bit of involved in this sort of eco activism scene and in because I later on moved to Germany and that's where I got a little bit more into yeah, into sort of. 

Like environmental European movement and also a bit more into the activist side of things. And I think I went when I was. 14 or 15, I went on my own to this yeah, like this, uh, summer camp in Southern France, which was also like sort of this European action camp. And I mean, even at that time, like, you know, It was, it was all about sort of climate change and yeah, working out strategies and how to communicate that. 

So I think it was definitely a big adventure to be, yeah, to be traveling at that age. Yeah. 

[00:09:36] Brett Stanley: So when was this? Do you want to, do you want to date yourself? 

[00:09:39] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Yeah, this was more, uh, I think this was in the nineties. Yes. Sort of mid nineties. 

[00:09:44] Brett Stanley: So kind of before the internet really, and, and 

[00:09:47] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Yeah, it just, it just, it had just started, it had started. So yeah, I think, you know, email addresses existed. So emailing was, was on the horizon. 

Yeah. And then I think, and then I went, I actually had the opportunity, which was just, Such a fortunate opportunity to go and live in New Zealand for a year as an exchange student. And that was inspired because I actually wanted to go to Australia. Because my aunt lives in Australia, or has lived in Australia, and she was a photographer. 

So I basically wanted to go and stay with her, but I think they were, they were a bit like, okay, well, you know, that's just not gonna work out so much cause they're busy working and maybe they're, maybe there are no other children around. And yeah, so, 

[00:10:40] Brett Stanley: Yeah. Not so convenient. 

[00:10:42] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Not so convenient, but again, I was very excited to be traveling to New Zealand at the age of, yeah, I think it's just like 16 and a half and yeah, getting to this country, which had also this very sort of magical appeal. 

To be, and yeah, just also being of course on the other side of the world. But again, since, yeah, since I had a lot of inspiration as well from my, from my aunt in terms of photography, that, that, that really yeah, just was, was on the other hand, very close, like. Yeah, cause I, I had been getting all these books as a child from my aunt Australian children's books. 

And my aunt was actually photographer who traveled to Antarctica for a long time. And she worked as a senior photographer for the Australian and Arctic division. 

what was even more special about it is that she was, She was one of the first women that were even allowed to travel to Antarctica and out of Australia. 

And it's like, this is, you know, this is not very long time ago. I mean, yes. But still she, uh, yeah, they were, I think when she started working there, they had a policy that no women were allowed to work in Antarctica for, yeah official organizations in Australia. 

[00:12:13] Brett Stanley: And so what was that? Like the, like the 70s or 

[00:12:16] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: think that was the late sixties. 

[00:12:18] Brett Stanley: Oh, okay. Yeah. 

[00:12:20] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: So  
 

my aunt was a bit like, so, but why, I just had a new colleague here starting at the department who is going to Antarctica and he just started here. Why, why can't I go? You know, I'm, I'm his, I'm his supervisor. And they were like, yeah, no, sorry. This is against our policy. 

So she actually, and this is something I just heard a few years ago, she actually had to, she actually had to write a letter to the, to, to the premier of Australia to, uh, Yeah, to ask if she could go to Australia, uh, to Antarctica. 

[00:13:01] Brett Stanley: Antarctica. Wow. Like ask permission to get down there. 

[00:13:05] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Yeah. And then, and I think, I think actually, so what happened was that she did get an answer one year that she could go for the next summer season, she could go down to Antarctica and work yeah, on one of the Antarctic stations. And after that, she, yeah, she traveled I think for over a decade every year as a senior photographer. 

Yeah, just like documenting the life at base there, but also, yeah, wildlife in Australia. So that's why we had all these beautiful black and white photographs of my aunt penguins and icebergs and, yeah, and the Arctic landscape, but also, yeah, just sort of, Some of the photos sort of more documentary style photography for life in an Antarctic station, so think that definitely so yeah, that was that was so it was really an adventure for me to be going down to New Zealand and eventually also to Australia to finally meet my Yeah, my photographer aunt and her husband. 

So, 

[00:14:14] Brett Stanley: And so you knew her? Like, had you met her at all? Or did you just sort of hear about her through the family? 

[00:14:21] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: well, so my aunt had been and my aunt and her partner, they had been, they had been traveling to Europe. Yeah, occasionally. So I had already met them in Europe before. But still, you know, it was. When I actually went to visit her, I went on this, yeah, just like a safari with her, I should 

say, uh, yeah, just sort of photographing plants and yeah, just going to rainforest and just going like alongside her. 

And yeah, she, she did teach me some, some of her photography skills. And that was, that was really fascinating. 

[00:15:02] Brett Stanley: And is that where you kind of got a taste for, for the photography and the cinematography side of 

[00:15:08] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: I think it started earlier in fact, but it started, it started, yeah, it started much earlier. But again I think when I lived in New Zealand, I spent a lot of my, yeah, the, the high school breaks in the dark room that the school, yeah, the high school had. So that was just yeah, magic place for me  

and  

[00:15:31] Brett Stanley: where in, uh, where in New Zealand were 

[00:15:33] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: I wasn't um, In a small town called Levin, that's north of Wellington on the North Island. And I think, and maybe some of the New Zealand audience will laugh a little bit now, but what they told me when I came there, they were like, okay, you live in Levin, you die in Levin. So, 

[00:15:55] Brett Stanley: Yeah, Levin, I know Levin quite well because it's I lived in Wellington for 10 

[00:15:59] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: oh, no way. 
 

[00:16:00] Brett Stanley: Yeah, yeah. So, Levin, it's a beautiful, beautiful little town. 

[00:16:05] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: yeah. But honestly, I mean, I, I had a fantastic time living there. I made wonderful friends. And I also, I learned a lot like coming from this sort of big crowded Europe with, you know, it's just, you know, it's just so much going on. Um, It was, it was really interesting for me to, to be in a much smaller community and even in a country that's, yeah, just that has a different context by being a bit more isolated. 

I mean, that's, I think it is fair to say. So I, I learned like, like much more sort of this Kiwi attitudes of, okay, yeah, you can do it, you know, go for it, mate, if you've got an idea. Yeah. Just do it and not like, Oh, how many other people have done this before me? And, you know, it's like sort of, I, I, I had learned much more to be, you know, doubting my own ideas and thoughts. 

Yeah, because probably already like a hundred thousand people who have done the same. And that was, that was something I, I. I appreciated a lot in that time and I learned to serve. So that was, that was awesome. I made a lot of really good friends. 

[00:17:24] Brett Stanley: Oh, that's great. Yeah. There is this kind of thing in New Zealand and Australia as well which is you know the you kind of do it by your you know by the skin of your teeth and there's a saying in New Zealand where it's like you do it with number eight wire. Which is, you know, the wire that you use to make fences and it's just like you can do anything with that. 

It's like gaff tape and it's yeah, it's really just this can do attitude of, you know, yeah, just try 

it, see if it works. 

[00:17:51] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: yeah. Replaced that later on with gaffer tape and cable ties. 

[00:17:56] Brett Stanley: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So that's great. So, so then, so how long were you in New Zealand for? 

[00:18:01] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Well, that was just about a year. And then I had to go back to Europe. And yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm, so then I I actually moved to Berlin and Germany. And I had, I was really lucky to get into this training program at at the German foreign service broadcaster based in Berlin. So that was, yeah, television. 

And I basically got to learn, yeah, for three years, pretty much everything you need to know for, yeah. Broadcast production, so, sound technician, camera assisting, camera technician. Working in studios, uh, editing. Editing with very, very important components with as well. And yeah, some of our graphics and some of about, yeah, just especially a storytelling component. 

So, um, and yeah, it was, in cooperation with, with theory courses and yeah. And training at the German broadcast school. So it was, yeah, was a really hands on, hands on training and education, but with, yeah, yeah. And that was, that was very important, I think, for me at that time, because, yeah, I went up to my dad, uh, when it was like a month into the training. 

And I went like, Hey, why didn't you teach me soldering? 

[00:19:28] Brett Stanley: Oh. 
 

[00:19:29] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Why didn't you, you know, like, so, yeah, you know, Obviously learn to solder cables and fix stuff and yeah, just take cameras apart and build them together again. And yeah. So that was extremely, yeah, extremely useful basically. 

[00:19:50] Brett Stanley: Oh, yeah, do you did that harken back to the days when you were sitting next to him on the boat while he's working on the engine and stuff? 

[00:19:57] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Well, I mean, a bit, yeah. 

[00:20:03] Brett Stanley: Do you wish he'd paid a little more attention then? 

[00:20:05] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Yeah, I think so. You know, I, I def, yeah. 

[00:20:11] Brett Stanley: It is, uh, it is amazing though. So my, my dad's a builder and so when we grew up, you know, he was always building houses or all these projects and stuff, and I don't remember really paying attention, but now in later life, I kind of remember all the things that he did and I feel like, you know, I kind of did pay attention. 

You know, in the peripheral. So I kind of go, Oh yeah, that's how dad used to do it. Or that's why this works that way. So I feel like these kinds of skills that, you know, we kind of think that we didn't really pay attention to, but you know, they're in there somewhere. I think they're, they're kind of built into us. 

[00:20:42] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Oh, totally. I, I think they are. And I mean, you know, just sort of seeing people fix stuff and I mean, I did help, I did help and do things as well, but again, I, I think some, some parts were overlooked that that would be, you know, uh, an always ever useful life, uh, tool to learn. 

[00:21:04] Brett Stanley: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. at what point did you then start to go underwater with cameras? 

[00:21:11] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: That, that happened. Yeah. Not too long after actually, because I, I wasn't a diver at that time, but I really desperately wanted to, but then I, I think I had this job in New Zealand as a, as an AC, uh, and I I, I just stayed on and I just stayed with some friends and I decided, okay, this is the time when I'm learning to scuba dive. 

So I actually learned to scuba dive in Wellington, back in New Zealand, learned to scuba 

dive. And I pretty much knew that I was wanting to go and, you know, implement that into my, into my work. I wanted to factor that in and I, Yeah, and even if it was just working as an underwater lighting assistant or something, but I, and then as soon as I started doing my scuba course yeah, just, and it wasn't, you know, it wasn't the paddy course, but it was actually like, you know, coming every week. 

You know, sort of taking a longer time to learn it. And I think no one showed up on the day of my, of the test because it was rainy and stormy, but I was the only one like, I want to do this. I want to, I want to keep going. 

[00:22:26] Brett Stanley: Right. Yeah. But you also probably grew up in, in pretty similar weather, like, you know, like cold water and terror, terrible visibility. Yeah. 

[00:22:35] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: like a harbor dive and, you know, just saying hi to two crabs or something. 

[00:22:41] Brett Stanley: Yeah. 
 

[00:22:42] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: But again, not much distraction and do all the drills and stuff. So, but yeah, 

[00:22:49] Brett Stanley: awesome. 
 

[00:22:50] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: and then after that, I went, I think I went up to this amazing place in New Zealand, the Four Knights Islands, which are these, yeah, it's just. 

Like islands, a bit offshore, a little bit offshore, not too far, I think an hour drive. And they are like, they're this sort of karst, uh, type rock islands. And what's, I think what's so special for me at that time was that I, I got to dive into sea caves and as this is karst stone the islands are literally having all these. 

holes in it and light shines in like a, like, yeah, like sort of this perfect cathedral light and at the same time the sea floor is was, was sandy and it was this very coarse white sand. But with gigantic ripples on it, I think from obviously stronger currents. And it was just such a perfect setting for me to be completely blown away. 

That I was like, okay, you know, this is, this is a hundred percent the underwater world that I want to keep exploring and this is a hundred percent what, what, yeah, fascinating and captivating me as a photographer. Sorry. So, yeah,  

[00:24:17] Brett Stanley: it's. 
 

so interesting that that's where you kind of had that sort of epiphany because it's, you know, the, I, I've dove the Poor, Poor Knights and it's such a beautiful space and it is so like the opposite end of the world visually from Wellington, you know, it is, it is like the, it's night and day. 

So that's, it's interesting. Yeah. 

[00:24:37] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Yeah. And then it's like, you're swimming out of that cave and then there's rays and yeah, it's beautiful, slowly swinging kelp and still very clear visibility. And then you're just swimming out to the outer, to the outer side of the islands and boom, it's completely blue. And you're just. 

on the lookout for, yeah, megafauna possibly just suddenly pop up and it's, 

[00:25:06] Brett Stanley: Oh yeah. Like, cause I think orcas, orcas swim around 

[00:25:09] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: yeah, yeah, they definitely orcas and whales and I mean, yeah, rays. So it's just, it can happen totally. Yeah. 

[00:25:21] Brett Stanley: So that's where you, that's where you learn to dive. And then we, so did you actually do any any underwater filming or anything in New Zealand? 

[00:25:28] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: I don't think I did any filming. I did have like a, I think I had, I did have a small underwater photo camera, but I didn't, I didn't do any filming yet. So I think, uh, I had to go back for that to back to Europe. And I think I just started bugging everyone I knew. If there was any opportunity to be underwater filming, or if they needed some kind of underwater shots, I was just, you know, just telling everyone I was there to do, be doing it. 

And then I was very, I think I was I was lucky that one of the camera people I had been working with in a team with for, for quite some years as a, as a camera assistant. He tipped me off a company in Germany that was. focusing on underwater work, and I just, and they had heard that they were looking for an intern. 

So I, I was, yeah, I went to talk to them and I, that's where I started.  

[00:26:28] Brett Stanley: Oh, 
 

[00:26:28] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: yeah. And, Yeah, when I went I went with them so that was with, with yeah, underwater cameraman Thomas Behrends, I went with him to Mozambique, worked on, uh, yeah, on the story or natural history program on manta rays. Yeah, and that was like, okay, that was, I learned a lot. 

Yeah, it just sort of, yeah, it just was a lot learning by doing, and at the same time I was quite, uh, I found it quite challenging dives as well. So, And I think I had to, sometimes I was a bit like, okay, you know, people were giving me these looks when they were seeing my log book, cause I didn't have that many log dives actually. 

And, you know, people were going like, yeah, you need to be a really good diver before you can even have a camera in your hands. And I think, you know, I, as I had come from the, from the camera side, I That was, I was basically the opposite. So, but on the other hand, I knew of course about film productions. 

Cause that's where I had worked in and even in different areas, not just with television, but also with feature films and work for commercials with car commercials at that time. And yeah, a whole range of. of, of production styles. And also I had, yeah, I started, I, I was shooting topside on land. So I think that gave me, of course, a lot of, a lot of confidence because I knew what I, what we were after, what we were trying to do. 

And I mean, yeah, mostly. So yeah, that, that, so that, that's how I basically got to experience and, uh, work with, with manta rays on my, on my first underwater shoot  

[00:28:27] Brett Stanley: wow, which is  

[00:28:28] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: yeah, and also learned immediately like the, the heart. Brutal sites of, of, uh, natural history wildlife filmmaking, because on that, on that trip, I think we had really terrible conditions for two weeks, like almost no mantas, which come this was in, uh, Tofu in Mozambique, which is quite the known site for, yeah, for manta rays. 

And yeah, we got we, we, It was, it was bad visibility, green water and no mantas that were coming to these cleaning stations. So these places where the mantas make use of like the reef fish that will come and pick off parasites and we'll clean them, so. Yeah, no mantas, and we were fighting very hard, getting up really early, long days, out at sea, out at sea, trying, trying, trying, and not getting anything for two weeks, and then I think like on, on day 15, or maybe it was also day 20, I don't know, but then finally, boom, watercolour changed, everything changed, mantas were 

back,  

[00:29:41] Brett Stanley: yeah 
 

[00:29:44] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: it was amazing, Samantha circling around. And yeah, just total carnival basically. And we go back on land, check footage and there was an error. So a lot of like the camera created some, some error and basically the most important shots were destroyed. I was like, Oh my God, I can't believe this is true. 

[00:30:14] Brett Stanley: was this digital 

[00:30:16] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: And it was, it was, it was, it was still, it was like corrupted or it was, I think, yeah, it was corrupted. 

I think it was corrupted files. And mean, it was just, and we were continuing again to be filming, to continuing to shoot a dolphin story. It was just, we were so devastated and it meant a lot of hassle at that time because we had to, we, even though we had, you know, two underwater units, we had still could only work with one and just, yeah, it's just, everyone was so down after this. 

[00:30:54] Brett Stanley: Yeah, and I guess cuz cuz you're out there and you so you can't take the camera back and and get something fixed cuz you're Out in the 

[00:31:01] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Yeah, we were already out in the field and you know, just even exchanging and getting things fixed takes, you know, it takes a while. It takes like, yeah, so it was it was, it was a hard experience, but on the other hand, I totally kept going and I got to continue to work with, with this company. which is called Blue Planet Film based in Hamburg. And yeah, like, and not only underwater, but also topside. And because, yeah, I think, uh, it, it, you know, just became both useful to be, for some of the shoots to be filming, on the water and for some of them to combine it with, with filming on land. 

And I think I got to go back again to New Zealand as well to do an aerial shoot because someone else had dropped out. So, you know, it was like, okay, wow. 

[00:31:59] Brett Stanley: Yeah. 
 

[00:32:02] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: a, it's been quite yeah, Busy and exciting, exciting time. But I would say like what I did when I got back from, from shoots was that I went, I went off and I went, because I was living in Berlin my closest Yeah, oceanic water or somewhat oceanic water was the Baltic Sea, which is, I mean, yeah, like, yeah, about two hours drive north of Berlin. 

So that's where I went. And as, yeah, as much as I could to just, you know, Train underwater filming myself.  

[00:32:37] Brett Stanley: Right. So like personal projects. 

[00:32:39] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: yeah, I just started doing personal projects, but to be honest, I just went, I just, I just, I bought a small camera and underwater camera. And I just started just practicing with it because I still, I, you know, I didn't know where else to go. 

I didn't know, except for my mentor at the company where I was, where I was Working as an, as an intern, I didn't really know where else I could learn more. And I really desperately wanted to learn more. And I figured, okay, I've got it. You know, train my swimming style. I've got to change how I move. I, I got to change how I'm thinking underwater. 

How, how am I communicating? Well, okay. Obviously that's. That's not when you're going on your own, but 

but  

[00:33:31] Brett Stanley: So, you're actually diving by yourself when you're doing 

[00:33:33] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: yeah, when I was doing that, I was most of the time diving by myself. I did go also I mean, I did go just do shadow. I did. I thought that was okay to be doing shadow stuff, but just by myself. And you know, because it also just gave me the time to just try everything and to, you know, just. 

Yeah, it's just really try on perfectioning my shots. And at the same time I also, yeah, of course I'd start, I did a lot of like dive training to get better at diving. And I did a lot of like wreck diving in the Baltic Sea, which again, that I didn't do by myself. 

[00:34:13] Brett Stanley: Yeah.  
 

[00:34:13] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Yeah. I started diving on some shipwrecks because of course I was, yeah, trying to learn more, trying to experience more, trying to explore more, but also training. And then I realized, because at that time, as I was working out of Germany, I realized, okay, there, there isn't like there isn't really a formal yeah, sort of certificate I could do as a commercial diver because I looked into commercial diving licenses, but that required that I was a welder or some kind of yeah, craft person in, as in, yeah, welder, 

[00:34:51] Brett Stanley: a tradesman. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:34:54] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Which I wasn't, and neither was I associated to a university, like, to do the sort of European scientific diver education, which wasn't possible at that time, for real, for me either, so I was in this space in between, and I just thought, well, okay. Apparently also like the type of work I was starting to do with filming underwater is, you know, it's, it's, it's, you know, doesn't help. 

If I, if I learn about commercial type diving as a welder, it won't help me at all. So, and that was basically what I understood that all sort of senior people around me were doing as well. So I thought, okay. What's, what can I do to be a better diver still, because I, 

[00:35:41] Brett Stanley: Yeah. 
 

[00:35:42] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: and that's, that's how I got into cave diving. 

[00:35:46] Brett Stanley: Oh. 
 

[00:35:46] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Yeah. I was looking both sort of to be, Like reconnecting as well with this experience that I had in New Zealand, diving into the sea caves. And yeah, so both being like visually really interested in that environment and in that sort of hidden world, and at the same time, really wanting to learn, yeah, like perfect buoyancy skills, also just basically basic survival skills as a diver. 

So when I was talking to people and they were like, yeah, you know, I know these people in Mexico and you could go there and I've been there. And I was like, but that's in a wetsuit. I don't want to do that in a wetsuit. I want to dive in a dry suit. So 

[00:36:38] Brett Stanley: Oh, 
 

[00:36:39] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: that's, that's, and you know, I want to do it in the cold water. 

So, so that's when I started going to Sardinia, which is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. And they are also again yeah, inland, inland caves, but, uh, cave systems actually, it's a bit like a Swiss cheese, the whole island, really. But again, uh, the, most of the entrances, are from the sea. So you have the, yeah, quite a rough entrance swimming against the flow and the sea and the surge pushing in. 

So that was, that was, that was definitely a tough training that I got. 

[00:37:23] Brett Stanley: Yeah. But do you kind of thrive in that sort of situation? Do you, do you like the, the toughness and the, you know, the, the challenge of those sorts of things? 

[00:37:31] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: I think I do. I, it took me a while to understand that, but I definitely do. I, I, I think, and it's something I'm, you know, I've, I've reflected a lot on. I, I feel that almost. Every shoot I do, I do something that's completely new and it's, I think I just love it as well because I love getting into finding out, figuring out how I can do that or, you know, just coming up with ideas. 

how, how I can do it better and it's, yeah, I think, you know, sometimes looking back at, at some parts where I've been working in previously in other camera genera or other sectors. It feels more like, you know, you, you know, sort of your, the camera you're working with, there are challenges, but some of the parameters are the same. 

And I feel with, with what I do nowadays, it's there, there's always something that's, that's very new to it. Either a new piece of kit that we've custom built or it's Yeah, it's a completely, it is still a new diving situation. And even, even now, like having dived under their eyes so much, it's still, it's still every die site is almost a new place, is a new situation. 

And I, yeah, it's I I love also that yeah, that adrenaline bit as well, 

[00:39:05] Brett Stanley: Yeah. Yeah, totally. Do you, do you find like equipment wise, do you find that you're basically trying to repurpose things that are made for other industries to be able to do the thing you need to do for the, for the film side of things? 

[00:39:19] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Yes and no. I mean, totally as, so it's, I mean, this is. It depends also what I work with, of course, because I've, I've also, so my main work is within the wildlife filming sector, really underwater. But I do shoot for yeah, for feature films underwater or short films or dance films underwater too. 

So that is, again, a different, very different environment and a very different setup. So. And I work, I've come from basically areas. Which had like, yeah, maybe some more less, less regulated diving styles. Uh, and now I work, of course, also a lot in, yeah, extremely professional teams. Where we work, of course, under certain parameters, uh, of, you know, in, in, in the way we, we operate and we, how we handle safety and all that. 

So it is, you know, it's the commercial diving world that comes together with the recreational diving styles because, yeah, obviously we can't. Do surface supplied helmets you know, big boat operations with, with a team of five people, because that's both like logistically not possible budget wise, it's not possible. 

And also for getting, getting done what we want to do. But again, you know, I mean, I know we're, we're on the photography underwater photography podcast, so I don't think it's as new to me. It's news to a lot of the people that are listening, but again, I think it is, you know, it's, it's, it's sometimes definitely, uh, a challenge, but I think one of the pieces of equipment that's both coming in from military and from, from recreational diving side of things are rebreathers. 

That has really changed my life a lot and yeah in so many ways and I'm, I'm, I'm very grateful about that. 

[00:41:28] Brett Stanley: Yeah. So, so in terms of the rebreathers, what, what would you say are the main benefits of that in terms of you being able to get the shots and everything you need? What are the, what are the main features that it has that, uh, that, that, that make things easier for you? 

[00:41:42] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Yeah, I mean, it just enables me to do completely different shots underwater, which would otherwise require that you know, changing cylinders in between. I mean, of course, when I'm working at the depth of like, say, five or 10 meters, yes, that can be done on open circuit scuba, but still you have to go up after an hour to change your tanks. 

And yeah. I can just, with our team, we can just stay down and keep working. So basically, if I'm starting to set up like underwater sliders and underwater grip that's basically after an hour, I've got everything set up after an hour, and then I start working. So I don't have to think about coming back to the surface, but I, I, I can keep going. 

And I mean, 

[00:42:33] Brett Stanley: it gives you a lot longer bottom times. 

[00:42:35] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Yeah, definitely, and also it gives me quietness, which is, I think, both really important for wildlife and also for, uh, for myself, for my own peace of mind and for my own working environment. And it's warm air, which is beneficial in, in, in cold water. 

[00:42:56] Brett Stanley: Yeah. 
 

[00:42:56] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Yeah. So, and also, yeah, more sort of moist air as well. 

[00:43:02] Brett Stanley: So you're not drawing out the whole time. 

[00:43:04] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: yeah. So I think that's, yeah, that, that's really that's such a benefit. Obviously it doesn't work in every environment and not every job is a, is a perfect rebreather job for some of them. It's not the right tool, but again, for a lot of them, it's a fantastic tool. And also even, I use it even in pool work when shooting, you know, towards surface, I don't have to hold my breath or anything. 

[00:43:32] Brett Stanley: Oh, that's true. Yeah. Cause then you won't see your own bubbles in, in the footage or 

[00:43:36] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: yeah, yeah. 
 

[00:43:37] Brett Stanley: aNd so, so when you're doing something where you're, you know, like you say, you're setting up sliders and, and putting grip and stuff down there. So you've obviously, you know, on a wildlife sort of production, you've worked out that there is a, an animal in this area that you want to kind of work with. 

How do you. How do you make that decision? How do you know that it's going to stay there and that you can set up a slider or, or some sort of you know, grip situation? How do you know that by the time you've finished that it hasn't wandered off somewhere else? 

[00:44:07] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Well, it's too, it's, it's either because I've worked with that animal before or because I've. been, you know, explored that or it is the other way that I'm, I'm working in a team and you know, like team, I'm being approached like, okay, we really want to work with this animal and there's a research team behind it that has, has, has scouted. 

About, about that behavior, but I do say, I think I'm, I'm, you know, quite often I'm involved very early on in that process. So, because I, I look at, I, I, we work together a lot and trying to look at, okay, you know, is this, is this actually from my, you know, my, my photography point of view, is that, is that working out? 

Also, because I've worked with a lot of sort of, you know, benthic animals, animals that live in, in one area that are sessile or, or they are fish that swim around. It's you know, you bring in a lot of experience as well from, from other chutes and other animals you've worked with. So, 

[00:45:17] Brett Stanley: So you can kind of predict what they're going to do or at least kind of know what their their parameters are. 

[00:45:23] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: yeah. And I also know what questions. to ask really with, you know, and to what, to explore more with, with the team I work with. But again, I mean, I work, I work in different setups, so I'm both working and like also like creating and producing my, my own stories that I shoot, but I do work a lot in teams and in, yeah, in bigger production teams on, on these, on, on natural history shows. 

Yeah, with, yeah, when there is a research, uh, a research team that, that, you know, really scouts for best possible, the story they really want to tell and yeah, and the director of, of that program or of that sequence, because yeah, within sort of a lot of the natural history shows, it's sort of more, the, the photography work is a bit more cut up into bits, uh, into sort of. 

stories within the, within the show, yeah, 

[00:46:26] Brett Stanley: So, how how do those, how do those stories kinda work in terms of, you know, if you're on a production like, cuz you've worked with like the BBC and National Geographic and stuff. If they bring you in on a project and say it's I don't know. It's it's about narwhals or something. Have they kind of already sketched out a kind of a story and they're trying to fit the footage to that or is it really a is it more organic in terms of. 

Take, get in the footage and then they kind of build a story. How does it kind of work? 

[00:46:55] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: it's, I think it works sometimes, it works in both ways but I think there is usually, I think there is always a strong focus on what kind of story can we tell underwater. That's, that's always paramount. And what kind of behavior can we see? So, and it's, it's both because, you know, underwater camera people have, you know, have this idea on, you know, this This is a story we really should, you know, really should film and we should really try because I've, you know, I've seen that happen and it's, it's definitely worth like, yeah, looking further into and what we can actually do and how we can, you know, visually tell that story. 

But it is also at the same time that, you know, research team and the, and or the director has already heard about something and you know just exploring that more and really on. Yeah, discussing how we can, how we can tell that story the best possible way. 

[00:47:59] Brett Stanley: And so with those, with those bigger productions, like with the BBC and Disney plus and stuff, is it always a full production or are they sometimes just sending you out basically on your own to go and to go and get something? 

[00:48:13] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: wEll, you know, it's just, it's, it's, it's mostly not going out on my own, but it has happened as well, going out on my own or going out in a very small team. So, uh, yeah, like, yeah, it's just I think we, it's slowly changing a bit to more remote shoots and. Obviously in the whole pandemic time that's what happened so I actually went on on remote shoots because our like director could come just couldn't simply travel to Sweden from the UK and it's one of the few shoots I've done for, yeah in Sweden. 

So, yeah, 

[00:48:54] Brett Stanley: Cause you were stuck at home. 

[00:48:56] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Yeah, I was stuck at home. And yeah, so that was like for the for the BBC Wild Scandinavia series. And yeah, that that's where we ended up going. Yeah, just me. Just me. And yeah, and second camera AC colleague just been going out camping on this very tiny remote island, full of in the middle of the winter time. 

[00:49:23] Brett Stanley: Oh. Do you like that sort of thing? Do you like sort of living amongst the animals as well? 

[00:49:31] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Oh, totally. I think it's, it's, it's so much why I really adore and love and thrive in this job because I mean, just, just the opportunity to be, to be outdoors, to be in water, to spend a lot of time just also observing animals. I mean, and even if I'm not on the job as what I still, I mean, what's, what I still try to do as much as possible because it does even, you know, even just being outdoors and diving and just observing things. 

I think it's a, I think I started very early on in my diving career as well to be just, you know, instead of just swimming and following like a guided group, I actually sort of just arranged that I could just stay behind in one spot, even if I didn't have a camera with me, just to be, just to be observing in one spot. 

I mean, that's sort of, and it's me a bit like If you're, I mean, hiking is great and I love it, but if you're just staying, being staying put in one spot, actually to see marine life. Doing things that you wouldn't observe, and I think it's still something I, I love also working like, say, on one exact spot on a coral reef for four weeks with, you know, with this particular animal because you get to know everyone who's living in those few square meters around you. 

And you do see their, their patterns and you do start to observe also how they, how they behave when, you know, things start going back to normal, because they, they start, you know, accepting you being there. And that's, and that's just, that's, and just, Seeing also like light changes and current changes and it's, it's, it's completely different from, yeah, sort of the diving style that you, you know, have most of the times. 

[00:51:34] Brett Stanley: Yeah. It's, it's kind of like, it's the difference between going on a tour of like a bus tour of, of a city or actually living in that city for a little while. Like you get to see so different things. 

[00:51:46] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: absolutely. 
 

[00:51:47] Brett Stanley: So what do you, what do you kind of do in terms of, uh, recreational diving? Like, do you go out and actually dive without a camera these days? Or is it, is it, is it all work for you? 

[00:52:00] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Well, so I, I, yeah, I go and I do some sort of free dive snorkeling in my free time, but I'm also I've actually gotten slowly a bit more active with yeah, just sort of pushing my technical diving 

[00:52:15] Brett Stanley: Yeah. 
 

[00:52:16] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: it might, yeah, when I have some kind of time, but that's also something why I couldn't continue properly with cave diving, because I felt that is so, it needs a lot of dedication. 

And at, when I started doing cave diving, I, I realized after a while, well, I just won't be able to, you know, I won't be able to make it because I was traveling so much with shoots and with work and with projects and both sort of pushing my career as a cinematographer, uh, didn't go together with having an extremely intensive Yeah, let's say more recreational approach to cave diving. 

And it's, it's, it does, I think, in my opinion, it really, Does require like continuous training to be to be safe for yourself and to be safe for others and To really totally maintain those skills and yeah Build up your skills and that's and that's so so I had to go a little bit more into lower key diving in my spare time 

[00:53:25] Brett Stanley: Right. 
 

[00:53:26] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: I also have a I have a family as well. 

So I've got two two children and And Yeah, it's, it's, it got a bit much with like both, you know, being full on with my work and traveling with my work, being away from home, being away from the family. And then it's, you know, it doesn't really work out to say, okay, guys, See you, see you tomorrow evening again on a Saturday morning. 

I'm going diving now. 

[00:53:53] Brett Stanley: Right. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. You kind of have to spend some time at home. 

[00:53:58] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Absolutely. And yeah, so, I'm, I'm, I'm doing some activity, however, still, and it's, it's, That's something I actually love a lot is with my ghost net diving group. So we I got part of an engaged in this group, local group of organization as a yeah, by, by just volunteered. People at the Swedish West Coast and yeah, we've been really active and trying to find lost, uh, fishing gear and that's mostly like lobster pods and lobster traps and some nets and also just, you know, finding. 

Finding rubbish and things that, yeah, it's a, it's a fishing area here as well. And yeah, lobster fishing is, is popular both sort of recreationally and, and commercially. So, yeah, it's, uh, it's a lot of work to do and I think, It feels a bit crazy to picking up, to be picking up someone else's rubbish in your spare time. 

But on the other hand, I feel it's extremely rewarding for me because it's, it feels a little bit, it's a way to be giving something back to the, to the sea. Because yeah, I mean, I live off the sea with the type of work I do. And at the same time, it's It's a way to create some more attention to it. 

And that's, that's another big part of, you know, the, the communication about the whole project and the communication about things that are below the surface. And it just gives another, it gives my work another, And my skills another purpose to be, you know, helping to create and to communicate what's, what's down there. 

So, yeah, and I think even though things are, you know, changing slowly, it does help to get media coverage. It does help to have that continuously. And I think we've also, yeah, at least helped that there was a small change in legislation. Which has a big impact on on, on these notorious underwater traps, which these yeah, crayfish pots can form because like what happens is that they trap the animals. 

And because people use cable ties, plastic cable ties to lock off the, the exits. Um, if, if a trap gets lost, they will eternally keep catching fish or um, yeah, marine animals in them and they can't escape. So 

[00:56:37] Brett Stanley: Yeah. And then they're the bait for the next person who, the next animal that's going to come in. And it's just, yeah, I hadn't thought of it that way. 

[00:56:44] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: yeah, and so now what has happened is that at least legislation in Sweden changed that. That is not, it's forbidden now to use cable plastic ties. And 

[00:56:55] Brett Stanley: it doesn't rot, like, so they 

[00:56:57] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: it doesn't rot. So that's the thing, it doesn't rot. So now, so now, you know, everyone is advised to exchange it for just cotton thread, which is cheap and easily available. 

And, you know. Not a, not a big deal. And it's, it's something tiny, but it's, you know, it does make a big difference and also just raising awareness. So now there's also an app that was created by the local like, authorities. So to be reporting lost fishing gear, and that's something we both use and also where we also report to. 

So, and Yeah, our organization works together now with, yeah, with local authorities in terms of, yeah, reporting and helps monitor. And if we can't lift it, because we also train a lot in our, you know, in the organization to be handling lift bags and lifting heavy gear. And we get, we get also training by the Swedish Sea Rescue. 

And, you know, it's, it's, we've built like a lot of sort of partnerships to be better doing that kind of training. job underwater. But again it just helps in, in communicating to the outside, to, to everyone, both locally and also like on the wider yeah, on a wider level. 

[00:58:15] Brett Stanley: Yeah. I mean this, this sort of thing, it really does. It just, I mean, it seems like it's small pieces, but it's really just normalizing the idea that you need to care about this sort of thing. You know, 

[00:58:25] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Yeah, absolutely. 
 

[00:58:27] Brett Stanley: every time I go free diving, my wetsuit ends up full of bits of plastic and bottle top tops and all that sort of stuff. 

Because I, I don't want to see that stuff down there. And then maybe someone will see me. Putting that in the trash afterwards and going, Oh, okay. That is a problem. You know, we need to do something about this. So it's really just ground, like grassroots level sort of, you know, activism. It's, it's 

[00:58:51] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Yeah. And again, also, I think there's even an additional benefit of it is that, you know, even we're still out there, we still go dive. And sometimes we just go and, you know, basically monitor also like the local seal population while we're out there. And you know, we keep a bit of an eye on things and that's. 

That is a very important, important role too and 

[00:59:20] Brett Stanley: Oh, you're like a unofficial caretakers, you know, it's, 

[00:59:23] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: are a bit and you know, we got, we got also like a mini ROV now so we can also, you know, even, 

[00:59:30] Brett Stanley: that's awesome. Yeah. 

[00:59:31] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: yeah, it's, and it's, it's really helpful. So. Yeah but again so yeah, it's, it's easy to keep, it's easy to keep, uh, busy as well. 

[00:59:44] Brett Stanley: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. But in amongst all of this, you've had time to, to actually direct your own production as well with the, the Sharks of the Icy North. 

[00:59:54] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Yeah, exactly. So that was quite unique. It was a very unique project. I had been co directing on, on, uh, Uh, I think like, uh, for, for natural history productions before, and also like, you know, officially been field, field producing on, on some projects. So, I did have a bit of a background in that, and, you know, it's always like, I, I do like, as much as I do like sort of having my focus, I'm also quite interested, a bit more interdisciplinary and I, I think so I had I got a, I had contact with, with a commissioner in, in Germany with yeah, with Doc Lights in Germany. 

And we were discussing on, on creating a story about sharks and I mean, sharks, that's 500, 400 species. And that was very much for me an opportunity to, yeah, just go full on for, for sharks that I've always been interested in. And that's like the more colder water sharks, which are, yeah, it's just much more off the beaten track. 

Both because it's it's harder to Yeah, it's harder to study them because logistics are more complicated or more expensive, more weather dependent. So yeah, there's, there's in a lot of cases, even less information available. And at the same time It's very exciting because they have, sharks have so diverse behaviors and they also live in, in very diverse and very contrasting environments. 

So, that's really what I wanted to focus in that, in, and tell those stories. And, I, I, yeah, there, there are many films about sharks. sharks of those areas and and then the colder water. So, yeah, it's it was a, it was a great opportunity and also being able to work on it as a director helped me more in terms of the vision I had for telling a story about animals that are difficult in how they compete with, you know, like furry, fluffy, cute. 

Cute animals. 

[01:02:09] Brett Stanley: Right. Yeah. 

[01:02:11] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: And people are a bit like, oh, you know, sharks, I mean, sharks are visually still a lot of times being portrayed as the, you know, fierce hunters, predators. It's kind of a, a big adrenaline rush type thing and which, you know, of course is very cool. Uh, that's, that's a hundred percent. And I mean, that's also why I'm, I'm definitely fascinated by sharks. 

So, you know, big, fast swimming sharks, yeah, sure. But 

[01:02:46] Brett Stanley: so what did you find when you went out there? Did you, did you, was it hard to find the sharks in, in those areas? 

[01:02:52] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Oh yeah, it was very hard to find. And also I had I, I had set out, I had set out for some of the stories where I actually just wanted to find different angles in both like, yeah, the, the visual style, but also in the storytelling, I did want to tell more the story about a baby shark and about sort of the, that process process of birth and, you know, bringing out cuteness as well and bring, and still. 

Yeah, and that was, that was some, so I actually tried to film the birth of a baby shark for almost a year. It took me like, I think like five or six attempts. But I had, I was really fortunate to work with a with a scientific project. Because it is, it is a really hard to find Shark eggs nowadays, so of of, because some sharks, yeah, they do lay eggs. 

So you can find these, people used to find these egg cases of um, of cat shark species, small spotted cat sharks. But now these days in Sweden, hardly anyone finds these egg cases. And also there are no divers that ever report these. seeing live egg cases anymore, which they used to, like, I don't know, 30 years back. 

[01:04:12] Brett Stanley: Right. 
 

[01:04:12] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: And we don't actually know where these sharks are giving birth now, if they just move deeper to the deeper water areas, uh, like, uh, that are beyond sort of, you know, that, that would require, heavy weather dependent, uh, tri mix tech diving dives, or what happened, or if they've moved somewhere else. So I, I did, I did find out, okay, if I ever want to do that, I have to work with a captive set. 

And that's how I found out, okay there was an opportunity to work together with this scientific project, which releases the baby, the sharks when they are a bit older back to sea. 

And that's, It was still, even though it was captive and it, you know, it's controllable, it was still incredibly difficult. 

[01:05:04] Brett Stanley: Oh right. What was the difficulty? What, what made it so hard? 

[01:05:07] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Oh, it's, it's just, it's just been both sort of like the technology side of things where camera failed on me. Because I, you know, they, these sharks, it's, it's difficult to predict when they hatch. So it's like. Between seven to 11 months or so, the period they would be hatching. And then you get, of course, like algae growth On, you know, the egg cases like lighting. 

Yeah, it's just to, to develop a system that was continuously recording. And yeah, 

[01:05:45] Brett Stanley: Oh, okay. So you didn't even, you couldn't even sort of be there. You just had to set something up in case it happened. 

[01:05:51] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: well, with the, you know, like if. If you don't know when they're going to hatch, and it could be between seven and nine and 11 months. No, I couldn't be there. And even though we did sort of observe the development very well, there was like, you know, sort of a month. you could kind of, yeah, maybe it was a month to be, to be, uh, to be extra alert. 

So yeah, it was, it was, uh, that was, that was definitely a big challenge, but it was even more beautiful when it actually, yeah, when it actually worked out. And 

[01:06:27] Brett Stanley: Yeah. 
 

[01:06:28] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: yeah. And at the same time, it's been, it's been, we've been working of course, in yeah, in different parts of the North Atlantic for this, for this film. 

And yeah. It's, I think it's both, it's both, even though we had quite a good idea where we would be finding the sharks and some of the species, for example, like basking sharks, which are the sort of the second largest sharks. But they are, they are They, they are overall quite well to, to predict, but even then, you know, you just, you know, I just need a week of rough weather and that strikes out a lot of your plans for that week of course. 

And yeah, we had to come back several years for, for some of the, some of the shark species. And Yeah. And at the same time, as you, I mean, as you asked me, like, how did I get into directing? There was also a bit of a practical background behind it, I should say, because at that time, it was also a really good, you know, it was an opportunity for me to To work on other parts of film production than the, than the actual cinematography side. 

Because I was I was, when this whole project started and I was in the sort of research and preparation phase, I was actually pregnant with my second child and Yeah, and producing my own film just enabled that I was in control, you know, to, to a large extent on when I was gonna go out to shoot and what I was doing. 

And, you know, I had, I had, I also had work to do that I could do from home. So that was, that was something that was, yeah, really helpful for me to just keep going and what I, I love doing. And even though of course, you know, working with wildlife, working with nature, working at sea with weather changes is always, you know, is always a challenge and working with a topic that, you know, no one really had done before like that. 

But at the same time, you know, it sort of both, it was very satisfying because yeah, again, I, I do, I did really love the pioneering thought of it and I did like the process of it. So, yeah. Yeah. 

[01:08:57] Brett Stanley: So, uh, so what's next? What's, is there, is there another, another project like this on the horizon? 

[01:09:03] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: yEah, so I'm both like, I'm working both on, on natural history shows at the moment. It's a little bit more open now, so I'm open actually for new projects right now, both in yeah, both in the natural history world, but I'm also preparing A project of my own for yeah, so that's, that's, that's very exciting to be working on. 

And yeah, really going through that process. But again, you know, I work, I work at really in different areas of the underwater world. So I'm also, you know, continuing to develop on the work I do in underwater, yeah, camera operating for feature films. And that's, that's again, exciting as well, because it, it does allow me a different, think in a different way and to work in a different way in a team, which I, which I do completely enjoy as well, working in very controlled environments and Yeah, and you know, having much more control on what we do with the underwater cinematography and. 

Yeah, what we build in water. 

[01:10:15] Brett Stanley: I mean, they are very different, you know, beasts, aren't they? Just you know, from, from out in the wild, you know, sort of being at the, at the mercy of the weather and then whatever's happening in the water to then, you know, being on a feature, which usually they, they want to shoot it in a tank and they want to have control over it cause it's, you know, they have a, a timeline and a budget to, to meet, 

[01:10:35] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Yeah, absolutely. And that's that, that is a very, again, uh, I think like in terms of sort of the, the feeling of pressure that I experienced, it's, it's similar because even if we are even if we're out on a wildlife shoot that we do have to factor in, in, in, in, you know, the natural world very much. It's still, it's still, you know, it's still. 

It's still expensive what we do. And uh, but again, it is different when you're at a set and everyone is looking at you, what you're doing. And and we know we've got to get it done in just, you know, two hours. And, you know, there's no, everything has to be perfect and to be working, you know, the way we planned it, the way we laid it out and that's, you know, that's it. 

So, yeah. 

[01:11:24] Brett Stanley: Yeah. Yeah. No, exactly. So that's actually, that's one question that I did kind of think of before is when you are like, you know, see, you said, you know, your first manta ray trip when you're out there for two weeks basically, and not sure you're ever going to get the shot that you want at, at, at what point do you kind of pull the pin and what, at what point do you kind of say, well, we, we have to leave. 

[01:11:45] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Yeah, that's, that's a good question. And I think it's something I really decide on a, you know, on a shoot by shoot basis, because yes, it is, I think it is just something that comes by, by experience really to be assessing, okay, well, you know, this is just not gonna work. We're just fighting upstream and you know, this is just. 

Burning our money here . We should rather focus on something else. Um, I mean, sometimes that's, that's very much a team decision, but again, I, yeah, I think it's I can't, you know, I can't really, I'm just trying to think of an example where that has happened. But we do obviously, like, adjust a lot 

[01:12:32] Brett Stanley: Yeah. 
 

[01:12:33] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: yeah, I mean, you just sometimes can't, you know, if you just have poor visibility, much poorer than you would have usually at that location, and yeah, then you just have to take those decisions to work more. 

macro level to just, you know, just sort of try to come up with something so you don't have those big, beautiful wide shots or yeah. And 

[01:12:58] Brett Stanley: Yeah, I guess you kind of, so you just have to sort of, you know, we're here now. What can we make the most of this? This is a situation we're in. How can we come out of here with something? 

[01:13:07] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: yeah. But on some of, you know, it's, it, it really depends, but sometimes you just also have to keep fighting. And I think the only other thing that I, I have come across with this, uh, you know, it's sometimes, it's sometimes. if you're, if you're at the mercy of an animal encounter that you, you know, that is difficult to predict, or it might happen in the very first minute that you were underwater, even though you think maybe, you know, maybe I'm just still on my test dive. 

[01:13:41] Brett Stanley: Right. Yeah. 

[01:13:43] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: It might actually happen already then when you didn't entirely expect it.  

[01:13:49] Brett Stanley: So you have to be ready for everything I guess and and highly flexible. 

[01:13:53] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: yeah, you have to be very highly flexible. Absolutely. Be ready. 

[01:13:59] Brett Stanley: Yeah. Well, Christina, this has been amazing. Thank you so much for, for sharing your, your career and your story. It's, it's, it's amazing. It's inspiring. Oh, 

[01:14:13] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: because I mean, I've listened to you and your podcast a lot. So 

[01:14:20] Brett Stanley: well, it's, it's a, 

[01:14:21] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: and to be talking to you for real, it's been fantastic. And also, yeah, I think Uh, yeah, your work is amazing and has been inspiring me as well a lot because it's, I think it's so important to be, yeah, to be, to be listening and to be looking at other, other creators. 

Even if that's the, maybe not always in the, in the, in primarily in that area where you feel where you're working yourself. So, 

[01:14:50] Brett Stanley: Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's great. And I get so much out of these, these these episodes and like you say, like it's, you know, I'll, I'll The way that someone approaches something in a very, in a whole different niche of this niche can affect how you work or give you ideas and inspire you to other things. 

So 

[01:15:08] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And I mean, we're, we're often sort of on our own 

[01:15:14] Brett Stanley: Yeah. 
 

[01:15:15] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: and it seems like we're growing on more, like a bit closer together. And that's just fantastic. 

[01:15:22] Brett Stanley: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I mean, we've got such a great community. There's so many amazing, talented people in this thing. And it's just, you know, it's great to sort of hear their stories and, and try and, you know, bring them together somehow. 

[01:15:33] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Absolutely. I think that's, that's, that's wonderful. 

[01:15:36] Brett Stanley: Thanks Christina.  

[01:15:37] Christina Karliczek Skoglund: Yeah. Thank you.