Roger Horrocks is an underwater cinematographer who has worked from the frozen poles to the tropical equator, specialising in immersive imagery of dynamic and fast-moving animals and events. Since 2007, he has worked on projects for National Geographic, Disney, Netflix and the BBC, including Blue Planet 2, Our Planet and My Octopus Teacher.
Most recently, Roger shot sequences for The Real Finding Nemo, to be released on National Geographic Channel in 2027, and for an Arctic series for Netflix. He also contributed sequences to Sir David Attenborough's Oceans and to the BBC's Parenthood, directed by Ollie Scholey, both produced by Silverback Films.
In 2025, Roger launched the Ocean Footage Mastery Program, designed to help cinematographers worldwide realise their full potential. The course has attracted over 50 students and is going from strength to strength.
Between 2020 and 2023, Roger worked exclusively on Our Oceans, produced by WildSpace/Honeyborne Productions and released on Netflix in 2024, on which he was one of the principal DOPs.
In 2020, a film he had worked on with his longtime collaborator Craig Foster premiered on Netflix to global critical acclaim. My Octopus Teacher went on to win the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2021, and Roger won the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Cinematography in the same year.
In 2019, Roger was one of two underwater DOPs hired by Jonathan Smith of the BBC Natural History Unit to shoot wildlife sequences for Apple TV screensavers, shooting in Cape Town, Alaska, California and Costa Rica.
Between 2015 and 2018, Roger worked for producer Hugh Pearson on the Coastal Seas and High Seas episodes of Our Planet (Netflix/Silverback Films), receiving a Prime Time Emmy nomination for Outstanding Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program in 2019, alongside cameraman Jamie McPherson.
For Blue Planet 2, released in October 2017, Roger received cinematography credits on four of the six main episodes, shooting for producers Jonathan Smith, Katheryn Jeffs and Joe Steven, and was awarded a BAFTA for Outstanding Cinematography in 2018.
In 2017, he was appointed as the underwater DOP on the National Geographic Pristine Seas Expedition to Tristan da Cunha, led by Paul Rose, working for producer Alex Verville.
In 2015 and 2016, he shot Disneynature's Dolphin Reef for Silverback Films, focusing exclusively on the bottlenose dolphins.
In 2011, he shot his first blue-chip sequence for John Downer's Earthflight, for producer Rob Pilley. This was followed by a long-term assignment from John Downer to film bottlenose dolphins for the Spy in the Pod series, which aired on BBC One in 2013, and by two sequences for the BBC Atlantic series, produced by Ted Gifford, in 2010.
In 2007, Roger began working for the BBC Natural History Unit on the Nature's Great Events series, directed by Hugh Pearson, and began his apprenticeship under cameraman Didier Noirot and later Doug Anderson.
During this period, he narrated and co-directed three documentaries with Craig and Damon Foster. The first, Into the Dragon's Lair, was nominated for an Emmy for Best Cinematography in 2010; the sequel, Touching the Dragon, was selected as one of the feature shows for National Geographic's 125th centenary year celebrations.
Roger developed his underwater craft while competing as a spearfisherman and completing an Honours degree at the University of Natal, South Africa. He went on to study at the UCT Graduate School of Business and the London Business School during a ten-year corporate career in digital marketing and financial services before moving into natural history filmmaking full-time.
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