Lane Cove Local Oliver Hartas – Sailor and Videographer

Over the years In the Cove has been lucky enough to feature Lane Cove local Oliver Hartas’ beautiful imagery on our site. We thought we would get to know a little bit more about Oliver.

What is your Profession?

I am a semi-professional sailor and I also own my own small video production company specialising in event coverage.

How did you get involved in Sailing?

One school holiday period, Mum signed me up for the Learn To Sail program at Lane Cove 12ft Sailing Skiff Club instead of tennis camp. As soon as I jumped onto a boat, I fell in love with the sports technicality and the rush of skimming over the water powered only by the wind! The Learn To Sail program that has been running at Lane Cove 12ft Sailing Skiff Club for many many years! I was lucky to learn the sport under the guidance of Jack Winning (just awarded Australia’s Best Volunteer at the Australian Sailing Awards!), Karyn Gojnich (Olympic sailor), Richard Griffin (life member at the club and sailing legend) and have also been fortunate to get tips from Adrienne Cahalan (one of the worlds best female sailors of all time). All of these people are regulars down at the Club on any given Saturday in summer and we are very privileged to have such amazing people giving up their time and wisdom!

How did you get involved in Filming Sailing?

One Saturday afternoon I had no sailing to do and was stuck inside at home so I made a little video about how cool sailing was and I put it on YouTube to try and show other people how cool the sport is! I enjoyed making the video and it got a pretty good response so I kept doing it and eventually studied Media Arts and Production at UTS.

Is Filming Sailing Dangerous?

Although the sport itself is very safe (people have been sailing for many hundreds of years!), the boats I sail now are pretty dangerous as they are designed for maximum speed and power. I have been steering the ILVE sponsored 18ft skiff for a few seasons now in what is the equivalent of the Formula 1 and the boat has given me plenty of injuries! Just last season I copped a broken nose when a manoeuvre went a bit wrong and we capsized but we got back up again and kept racing for another lap before some damage on the boat forced us to retire. 

Filming is generally a bit less dangerous, but it does have its moments. Just a few months ago I was filming a World Championships in Denmark when one of the competitors collided with our media boat and knocked me clean off the boat into the freezing water with all my camera gear!

How Expensive is the Camera Gear?

Because of the nature of my work, my equipment gets a pretty rough life. On a normal day of shooting, my camera gear gets at least three decent soakings in salt water spray, which is not really ideal for complicated delicate electronics! I have just recently spent a fair sum upgrading my equipment. The catch is that I need high-performance equipment so I can produce quality content but this means it’s expensive to replace. I am currently on my third MacBook Pro of this year and fourth drone in 12 months.

Tell Us Some Of the Locations You have Filmed in?

As well as shooting many events in Australia, I have been privileged to cover many international events and World Championships all over Europe, including Finland, Sweden, Norway, England, Spain, Holland, Austria, Denmark, France, Germany etc. I am also expanding and covering some events in Asia with a trip to Hong Kong scheduled for early January for a World Championship.

I have been quite lucky to have the chance to cover all the events that I have, but it didn’t all happen at once. I started my company on my own and have built it up without any kind of investment or outside help over a period of 6 years to get where I am today. It still is a pretty small fish in an international sea but I have managed to build a brand and style that seems to really connect with the audience and I think this comes from my experience as a sailor myself. I consider sailing to be the best sport in the world and every time I look down my lens or sit down to edit, I always try and create content that will make people see how incredible a sport it is and, hopefully, make a video that inspires people to get involved in sailing!

How long have you lived in Lane Cove?

We moved to Lane Cove nearly 20 years ago and it has been great ever since!

What do you like about living in Lane Cove?

Lane Cove is great because it is relatively close to the city but far enough away to have creeks and rivers and national parks in our back yard! The community spirit in Lane Cove is simply wonderful and it’s truly a fantastic place to live.

Do You Film Other Subjects Other than Sailing?

I love all aspects of film and have worked on many different areas including corporate video, documentaries, advertising and I have even been privileged to work on the set of a major feature film called Unbroken that was directed by Angeline Jolie!

Vote for Oliver Hartas

One of Oliver’s videos is currently among the front runners in the Mirabaud International Sailing Video Award competition and he could use a bit more help!

Public voting closes on 20th November 2017 so click on this link and VOTE for him.

Make sure to slide the slider to 10/10 before clicking vote!

Contact Details:

Website: www.HartasProductions.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/HartasProductions
Youtube: www.youtube.com/HartasProductionsOfficial 

 


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