In episode 155 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Gordon Buchanan.
Gordon Buchanan is a Scottish wildlife photographer and filmmaker who has made documentaries for over 20 years.
Gordon has made a number of wonderful, intense and thrilling films including: ‘Big Cat Diary’, ‘Lost Land of the Volcano’, ‘The Bear Family & Me’, ‘The Polar Bear Family & Me’, ‘Lost Land of The Tiger’, ‘Lost Land of The Jaguar’, ‘Leopard in the City’ and ‘Tribes, Predators and Me’.
In this episode we discuss how Gordon broke into the world of wildlife filmmaking, the life-threatening moments he has experienced whilst filming and the mental health impact of being away from his family for periods of time whilst filming.
For Gordon’s mental health, 10 years ago he had an epiphany about his mental health and realised he had a lot of mental health challenges as a child that he never identified or was aware of.
In that year, he was approaching burnout but didn’t recognise it before it arrived and it brought about a full-blown period of depression and what he describes as a ‘breakdown of sorts’.
When Gordon has gone through these periods, he has used medication to help him get better before coming off of them and he has been on and off medication throughout the last 10 years.
We finish by talking about Covid-19 and the reset that gave him for his mental health and his life, how he’s achieved a greater level of self-awareness and reconciling people’s assumptions about him.
As always, #itsokaytovent
You can visit Gordon’s website and see all of the work he has done in his career here.
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