Claudio von Planta
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Claudio von Planta (born 16 September 1962) is a Swiss cameraman, director and filmmaker.
[edit] Long Way Round
His best known work is as the cameraman who accompanied Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman on their Long Way Round motorcycle journey from London to New York in 2004. Hired immediately after LWR producer Russ Malkin saw his impressive CV, Claudio discovered shortly before the trip his motorbike licence was invalid for the journey and subsequently failed his bike test the day before the team was due to leave. He remained in London and retook the test 2 weeks later, eventually flying out to join up with the team in eastern Europe.
Claudio would often ride far ahead of the other two in order to film them going past, or tail behind getting the shots he wanted. Von Planta possibly worked harder than anyone making LWR a reality, although he was also the principal bike-breaker on the team. At one point in Mongolia his bike took such a battering it had to be sent ahead for repairs and a replacement bike was purchased by Ewan McGregor.
[edit] Other career
After leaving the Swiss army in 1982, von Planta studied politics at Zurich University. He sold his first film in 1985 and has continued to build a portfolio of work that is not only daring and ground-breaking but also technically impressive. Having visited warzones, terrorist training camps and the Pfizer UK marketing conference, Claudio has become a very well respected member of the journalism fraternity and his services are constantly in demand.
He also claims to have spent a month in prison in Pakistan, charges unknown.
