Cameraman Claudio von Planta tells his story about traveling and filming Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman as they travelled around the world on motorbikes from London to New York in 2004.
The thing I love about these series, whether it is Ewan and Charley or just Charley. Is they put together a team of people in front of the camera and behind the camera that seem to have a real chemistry. Russ, Charley, Ewan, Claudio, and the rest when together create something that you don't see a whole lot on TV. Sort of reminds me of Top Gear, or old Top Gear now; they're a group of people who are very enjoyable to watch on these adventures.
Watching L.W.R. for probably the 30th time in 10 years (Happy 10 year anniversary men!) and I agree with my mates below me, that Claudio: You are a true inspiration. You make me want to be a better person. You at least seem at peace. That's half the reason why I think. The other half... you just seem to an amazing person. As a motorcycle rider, this whole Long Way series (Round and Down and who knows where in the future) really gets me excited and ignites my passions for motorcycling all over again. Back to the show! Thanks for posting this clip, simon. (If that is your real name)
He definitely rivaled Charlie for comic relief. Damn what fuckups the both of them. This whole adventure is enviable, but those preening actors would never have made it without their huge budget and support crew. What really bugged me was that they didn't think to assemble an inflatable pontoon system with ropes and winch to get the bikes across water barriers.
Very inspiring Man Claudio , great rider, unasuming Giant , Terrific attitude and would love to see so much more of him doing the videos. Inspirational Fello Onya Mate :-)
While watching Long Way Up’s first episode I genuinely got concerned that they couldn’t get Claudio back to film, but then he showed up half way through and I was like thank god lol
I looooove the shows and have watched them several times, and I always have thought one of the few mistakes in editing this show is not making Claudio a bigger part of the story. He was just as much a part of everything as Ewan and Charley but doesn't get the same amount of exposure. He seems like a funny and interesting guy, would have liked to see more of him.
Claudio seems one of those super-mellow dudes it's a pleasure to have on the trip. I'd like to see him in a fight, he's probably badass once the switch gets flicked.
While they certainly went through a lot, it's kind of amazing how lucky these guys were on this trip. The biggest one is Ewan's accident when he got rear ended and somehow came out alive. Claudio's recovery is crazy too but also thinking how these guys never got the flu despite being in wet clothes all day during Mongolia and Russia. Or just the fact that they never got robbed or kidnapped or anything shady like that.
@BilgemasterBill Hey I just watched an interview with him here on RU-vid. In the first couple minutes of it he talked about what happened to the bike. Apparently the just gave it to the American embassy in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Then a few years later it was sold in a charity auction and some Australian mining executive bought it.
