Free Range Films · Teton Valley, Idaho
I Want to Top Expectations. I Want to Blow You Away.
Eric Daft, director · cinematographer · editor
Director of photography, director and editor for documentary series, broadcast and brand productions. Field credits from the Balcony on Everest to the backcountry of Fiji, with a kit and crew built to travel.
Shot for and seen on
National Geographic
Disney+
Prime Video
The Explorers Club
Royal Caribbean
Rally for Rangers
Selected work
Three Films. Three Edges of the Map.
Science on the roof of the world, an expedition race through the jungle, and a documentary about the rangers who guard the last wild places.
Expedition Everest
Eight weeks in the field documenting the Perpetual Planet science team, all the way to the Balcony at 27,657 feet, where they installed the world’s highest weather station. Now streaming on Disney+.
Field cinematography, as Director of Productions at Fisher Creative
World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji
Embedded with racing teams through the hardest sections of a non-stop expedition race across Fiji’s backcountry, hosted by Bear Grylls.
Camera operator
A Rally for Rangers
A 55-minute film about riders who deliver motorcycles to the park rangers protecting some of the most remote places on earth. Screened at festivals including the Motorcycle Film Festival and CEFF.
Director, cinematographer, editor
For producers
Built for Places a Studio Can’t Reach.
Plug Eric into your crew as director of photography or camera operator, or bring in a turnkey field unit: cinema and aerial packages, sound and data management, planned around permits, power, comms and weather windows.
Expedition and documentary
Multi-week field production at altitude, on water and off grid, with satellite comms and redundant data backup.
Aerial cinematography
FAA Part 107 certified with current recurrent training. DJI Inspire 3 and Mavic 3 Pro, plus helicopter and small-plane aerials.
Brand and commercial
Tourism, hospitality and outdoor brands on RED, Sony and Canon cinema systems, with lighting and production sound.
Edit and post
Offline through final masters: music-driven edits, color, captions and deliverables to broadcast and platform spec.
By the numbers
22+
Years behind the camera, on five continents
6,000 m
Multiple ascents above it, camera in the pack
8 weeks
Filming on Everest for National Geographic and Rolex
500 TB
Of footage shot, managed and archived
About
Pre-Dawn Starts. Magic Moments.
Eric is a director, cinematographer and editor who looks for the unplanned, unrepeatable frame he calls a magic moment. He has filmed athletes, musicians, royalty, politicians and Indigenous communities as they really are, and he is just as calm on a studio set as on a knife-edge ridge.
He has lived in the Teton region for more than 25 years. Before Free Range Films he spent 12 years as Director of Productions at Fisher Creative.
Cinema systems in the kit
From the field
Dispatches Post First on Instagram.
Behind-the-scenes clips, expedition stills and what’s on the calendar, at @ericdaft.
Availability
Tell Me Where You’re Going.
Send dates, locations and deliverables. You’ll get availability, a crew and kit recommendation, and an itemized bid.