Craig Foster: My Octopus Teacher Academy Award winning documentary filmmaker

The Art of Excellence

Craig Foster is one of the world’s leading natural history filmmakers and cofounder of the Sea Change Project, a nonprofit to protect marine life and raise awareness of the importance of the kelp forest. He won an Academy Award for Best Documentary for My Octopus Teacher and has created more than one hundred films and documentaries. His latest book is titled: Amphibious Soul: Finding the Wild in a Tame World.

Some interesting insights from this episode:

· When he goes on cold water ocean dives, his entire brain chemistry shifts with elevated dopamine and adrenaline levels while remaining very calm.

· Managing fear is about getting to know what it is that you’re fearful of.

· His curiosity and fearlessness has often taken him into precarious situations coming face to face with dangerous predators like great white sharks and crocodiles.

· There are expert native trackers who go beyond tracking visuals and sounds of animals to getting into their minds. They can actually feel the animal inside their own bodies and know intuitively what they’re doing and where they’re going.

· Having a sense of purpose in life is key to accomplishing anything you want.

· “Excellence is tapping into the wild part of us that’s inherent in all of us.”

Show Notes

Book: Amphibious Soul: Finding the Wild in a Tame World

Documentary: My Octopus Teacher

Nonprofit: Sea Change Project