This is sad news indeed. Even though I never met or spoke with Hans my thoughts are with his family. I am happy to contribute something to send to his family.

Keen to help/be involved in any way.

I spent many an hour with Hans on the seas, especially on the back of the Northstar being shouted at by Peter Montgomery. We told lots of lies and shared many stories and ideas as we worked together side by side for our respective broadcaster.

Hans was one of the most enthusiastic people I know in the industry. Most recently I recall him reporting back for us in intricate details his experiences of the sailing coverage at the Beijing Games.

We will miss you Hans LaCour Anderson and our industry is all the poorer for your passing.

Hamish

I never had the privilege of meeting Hans, but it was a name that I only heard used in conversations that also included the words "stunning images" and "great guy". Rest easy Hans....

I'm happy to contribute.

Dean

HI guys,

We are writing a bio of Hans and the great things he did in his life and we are looking for photos and stories. If you have a few minutes, feel free to share them either here or send them through to Peter Parnham. I have been on the phone the better part of the morning and its been great talking about his life to some great people. We were thinking that this would be a fun way to remember him and keep him in our lives.



Peter's details

p +64 27 4459634
p +64 9 580 2202
e peter.parnham@paraphrase.co.nz

Condolences to the family and his friends.

Ben

Thank you so much for your nice post regarding Hans' passing. As you have heard, Hans passed away early Thursday morning October 22, 2009. It was a very peaceful time and he was surrounded by his wife Leila, children Nils and Nadine and a very close friend. He left us feeling their love and caring which he always knew and enjoyed.

Funeral services will be at Dover Church on Tuesday October 27 at 2 p.m. A celebration of Hans' life will follow at Firgaarde Forsamlingshus, Haarbyvej 29, 8780 Ry, Denmark.

We truly support all the love and support we have received from friends near and far during the time of his illness.

Sincerely,
Leila

We will be sending flowers and a note of condolences to Hans's family on behalf of his colleagues in New Zealand. We will pass along any notes on everyone's behalf including the posts on this forum.

Cheers all.

Very sad to lose one of our shooting brothers.
Rest in Peace Hans.
Our thoughts go out to all his family and friends.

Havoc

Very very sorry to hear the tragic news about Hans. He will be a huge loss to all his colleagues at NZ Crews.

I first met Hans as a client of mine at Protel. I developed a high regard for his professionalism in all aspects of doing business and also his patience and persistence in those early days of buggy computer systems. He was one of the first adopters of the new computer-based editing technology and I spent many hours at his house in Auckland doing system maintenance. We had mutual respect for each other's abilities and became friends. We also discovered we both had Chilean wives as well as mutual Chilean friends Eduardo and Sandra Villouta - with whom he sailed on the yacht Marco Polo across the Pacific from Chile to NZ. (Eduardo has some marvellous Hi-8 footage of Hans and the crew on that epic trip in the 80's).

Heart-felt condolences to Leila and the twins Nadine and Nils from Graciela and myself and we look forward to catching up with you when you return to NZ (or Chile?)

Geoff Head

We have sent flowers to the funeral on behalf of the group, here is what the card says.



Hans has had an impact on his colleagues that is beyond a simple note. Here in New Zealand he will be sorely missed. A consummate professional, Hans always went a little further and worked a little harder. He led from the front and was always a team player. He has our respect. his opinions, his images, his stories and his ideas were always worthy of an audience. Our loss is an amazing artist and storyteller with a passion rivaled by few.

On behalf of the Cameramen, Sound Recordist, Directors and Producer of NZCREWS whom have crossed paths with Hans over the years we offer our condolences, more importantly we celebrate his life as his images will live forever on screen and in our minds.

Yves & Michelle

Farewell Hans - I worked with Hans in the late 1990's a lovely guy, loved the Pacific and it's people. Sincere condolences
to his wife and family, best regards.

Even though I did not know Hans, the comments I've read have been touching - a good person he must have been, not to forget his formidable skills as a cinematographer.

There are some touching stories and it's always a shame that you learn of this humanity and talent when they are no longer shooting along side of us.

From over the ditch,
Pieter de Vries ACS
http://www.pieterdevries.com.au/

As many of you may, or may not have known, Hans LaCour Anderson was chosen to lead the camera teams responsible for the global television coverage of the Beijing Olympic Sailing Regatta in China in 2008, a job I did in Korea in 1988.
Although I had worked parallel to him shooting yacht racing for at least twenty years, I had never actually met Hans before this event and one memorable evening last year,seven highly experienced sailing cameramen all met each other ( some for the first time ) in the lobby bar of a Chinese hotel .
Despite the longest list of practical challenges and difficulties you could ever imagine, a week later cameramen, producers, technicians, boat drivers, translators and spotters welded together into an amazing team of television professionals and when the first boats lined up for the first race, the world began to receive some fairly amazing offshore images from Hans La Cour and his dedicated camera and boat teams.
As the challenges and especially the politics actually got MORE complicated, so Hans and the producers slaved behind the scenes to surmount them and the definition of the whole project became " it is what it is" .
After five or six days racing in bright sunny conditions Hans' television camera team was as tight and as competent as was it possible to be in the circumstances in China .
Then one day all the accumulated good luck ran out and we awoke to torrential rain and a wind that was blowing dogs off chains and shaking the OB truck - absolutely fantastic weather for European Olympic sailors, so lets send eveyone out and see who survives!
And so everyone, with the exception of the helicopter crews ( the CAF pilots were afraid of the lightning) followed Hans example and headed out to sea in the most extreme shooting conditions I personally have ever witnesed in 25 years of sailing cinematography.
For something like five to six hours the Olympics sailors flew, rolled, capsized and raced in huge winds and ferocious seas - and Hans and his camera team did such an astonishing job in such extreme conditions that their coverage of the entire event and especially this one days racing, won the Qing Dao based television team, the IOC Golden Rings Award for Best Sporting Event Coverage of the Beijing Olympic Games - see http://www.sailing.org/26552.php

Per Aqua Ad Astra - Hans my friend and colleague - I will miss you .
Laurie K. Gilbert s.o.c.
Sailing Cinematographer
Aerial Marine Media, Malaysia.

I've posted a full bio on Hans - he was a very interesting man. i would appreciate if you could leave comments or post your own photos as we remember the man.

www.crews.tv