Frake’s interest in photography began in childhood. In 1960, when he was seven, his aunt gave him a camera, and he began taking colour transparencies. His early enthusiasm for cinema also developed during regular visits to his local picture house, where he watched film serials and features. These early experiences established a lasting interest in photographic image-making and moving pictures.
Over the course of his career, Frake has worked as a lighting cameraman and director of photography on television drama, factual programming and feature films. His credits include the BBC natural history series The Trials of Life (1990), directed by Michael Gunton and produced by the BBC Natural History Unit, demonstrating his experience in documentary and wildlife cinematography. He subsequently photographed a range of television productions, including Midsomer Murders, Waking the Dead, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, Wire in the Blood and Doctor Who.
Frake’s television drama work also includes Robin Hood, Primeval, Survivors, Strike Back and Downton Abbey. These productions required him to work across different visual styles, from period drama and historical settings to contemporary crime and science fiction. His credits reflect experience in both location-based filmmaking and the demands of multi-camera and single-camera television production.
His feature-film credits include Femme Fatale (1993), The Truth About Love (2005) and The First Men in the Moon (2010). He also photographed the television film Lost Christmas (2011), directed by John Hay, and To Olivia (2021), the drama about Roald Dahl and Patricia Neal directed by John Hay. His wider work includes documentary productions such as The Life of Mammals (2002) and The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag (2005)