Lights, Camera, Action. On set of Dishonoured Pt.2

I took my camera along to another day of filming of the local made film Dishonoured on Sunday.

It was a late start against the schedule because filming had took place up to 5am that morning and so people were late getting in and out of bed. Rightly so!

As always peoples seemed high (drowsy) though and there was plenty of laughter.

Marcus's family, who's house filming was taking place in, must have a lot of patience as a good dozen people walked in and out every couple of minutes leaving the front door open. I know my wife wouldn't like it.

Because filming was taking place in a home, I knew things would be tight so I took my fisheye lens along to make the most of what's going on. Considering the best image quality from the lens comes at f8, things were tricky in doors when it came to lighting. High ISO was the order of the day, lots of noise!

I wont mention anything about someone getting tied up as that will give the game away!!!

Thanks for a good afternoon.

 

Walking up a mountain

Or was it a hill?

Either way on holiday recently in Spain; the Murcia region to be more exact, we stayed on a golf resort that was surrounded by either hills or mountains.

For a week my brother and I said we'd walk up to the top of the closest.

Its one of the greatest things ive ever done.

We stood at the top and shouted 'hello!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' and the like and heard it echo around for miles, that was awesome. Laura and Carrie, still at the Villa said they could hear us but they couldn't see us.

The walk up took approx. an hour and a half from the surrounding land to the summit. From the word go it was interesting as we passed caves, small disused quarries and old buildings.

Yay...urbex!

 

Real decay in this place, the sun and heat isn't kind.

The old wooden door and bed was a nice touch though.

As we reached the bottom of the 'moutain' there was no paths so we had to choose our own way up, the fun really began; grazed skin from the odd miss placed step and prickly bush....real man stuff, in my running clothes; the modern day mountain climber.

 

 

Towards the top there were times when hands and feet were used to traverse the slope, I admit, I felt pretty cool 'climbing'.

The view from the top was spectacular, we could see for miles, despite the haze from the heat of mid day. As we sat at the top eating fruit and drinking water, their was a cliff edge behind us with a big enough drop to kill!

The way down was more difficult as the ground was unstable and the temperature had risen again.

Throughout the climb, from a photographers perspective, as always, I was glad to have my Fujifilm X-Pro 1 with me and XF18mm F2 lens. Reliable image quality and light compared to my 5D. Having just the one lens and the 'small camera' with me allowed me to enjoy the experience without being weighed down and pre-occupied with changing lenses all the time.

The camera was used as an accessory and not as the purpose. A lot of the time I only go places for the photography, this time I went for my eyes, soul and memories.

Whether it was just a big hill or a mountain, its one to be remembered.

Film frustration

Shooting film is frustrating;

1. When the film isn't wound properly, you shoot and you get nothing!!!!

2. Film is expensive

3. A lot of time composing and focusing, to discover the composition sucks, the focus is wrong and what you envisioned was not the actual result.

4. My Fuji makes my canon jealous and so shooting film makes both my expensive digital camera systems very jealous. Why the hell am I shooting on 30 year old cameras and expired films bought from charity shops when I have some exquisite modern cameras?

5. Film makes me feel in adequate as a photographer when the photos are rubbish upon development.

6. Do I purposely take poor photos when shooting film just because I'm shooting film? I think I do, "shooting film is fun" "shooting film is unexpected", are these just excuses in advance for the crap results I'm going to have to show for the waste of my time?

7. Ive not yet found a lab that I'm happy with the digital scans of my negatives.

Film sucks!!!

Examples of being rubbish

 

 

But I do like shooting film!!!

Street Photography; Walking where the light is

I said it before that I love going to London. In fact I love big cities with their big buildings.

I was intentionally wanting to shoot street photography, by the time we got back to our hotel near Aldgate underground station the sun had started its descent in the sky; this really stretched out the shadows of the buildings. As the sun passed in between, paths of light were formed. This is the look I was going for!

So I found interesting shapes combining light and shadow in the urban landscape only a short walk from the hotel and waited for people to walk into or out of the shot.

Its all a waiting game.

 

 

 

In between locations and waiting for passers by I looked up and thought this would make a good photo. I cant decide whether I think it is or not.

On top of the bridge.

Recently I was lucky to be invited to go up to the control room of the Crosskeys Bridge in my home town (or is it village?) of Sutton Bridge. 

Now, im sure everyone would automatically think landscape, landscape, landscape;
1) The fens in my opinion doesn't have a lot to offer in the way of spectacular views unless you want to see flat farmland.
2) There wasn't much going on in the sky either as the sun was high and bright which is not what a landscape photographer desires.
3) Im not much of fan of Landscapes anyway.

Instead, some may say, as per usual I focused on the things that others may pass by like the controls etc.

Ok scrap all of the above.

I did like watching the cars come and go down the long straight stretch of the A17 Towards kings Lynn.

I took a couple of shots trying to get a car in the right place to make the most of the distortion on my Wide angle lens.

I suppose the other thing Sutton Bridge is famous for other than the bridge, the clue is in the name after all, is the 337 million pounds power station.

Inside was quite cool, if you like levers, buttons and spinny type wheel things, Oh and don't forget the kettle!

Im not sure ill ever get the chance to go up again but im proud to think or say that ive been up there.
Now id like to go underneath it and see or mechanical parts at work.

Shooting street in the big city; Camden Town.

I love London. I always have since I first visited as a child; going on the tube for the first time was a great experience. I used to visit my brother regularly in my late teenage/early adult years to go out and get...well...smashed.

I love the hustle and bustle, the sights, the people, its a cool place.

On a recent visit I really concentrated on street photography. I went to Camden and of course, there was lots going on; tourists, bored kids, street art and the artists themselves creating their next piece.

In the chaos of the busy of life, 1 person taking photo's of strangers doesn't get noticed like it does in the quieter parts of the country or world like my home town and surrounding locations. The fact is that in the touristy big smoke every other person is carrying a 'big' camera, so my 'little' Fuji helps me blend in that little more.

 

I really appreciate street art, be it graffiti or stencils. I like the idea that there's a meaning behind the work rather than just tagging a name.

This one guy was painting all day and every now and then I went back to see how he was getting on...he's probably still there.

Down the same street were people hanging out; if that's what you call it, may be a little too much 'party'.

Waiting for people to walk in front of something in particular is both a big waiting game but rewarding when it finally happens. Im still waiting for that show stopping image though that's going to be recognised world wide as a real moment of time, a real stroke of luck/right place right time, uncanny genius. Maybe that wont happen!

In Camden Market there are vintage shops and stalls all over the place. What got me was how much people try to charge for things like old camera's....woah!!!

These 3 boys caught my eye. they sat there for about 10 minutes really bored waiting for someone, I just had to freeze their boredom.

Looking down on the world is great, people don't know your there, in a place like Camden 100's of people pass underneath you (not counting the tube) every minute.

My companions on the trip did wonder why I photographed so many strangers though............maybe not enough selfies for them?

Lights, CAMERA, action. On set with Dishonoured

To start, I can't believe this is my 80th blog post, what have I been talking about for all this time!?

Occasionally I've been shooting behind the scenes photography of a film being made locally;

Dishonoured (follow link) http://www.dishonouredmovie.co.uk/

Its been good fun to help out where I can.

Recently we went to a 'secret location' in Cambridgeshire and I for one had a great day, creative photography really blossomed.

As always im using the X-Pro 1 a lot, I think my 5D may feel a little left out the majority of the time. The lightweight small nature of the camera and lenses alongside the the quality of the images make it a winner for me. I find it really comfortable in the hand and it suits my shooting style.

On the day I used the lights on set to create silhouettes or as a spot light to pick characters out of the shadows. I took along a Canon Speedlite and combined the ambient light with the flash for a couple of shots using some Yongnuo flash triggers.

Its a shame that some of my best and favourite shots from the day can't be shown yet as they give a way a major part of the plot. These will have to be shown another time.

This guy was sat waiting in the corner

Creative debate

Smoking on the job

Wash the sheets afterwards!

Out of the shadows and into the light