Behind the scenes of THAT photo of Martin Freeman

I’m sure whoever reads my blog posts has either been on my website (you’re here now so it’s a good guess!) but also follows my social media has seen my photo of Martin Freeman.

I was absolutely STOKED to know my image of Martin Freeman was the first look image for the BBC’s | Fremantle | Dancing Ledge productions new crime drama show - The Responder.

I thought I’d share this image and let you know how it happened, the night and the hilarities of working on set.

We were working a night shoot - my first I have to add. Night shoots make pretty much everyone in the industry groan. They are HARD work. Especially as a stills photographer as we can’t get into a rhythm, it’s occasional one off days, maybe two in a row if you’re lucky but generally the next day you can’t work either.

I’d driven up to Liverpool, suffered the consequences of an AWFUL air bnb but I had to stay in, the bed was like a medieval torture device and then finding a chewed off toenail in the bed meant I was not in a good way when I turned up at 5pm on set. Dishevelled and knowing I was about to have a tough night ahead.

I went to Martin’s trailer and was formally introduced through his assistant (who was amazing). I asked his preferences for shooting. I think this is the polite thing to do before shooting, some talent don’t care where you are, some don’t want you in their eye line (fair enough!), some just don’t want you there so you have to be as invisible as possible. So instead of creating tension on set, I prefer to ask ahead so we can navigate from the same starting point of expectations. Martin was very relaxed about it and I couldn’t forsee many troubles arising.

Turning up to set after a crew has already been filming/established is pretty intimidating. But as soon as I walked on I noticed I’d worked with the focus puller already on The A-List S2 and he waved me over and introduced me to the AC team. Big sigh of relief.

On a side note - this was one of the BEST crews I’ve worked with, the AC team were the nicest people (two women on that AC team alone, woo!). They always made room on the mag-liner for my bag, hell they even bought gluten free snacks, cleaned my camera after we spent a day under sap-dripping trees. Overall I will miss them so dearly and I cannot wait to work with each of them after this. The rest of the crew were just as wonderful, welcoming and chatty. I never once felt isolated from the team. I cannot express how vital this can be on long set days.

Back to the night shoot. We waiting for complete nightfall and they were setting up the fire, cast nowhere to be seen but I got to chat and make fast friends with Tim Mielants the director and the rest of the crew. It was a good chance to establish myself in the team.

Fast forward and we’d done a couple of takes and Martin very much had his head in the acting space which was awesome to watch, he stepped away after they shouted cut, he wandered near me and I was about to ask for some more posed stills, very nervously I might add. The extinguisher in the fire went off suddenly and sounded exactly like a gas cylinder exploding, Martin and myself both jumped out of our skins and ended up laughing. It was a convenient ice breaker. (Just a note; it’s a safety feature in fires on set, we weren’t in any danger whatsoever at any point.)

After the next take he waved me over and I managed to capture the above image. We did a variety of poses and shots in the spare couple of minutes between takes. I cannot stress this enough, as a unit stills photographer you never ever have more than a couple of minutes for set up shots. Ever. Unless it’s deliberately planned for. So we work like lightning. You have to have poses thought out, watch the light like a hawk and potentially bribe the gaffer/sparks and dop to push the lighting up for your moments.

The above shot isn’t cropped, I’ve not added the fire, I’ve not taken it far from the original at all in fact. I colour graded it myself and sent it off thinking they probably wouldn’t use my version. But they did and when it was released I honestly was floored. I cannot wait to share more with you. Generally, as a unit stills photographer we send our images off RAW and the production company/publicity company do their own edits. It’s something I want to break away from as I love editing and I feel it’s part of my skill set.

I used my Canon R5 and a Canon RF 85mm f1.2 defocus smoothing. I cannot thank Barry at Canon enough for lending me that lens for that evening. I had the 24-70 and 70-200 but they max out at f2.8 and knowing it was a night shoot; I’d be struggling for light. I ended up buying that 85mm the next week. I cannot live without it anymore. That lens saved my ass and has done on other shoots since.

After that evening I think Martin and I had a great working relationship, which I hope to have for many years to come. And I hope I can achieve with other talent in the future. He was the most generous actor I’ve worked with, he gave me time every-time I asked for it, made space and room for my job without question. Also even checked in with me on the tougher days to see if I had enough done. Because of that I have come away with some of the strongest stills I’ve ever achieved in my career.

The symbiotic bond between talent and a unit stills photographer can be so powerful for publicity. And every show and film needs publicity, you can tell he respected and understood that.