When the 4th FILM of Endeavour series 5 was being filmed I was fortunate enough to visit the interior sets for Cowley CID. Here are some detail shots from around the Police station that I made before filming began in the morning. The attention to detail from the Art department and the props team is nothing short of incredible. It really did feel like travelling back in time.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, 40/1.4 Voigtlander Nokton, Ilford HP5 film @ ISO 1600, developed in Kodak XTOL. Pakon scans.
Behind the scenes photography from a busy day of filming Endeavour 5 FILM 6 on Turl Street in Oxford. This was a fun day of filming with lots going on. As I look back through these pictures I notice at least one shot that was filmed which didn’t make it to the final edit – where Fred Thursday crosses the street and the Jamaican gangsters drive past in their car. The Art department did an excellent job of transforming the Oxfam Bookshop into a pet shop but you don’t really get to see much of the detail on screen in the final edit.
[Tech info:] Konica Hexar AF, Ilford HP5 film, developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 5.30. Pakon scans.
Behind the scenes photography during filming of Endeavour 5 | FILM 6 in Oxford, October 2017. The first few shots are from the scene outside the pet shop towards the end of the day when the light level was rapidly dropping. Although there was a stunt team on hand the actors did their own stunts in this scene. The following morning it was a bright and sunny start on Christ Church meadow where the harsh sunlight made it tricky to move around without casting a shadow into shot.
It’s hard to believe this was almost 7 months ago. Lots more pictures still to come from Endeavour 5.
[Tech info:] Konica Hexar AF, Ilford HP5 film developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 5.30. Pakon scans.
The Oxford University Photography Society organised a field trip to visit the Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol a couple of months ago and I went along with a group of society members to have a tour of the place and to see the latest exhibition that had just gone up. Martin was a great host and after making us all tea’s and coffee’s he explained a bit of the back story of the foundation and then showed us around the building including a peek at some beautiful vintage prints and book dummy’s from other photographers that he’s collected over the years. Then after being shown a selection of photo books that are part of the ever growing library – some of which are extremely rare and valuable – we had some time to have a Q&A with Martin before having an opportunity to finish off our visit with a viewing of the current exhibition of street portraits by Niall McDiarmid.
We all thoroughly enjoyed our visit and I certainly came away with appreciating the beauty of photography in a printed form, whether that’s as a print or in a book. If you haven’t been to visit I highly recommend it and I’m very much looking forward to my next visit.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, Voigtlander 40/1.4 Nokton, Ilford HP5 @ ISO1600, developed in Kodak HC110 1+31. Pakon scans.
Behind the scenes during filming of Endeavour 5, FILM 5 in Brasenose college, Oxford. These shots are all from the same roll of film through my Rolleiflex. The scenes filmed on this day take place before the scenes filmed on the previous day in Radcliffe Square but it all matched up well in the final edit. Whenever I get the chance I try to photograph SA’s (supporting artiste’s) because I like the outfits from the 1960’s. You may recognise the college don below from various different Endeavour episodes and maybe even some other tv shows and movies.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex 2.8F Zeiss Planar, Ilford HP5 developed in Kodak HC-110 1+31.
Behind the scenes photography from the filming of Endeavour series 5, FILM 4 in Oxford. It was mid-August when the picnic scene was filmed in Oxford’s Botanic Gardens and what was meant to be a nice summer’s evening ended up looking more like drizzly October. That’s when the magic of a large light ended up transforming the scene to look like the sun had broken through the heavy overcast sky – I shot some wider shots to show how dark the sky was. The last frame is from the next setup which was a nice scene that didn’t make the final edit. This was the last frame on this roll, more from that scene will follow in a future blog post.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex 2.8F, Zeiss planar, Ilford HP5 film @ ISO 1600, developed in Kodak HC-110.
Behind the scenes photography during filming of Endeavour series 5 FILM 2 in Oxford Covered Market in June 2017. The space inside Brown’s Café was quite limited so I decided to stay outside to stay out of the way. I quite liked the reflections in the windows and how you could see through them but also some of the people standing outside looking in, myself included. I’ve previously posted other shots from this roll that didn’t contain potential spoilers but now that this FILM has been broadcast here in the UK I’m posting some of the shots that I previously left out.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, 40/1.4 Voigtlander Nokton, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 1600, developed in HC110 1+31, Pakon scans.
These behind the scenes pictures from the filming of Endeavour 5 FILM 1 were from a day of pickup shots that were filmed in September 2017 while the rest of the FILM was shot in April. This was a busy day for the cast and crew and they managed to film quite a few different scenes. In the final edit you can’t tell but I wonder what the original edit was like. When the scenes with the cat burglar were being filmed I couldn’t help thinking of the old Milk Tray adverts and ‘all because the lady loves Milk Tray’.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, 40/1.4 Voigtlander Nokton, Ilford HP5 @ ISO800 developed in Kodak XTOL 1+1. Pakon scans.
Liv Tyler came to the Oxford Union for a Q&A event and I went along to do some documentary photography. It was nice to hear Liv talk about her career and her route from modelling into acting. You can watch a video of the event here.
When it came to developing this roll of film I decided to try a different developer from my usual tried a tested Kodak HC110 because Liv was dressed all in black and I didn’t want to risk the fabric from blocking up. For this roll I used Kodak XTOL developer which is good for maintaining shadow detail when pushing films and I am very pleased with the results here.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 1600, developed in Kodak XTOL 1+1. Pakon scans.
British actor Toby Jones came to the Oxford Union for a Q&A event and I went along to do some documentary photography. This was the second occasion I had photographed Toby – the first time was during filming of The man who knew infinity which had some scenes filmed in Oxford although the story mostly takes place in Cambridge. The Q&A session was very interesting and although I’ve never watched The Detectorists, after hearing Toby talk about it I’ve now started to watch it on Netflix and so far it’s proved to be very entertaining.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 1600, developed in Kodak XTOL 1+1. Pakon scans.
These portraits were made on the last day of filming of Endeavour series 5. Towards the end of a very busy day I managed to find a place in the corridor of the CID interior set where there was a nice pool of soft light that was perfect for some portraits so I took full advantage of it. In all of the years I have been photographing behind the scenes on Endeavour this was only the third occasion that I had seen Anton Lesser on set so I was especially pleased to have a chance to make his portrait just before a take. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to photograph more of the cast and crew on this occasion.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex 2.8F, Zeiss Planar, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 1600, developed in Kodak XTOL 1+1 18mins.
Whenever I photograph Q&A events at the Oxford Union I try to use both 35mm and medium format film cameras for a bit of variety. These shots were made with my Rolleiflex TLR during Baz Luhrmann’s visit to the Oxford Union. I had the opportunity to make a quick portrait of Baz before the start of the event and quickly positioned him next to a floor standing lamp that was in the Gladstone room where the drinks reception had taken place. I only had time to shoot one frame but sometimes that’s all you need.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex 2.8F Zeiss Planar, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 1600, developed in Kodak HC110 1+15.
