Test 1

This shot of a humming bird was taken in Los Angeles, just outside the home of my good friend Kerry. It was a diffiuclt shot to get as the speedy movement of the bird meant that automatic focus was useless. So I had to take my chances on manual. It took quite a few attempts to get a clear shot, but I was eventually happy with the result above.

This shot was taken across the Thames, just before sunset in late April '09. I was staying down in the capital for a press conference on the Monday before flying to the States. I played around with the exposure a bit to ensure that I got some good colours in the sky and water and didn't cast the Houses of Parliament in too much of a silhouette.

ON SET OF... THE SOURCE.

A majority of my time on The Source set was during the extensive night shoots near Vilnius. Frequently the temperatures were WELL into minus figures and several times my cameras seized up. Despite this, there were many opportunities for some great shots. This first shot, of star Adrian Paul, under the spotlight and between takes around 3:00am, was especially set-up for the HLWW event brochure and coverage of the film.

One of the key scenes shot over the week was in a forest setting involving actors, motorbikes and horses. As always on film sets there is a lot of 'hurry up and wait' and while standing on the edge of the clearing, I spotted this hooded rider who was waiting for the camera to be aligned and to gallop into shot. The temperatures were continuing to drop and snow was just beginning to fall. You can see from the horse's breath how cold it was...

After taking a long taxi-ride from the hotel, it was somewhat annoying to find out the driver had taken us in a huge circle and the set for the night was literally about 100 yards behind the hotel! In this alleyway, Adrian Paul gets ready to jump down into shot to tackle the muggers who can be seen in the background. There was very little set-dressing and the architecture is just as it would normally be - except better lit.

The lighting was one of the most impressive things about the night shoots - especially in the rural settings. Huge, powerful lights were situated on cranes that rose several hundred feet into the sky and illuminated what would otherwise be almost pitch black surroundings. Here one of the high spotlights cuts through the cold canopy of trees, casting atmospheric shadows across the entire set.

Again, not far away from the hotel, the city of Vilnius provided it's own impressive backdrop with its buildings and skyline. This prominent church - behind the alleyway further above - would feature in an early shot from the film, but even without some useful CGI in the finished film, you can see that the mixture of organised set-lighting and the natural, moonlit sky provides quite a striking combination to capture on film.

Here, our heroes captured and strung up in a makeshift camp. In this shot, actors Adrian Paul, Thekla Rueten and Peter Wingfield appear to be at the mercy of the film's villain The Guardian (Cristian Solemino). This was actually my first night on the set - around four weeks into filming of the movie, but the cast seemed mostly in good spirits despite the cold and exhausting schedule. The fires proved especially popular between takes!

The finished film did not live up to the expectations of fans or the cast, but it has to be said that the various sets and efforts put in on the ground were fantastic. Thanks to Adrian, Peter Wingfield, Jim Byrnes, director Brett Leonard and the co-operation of the late Bill Panzer, both myself and HLWW's Carmel Macpherson were both given incredible access to almost all aspects of the shoot and I got some incredible shots which have since been used in several articles and projects.