On a cold morning in March, 2012, I was rattling in my boots amongst the dark, constructed wharf of Philadelphia. The sun hadn't come up, and I was shivering in somewhat silent solidarity with a rep of the Virginia Film Office. Catherine was her name. She had a tremendous love for and knowledge of film. Our breath rolled out in thick puffs as we shared our favorite movies. We had Miyazaki in common, I remember.
Twenty minutes roll by and the sunrise is finally in our favor. We sprang into action! Or rather, I began losing myself in the surrounding back-lot while she monitored.
I climb aboard a sailing ship that was built for HBO's John Adams miniseries back in 2007 and proceed to walk, crouch and climb around the deck with the camera held up to my face. I wasn't only a photographer that morning, I was a pirate whose ship sailed the open plains in search of land-locked marinas and abandoned cities whose motto was "leave no trace" and "photo or it didn't happen." When you truly get caught up in a scene like this, the world fades away as you search for the perfect angle and composition, as many an artist can attest. Sometimes I find my body in awkward or unperceived positions as the world begins to fill back in around me upon capturing the desired frame, and this time I found myself laying on the deck of the ship. The VFO rep snapped this photo of me caught up in the occasion. You can see my breath condensing in the cold. #JustPirateThings
Twenty minutes roll by and the sunrise is finally in our favor. We sprang into action! Or rather, I began losing myself in the surrounding back-lot while she monitored.
I climb aboard a sailing ship that was built for HBO's John Adams miniseries back in 2007 and proceed to walk, crouch and climb around the deck with the camera held up to my face. I wasn't only a photographer that morning, I was a pirate whose ship sailed the open plains in search of land-locked marinas and abandoned cities whose motto was "leave no trace" and "photo or it didn't happen." When you truly get caught up in a scene like this, the world fades away as you search for the perfect angle and composition, as many an artist can attest. Sometimes I find my body in awkward or unperceived positions as the world begins to fill back in around me upon capturing the desired frame, and this time I found myself laying on the deck of the ship. The VFO rep snapped this photo of me caught up in the occasion. You can see my breath condensing in the cold. #JustPirateThings
Known simply as the State Farm, this 3,000 acre historic backlot is 30 minutes outside Richmond and features a period farm first created for John Adams, battlefields and trenches dug out for Lincoln, a jail and plenty of pristine landscapes. Also filmed on location have been AMC's TURN and Randall Wallace's Point Of Honor.
Constructed alongside the sailing ship was a paddle wheeler, the reproduced exterior of the River Queen used in Spielberg's 2012 Lincoln.
I had never set foot on a backlot before and gained a new appreciation of the facade structures that morning with their exposed posterior beams and unfinished interiors. The best part was having the run of the place and, of course, catching the simultaneous, half-frozen golden hour (oh, and playing a pirate).
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