Spyke to the rescue (Day 2 filming)
Sleep eluded me from a combination of worry and the stuffy, warm conditions. 8am was supposed to be the start time. Met the crew at Jury's Inn hotel and the day did not bode well as Toby, the director admitted he woke up feeling for the first time in the 4 week shoot he felt genuinely unmotivated for the day. Great, no pressure then.
Kensington Gardens
I had originally in mind to take photos around St. James Street, Kemptown with the chance to see some colourful gay characters but wanted to capture a particular Brighton character. I had a hunch I'd see him and it paid off. Thank god 'Spyke' appeared as my first subject around 9:30am. I thought he'd only brought his pug dog but thankfully his white rat was inside his zip-up top. It was a rare day for him not to cycle with his rabbit in the basket. Lovely guy to meet who loved his animals.
Shops were still mainly closed at this point and not much else was going on so we stopped for a coffee. As we headed for the cafe I spotted none other than Martin Parr who'd been checking out a gallery for his exhibition to start in October. He joined us for a coffee and seemed to be less grumpy today.
I was getting used to the camera, looking to the left or right (never into it) plus my sound-bites were getting better. After a mis-start of someone objecting to the camera, a couple of guys were setting up their shop and stall of day-glow shirts and dresses. They spotted the TV crew and gave the ok. Scored about 3 really good photos here so I was buzzing with confidence.
Smoking photos
The director wanted another break spotting a cool t-shirt shop so he must have felt good about the progress we'd made regaining most of his sanity. With a present bought for his girlfriend we walked around the corner to Gardner Street. Apart from a lot of excited foreign students the director wasn't really feeling it so we went back using the cafe with the balcony overlooking the narrow lane. Just before going in, a cafe waitress was spotted having a crafty fag break. She looked perfect for the story I was telling (of life in the North Laines) and she happily posed for the camera.
The balcony cafe didn't turn out as good as we thought so headed back out for a last time grabbing some lunch along the way. The crew were a great laugh to be around joking about how to pull stunning girls or me doing a Naked Gun scenario with the mic still in my pocket going to the toilet.
The last photo session was another stroke of luck. We came across a cheeky little girl with her hippy-like parents eating lunch at a cafe, the other end of Kensington Gardens. They were so photogenic and friendly, it was easy to capture their best looks.
Photo finish
The final summary shot was around the back next to the main graffiti art murals. Although I was getting used to talking to the camera i.e. not waffling, the snappy sound bites weren't coming out. Trying to say whether Martin's advice had helped through the day was difficult. It took me a number of times (plus the sound levels from seagulls and traffic adding to the takes) to say something I was happy with. By 2pm, I was finished for the day.
I was looking forward to the results and confident that the photos would please Mr. Parr. Also, I'd have a small lay-in with filming starting at 11:30am.
See Day 3 of filming, the 'stunning' results
Kensington Gardens
I had originally in mind to take photos around St. James Street, Kemptown with the chance to see some colourful gay characters but wanted to capture a particular Brighton character. I had a hunch I'd see him and it paid off. Thank god 'Spyke' appeared as my first subject around 9:30am. I thought he'd only brought his pug dog but thankfully his white rat was inside his zip-up top. It was a rare day for him not to cycle with his rabbit in the basket. Lovely guy to meet who loved his animals.
Shops were still mainly closed at this point and not much else was going on so we stopped for a coffee. As we headed for the cafe I spotted none other than Martin Parr who'd been checking out a gallery for his exhibition to start in October. He joined us for a coffee and seemed to be less grumpy today.
I was getting used to the camera, looking to the left or right (never into it) plus my sound-bites were getting better. After a mis-start of someone objecting to the camera, a couple of guys were setting up their shop and stall of day-glow shirts and dresses. They spotted the TV crew and gave the ok. Scored about 3 really good photos here so I was buzzing with confidence.
Smoking photos
The director wanted another break spotting a cool t-shirt shop so he must have felt good about the progress we'd made regaining most of his sanity. With a present bought for his girlfriend we walked around the corner to Gardner Street. Apart from a lot of excited foreign students the director wasn't really feeling it so we went back using the cafe with the balcony overlooking the narrow lane. Just before going in, a cafe waitress was spotted having a crafty fag break. She looked perfect for the story I was telling (of life in the North Laines) and she happily posed for the camera.
The balcony cafe didn't turn out as good as we thought so headed back out for a last time grabbing some lunch along the way. The crew were a great laugh to be around joking about how to pull stunning girls or me doing a Naked Gun scenario with the mic still in my pocket going to the toilet.
The last photo session was another stroke of luck. We came across a cheeky little girl with her hippy-like parents eating lunch at a cafe, the other end of Kensington Gardens. They were so photogenic and friendly, it was easy to capture their best looks.
Photo finish
The final summary shot was around the back next to the main graffiti art murals. Although I was getting used to talking to the camera i.e. not waffling, the snappy sound bites weren't coming out. Trying to say whether Martin's advice had helped through the day was difficult. It took me a number of times (plus the sound levels from seagulls and traffic adding to the takes) to say something I was happy with. By 2pm, I was finished for the day.
I was looking forward to the results and confident that the photos would please Mr. Parr. Also, I'd have a small lay-in with filming starting at 11:30am.
See Day 3 of filming, the 'stunning' results
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