In case you’ve been unaware of it, there’s a new James Bond movie coming to the cinemas, and along with Bond, comes brands, lots of brands all putting on Bond-related events. One of those is by the upmarket camera makers, Leica, who have an exhibition of behind-the-scenes photography all shot on Leica cameras from the making of the movie.
Taken by four photographers, including some by Daniel Craig, it’s a mix of moments captured during the filming, more social photos of the actors and the places they worked, and a few set pieces.
The photo of ten Aston Martin DB5s made me checking several times as it’s hard to spot the 10th car in the lineup, but it’s there. One action scene with the car looking very badly scratched is worth a very close inspection – unless I am mistaken, the scratch marks are a vinyl overlay on the side of the car. It seems that not even a reputed $250 million budget lets you scratch an Aston Martin car.
And you’ll probably not look at how they film people walking up a spiral staircase in quite the same way again.
It’s both an exhibition of good black and white photography which gives them a clarity and focus that can be lost with colour photos, and it’s also a glimpse into what makes a modern movie.
Your correspondent felt quite silly standing in an exhibition space next to a shop full of the best cameras, taking photos on his humble smartphone, but the shop staff were perfectly happy to let me do that.
The exhibition is at the Leica Gallery just around the corner from Bond Street tube station, at 66 Duke Street, London, W1K 6JD, and is open until 15th October. Opening hours: Mon – Sat: 11:00 – 18:00 | Sun: 12:00 – 18:00
