Stepping Through Film: Man trots globe blending scenes into film locations

By Katy Lewis

BBC News, Essex

An Essex photographer who turned a “passion project” into a full-time job that has taken him around the world said it had been a “truly amazing adventure”.

As a film student, Thomas Duke, 24, started lining up scenes from movies or TV series with the locations where they were shot or inspired by, and took photographs of the result.

He put his examples of the technique, known as rephotography, on social media and gained a following.

Soon he was approached by companies to celebrate film releases or locations and now, under his Stepping Through Film banner, he has gained almost 300,000 followers on Instagram and 131,000 on Facebook and works at it full-time.

The photographer, from Newport near Saffron Walden, said he always wanted to be an animator and studied film and TV.

It was while at university in London that location photography became a separate hobby.

He said: “I’ve always liked travel and going to film locations and I love photography, so I thought, why not put them together?

“It’s a passion project and is something I never thought I would do [as a job] – it was just marketing on social media, really, it’s quite surreal.”

The process involves printing as many shots of the film or TV show as he can and then lining everything up as closely as possible when he finds the location.

“I love trying to get it as perfect as possible,” he said.

“I’m always excited to see what might have changed from when it was filmed. Is the building the same, is anything different?”

Mr Duke said he tried his first photograph using this technique at the National Portrait Gallery, where a scene for 007 blockbuster Skyfall was shot.

He went on to take many images around London, including visiting Whitehall, where Atonement with James McEvoy was filmed, and photographing outside the Ministry of Defence, where the Edge of Tomorrow was shot – an experience he described as “quite scary”.

“They don’t allow you to take photos of it, so you have to ask permission and a security guard comes with you,” he said.

He was first approached to take photos professionally in 2019 to celebrate where the new Men in Black movie had been filmed in the capital.

Since then he has travelled in the UK and around the world and captured moments like the final beach scene from Netflix hit Heartstoppers in Herne Bay, and he has been in Sheffield for his latest project on the new TV spin-off of The Full Monty film.

With Hertfordshire’s growth as a filming county, he has worked with Visit Herts to promote screen tourism.

He has been to St Albans Cathedral, where madcap spy Johnny English, played by Rowan Atkinson, was crowned King. He has also worked at Knebworth House, the site of about 90 films, and Hatfield House, recognisable in The Favourite, Bridgerton, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and more.

Earlier this year, the South Carolina Tourist Board asked Mr Duke to record all the films that had been shot there, including The Notebook and Forrest Gump.

He said that at “particularly iconic locations”, like The Notebook house, it felt “surreal” not only to think the actors had stood there, but also that “a story that has touched millions of lives around the world was right there”.

“There’s only one spot for this story and that never changes,” he said.

Beach scenes were among the most difficult to get right, he said, especially if the weather was bad – such as when he went to a windy Dunkirk.

It was also hard to find some locations in animated films like areas of Paris for Ratatouille and Regent’s Park for 101 Dalmatians.

But at the same time, he said animation was a favourite genre because it was “more of an art form”.

“I love how animation is inspired by the real world around us and that inspires me to see what can be created,” he said.

The “most magical” experience for him was going to the Cinque Terra on the Italian Riviera, where the Pixar team went for inspiration for Luca.

“I stayed where they stayed and with the crystal blue waters, it really looked the same as the animated world,” he said.

The coronavirus lockdowns were also difficult for the travel enthusiast, but he said it just “forced me to be more creative”.

“I couldn’t help trying some supermarket shots from films in my local Sainsbury’s, such as from Elf and Hot Fuzz,” he said.

“I also did A Bug’s Life in my back garden – I cut out tiny pictures of the characters and stuck them amongst the tiny blades of grass.

“I just tried to work with what I had.”

In the future, he said he would like to go to Iceland, as many of his favourite films were made there.

“Interstellar used an ice glacier as a stand in for another planet and then there was Batman Begins, Game of Thrones and the Secret Life of Walter Mitty with Ben Stiller,” he said.

As well as the excitement of visiting a location, he said he loved how his images sparked conversations about film.

“It’s always lovely [on social media] to talk about a film, why we love it, our favourite moments and how the location was found,” he said.

“I have no idea if I’ll be doing my photography forever,” he added. “It’s been a truly amazing adventure whatever the case and I have so many memories from it all.”

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