Battlestar Galactica - The Last Days

So a little while ago, 2008 to be exact i had an incredible experience photographing on the set of an amazing television series as it came to an end - The Battlestar Galactica episode “Daybreak”. For many weeks i drove onto set and to locations around Vancouver BC with director Michael Rymer and documented the final days of this amazing show. At the time there was no beautiful HD video capabilities on my Canon DSLR but i did manage to shoot a bunch of 4:3 footage on my little Ixus. While still in Vancouver I combined this into my own BSG wrap video for the series which eventually caused a bit of a stir in the industry. Out of the half dozen very high-level people i gave this video to, one of them leaked it long before Daybreak screened. Sites like io9 tore apart every single frame and published thousands of stills from it, so all manner of speculation as to what was going on hit the internet. Because this multi-part episode had many flashbacks and some pretty brutal scenes there was a lot of confusion and misconjecture as to who lived and who died and indeed who the “Final 5” were.

During my time on set i ended up taking thousands of photographs of actors and set pieces and made some of the most beautiful friends from this experience which in truth was born from me almost giving up photography at the time. Even with the high profile work i’d done for some of the biggest film franchises in the world it was hard for me to have my work appreciated or taken seriously in Australia so i was feeling creatively numb. It was only the love of Americans and Canadians and a few Brits too that i felt a new vigor to continue with my work as a photographer and so here were are. Where it all really began for me and where Battlestar Galactica ended.

It was the amazing kindness of Michael and Loretta Rymer that brought me to the set in the first place and while there i met one of my acting idols, Edward James Olmos and \ producer Harvey Frand. It was with great sadness that Harvey eventually passed away. These two very kind human beings made my life a joy on set and it’s to them and in particular Harvey that i wanted to dedicate a book of these images. Another great thrill to me was meeting and befriending Ronald D. Moore, someone i’d admired for many years because of his work on Star Trek, Carnivále and Roswell. I am always humbled by his continued use of my images in most of his profiles.

So BSG The Last Days is amongst many other things is in the works. I’m not sure how I want to release it other then as a gift to the cast and crew for the amazing experience or something that can generate charitable money but be rest assured it is in its final design stages. There is an old interview with GalacticaTV which talks a lot about my time on set if that interests you here Aside from that i’ll keep you posted on the progress and hope to have something to tell you sooner then later :) Meanwhile i hope you like some of the stills from my time on set. There are may more of these to come! So Say We All!

On a side-note here are some cool things on redbubble!
Men of Science Fiction Calendar
Tricia Helfer and Katee Sackhoff Calendar
BSG - The Last Days Calendar
Cool iPhone Protectors

As seen through the BSG A-Camera (Thanks Steve McNutt!)

Concept for the book cover by Dante Sapienza

Bills Viper!

Grace Eats, Tahmoh Drools :)

Shooting with the amazing James Callis

Director Michael Rymer

Director Checks the previous days “Dailies”

The gorgeous Nicki Clyne on set for some flashbacks.

Yep the Cylons were made of cardboard! LED tracking markers were used on these as they were marched down corridors

Business end of a Viper © Dennys Ilic Photography 2014

Viper Cockpit detail

Some more book cover concepts

Matthew Bennett - Yes even Cylons like a good coffee :)

Tahmoh on Set

Using Format