Game of Thrones still photographer Helen Sloan on her career, “Hardhome,” and her techniques

Helen Sloan has an interesting job. She takes still shots of the Game of Thrones production, everything from locations, actor portraits, atmospheric shots, and behind-the-scenes pictures. She’s been doing this since the very beginning of the series, and her work has gone a long way toward defining the visual style of the show. I mean, just look at that shot up top—Sloan clearly makes it her business to create striking, memorable images.

Pictured: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister, Nell Tiger Free as Myrcella Baratheon. Photographer: Helen Sloan/HBO

Recently, Sloan sat down with Nikon (she uses Nikon cameras a lot in her work) to talk about her career in general and her time on Game of Thrones specifically. Before getting her gig on Game of Thrones, Sloan had worked other jobs in the film industry, lending her expertise to “projects from war to sci-fi to horror to fantasy.” Before that, she photographed circus performers in the Belfast area, and first developed a passion for photography after her dad lent her his camera when she was 11. “Once I got started, I never wanted to do anything except photography,” she said. Seems like it paid off.

Pictured: Maisie Williams as Arya Stark, Ian Beattie as Ser Meryn Trant. Photographer: Helen Sloan/HBO

Like plenty of other cast and crew members, Sloan makes a point of not reading the books, although she had heard of them before she was asked to join the show. “If I know someone’s going to turn into a bad guy two seasons on, that might affect how I shoot them now, so I try not to find out,” she said. She also talked a little about how she approaches shooting stills on the set. After five years on the job, she has her techniques down.

"“I always shoot in manual. My style is quite different from a lot of other stills photographers. I like the frame to be busy, and to almost underexpose. I’ll have the ISO up pretty high usually – it suits my work. I never use flash unless I’m in the studio – there wouldn’t be a reason for me to use flash on set – and I always hand-hold. Some photographers use monopods, but I find they get in the way. You can be a bit more guerrilla with the blimp, although using it is like trying to do crochet with gardening gloves, but it’s a necessary evil.”"

I’ll admit I don’t know what Sloan’s talking about when she discusses “the blimp” (perhaps some photogs in the audience can enlighten me), but I appreciate her dedication to hand-holding her cameras and not being afraid to underexpose her shots. It often results in some really evocative, moody images.

©Helen Sloan/ HBO

Nikon also asked Sloan what her most challenging shoot was during Season 5, and her answer was pretty obvious: the Massacre at Hardhome. “It was quite possibly the most difficult episode we’ve ever shot. It was physically demanding for crew and cast, and mentally demanding for the production team. But at the end we all knew we’d made something amazing.”

Sloan didn’t reveal anything about what she’ll be shooting for Season 6, although she did say that she’ll start work for it in July. We can all look forward to more of her work come next year. In the meantime, if she wants to sort through the thousands of unused shots she collected over the years and somehow make them available, that would be great.

"“I can shoot up to 1000 images a day…I’ve now got over half a million shots from Thrones. I keep meaning to sort them out and do a website, but I never seem to have enough time. And how would I choose?!”"

©Helen Sloan/ HBO

Next: Emilia Clarke wants Arnold Schwarzenegger to make a cameo during Game of Thrones Season 6