Game of Thrones still photographer Helen Sloan talks Season 6

Helen Sloan wasn’t a household name before she started to work on Game of Thrones. She’s been a still photographer since 2005, taking promotional pictures of movies and shows on many a production. But Game of Thrones is altogether different—with fans eager to devour any new information from the show as it debuts, Sloan’s images are featured prominently ahead of every season and episode (including that new header image of Margaery).

Sloan tells Tech Insider that her position as the show’s still photographer was by no means assured. Tons of applicants were vying for the job, when her friend Mark Huffam, a producer on the first season, pushed to bring her on. Though she says it was mostly luck, and HBO’s determination to use local talent for the production, she also admits it was a very good fit. “I guess my style really suited the dark, murdery, incesty, battle-y, creepy ‘Game of Thrones’ vibe.”

Although Sloan calls herself a bit of a nerd, she had not read the books before doing the show, and once she signed on she refrained so as not to accidentally infuse pictures with foreknowledge of what might happen to the characters. As she points out, if she had known Ned Stark was fated to die, it might have been reflected in her portraits of him earlier in the season.

"I wanted it to be a representation of them there at that point in their journey. I wanted to be current rather than be ten steps ahead and know what happens at the end."

Sean Bean as Ned Stark, in happier times, photographed by Helen Sloan

Sloan also likes the fact that she never knows what she’ll be walking into—one day she’s taking pictures of men sitting around and drinking, and another they’re being set on fire. “You just have to be prepared for anything,” she said. “I’ve gone from being in torrential rain, a foot deep in mud somewhere around Castle Black, to going to a studio and it’s Dany in Meereen and it’s nice and dry and there’s a huge light pretending to be the sun.” She says she’s more prepared for any eventuality than she’s ever been on any other job, due to the fact that she could find herself anywhere on two different fantasy continents on any given day.

One of the major changes for Season 6 was the lockdown for secrecy. Very few cast members got full scripts—most only got their scenes to avoid leaks. Due to her position on the show, Sloan knows everything. She got all ten scripts, and she even knows the code names used for certain characters to keep people from knowing what was going on. Not that she’s giving anything way. She follows the company line on spoilers.

"You have to really hide it from everyone. You’re surrounded by extras or there are certain crew members who aren’t necessarily in on what’s happening, so you’ve got to be extra vigilant because spoilers ruin it for everyone. I didn’t even talk to my partner about what was happening. When I would be editing photographs [at home], I would hide the computer screen because I was like ‘You can’t see anything in case YOU let it slip!'”"

Kit Harington as Jon Snow, in happier times, photographed by Helen Sloan

So what can she tell us about Season 6, other than throwing out superlatives? “Every episode is going to be amazing this season,” she said. “Reading the scripts I was like ‘la da da’ we’re going along, and then BOOM and I’m like ‘WHAT!’ Like every single episode there’s something where I thought ‘Uh, really guys? You’re going to give me a stress migraine here.'” Okay, so maybe we should stockpile some Advil. Anything else she can tell us?

"This season, we’re going to top [Hardhome]. I can’t tell you why, but I can tell you that there was another equally as hard period of work that we did this season."

The assumption is that she’s talking about the large battle coming in Episode 9. But even though the work is hard, Sloan wouldn’t trade it for the world. “You never begrudge it, even though you’re tired. You’re going into work and looking at art on an industrial scale … it’s a dream job.”