Yesterday evening I had a fun photo shoot with some Oxford University students that were all dressed up to go to the Oriel College commemoration ball. I had photographed one of them before at the opening night of Cabaret at Keble College a while back and it was from those images that I was contacted for this shoot (thanks Gen). It was a bit rushed towards the end as they all had to make their way over to Oriel College but I thoroughly enjoyed it. We used three different locations – a back garden, the grounds in Teddy Hall and the middle of the High Street where they were all literally stopping traffic. All of that fabric fluttering in the strong wind looked amazing. I was half expecting to be told to move along because of health and safety!
I contacted Oriel about photographing at their ball but no one replied to me. Magdalen College also had a commemoration ball happening at the same time but the President of the ball committee turned down my request for photography. Such a shame and a missed opportunity to create some great images as they only happen every three years.
These are all scans from Fujiroids (Polaroid). I also shot some film images which will follow on when I’ve had time to process and scan them.
[Tech info:] Mamiya RB67, 90mm, Fuji FP100C instant pack film.
Stopping traffic on the High Street.
In the back garden before the taxi arrived.
I like the colours of the dresses in the shade.
Teddy Hall quad.
Last shot before leaving.
Behind the scenes
One of my Flickr contacts happened to be walking past while I was photographing on the High Street and he sent me these two behind the scenes shots. We’ve never met in person and this is what he had to say: ‘When I saw a photographer last night in the middle of the road with a medium format camera I knew it just had to be you. I’m surprised the police didn’t move you on, you had traffic tailed back up to Carfax’.
Photography by Darrell Godliman.
