This was a great night at a packed Oxford Town Hall. I struggled with the lack of space back stage to make many pictures, instead I wanted to record the ambience of the venue. In the end Oxford won which was a fantastic end to the night. I have some other shots on a roll in a different camera that I haven’t finished yet but I’ll post those when I have them.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex 2.8f, 80/2.8 Zeiss Planar, loaded with expired Ilford Delta 3200, processed in Rodinal 1+25.
I caught the end of one match and the beginning of another in University Parks. Trying to photograph sport with a hulking big medium format camera was quite fun but unfortunately I didn’t have much spare time to stay because I had to get over to Iffley Road for the swimming and water polo.
[Tech info:] Pentax 67, 165mm/2.8, loaded with Ilford FP4 (expired), processed in Kodak HC110 1+31.
Helen and Pascale were raising money for a good cause outside Hertford College a few weeks ago with a pancake sale. I’ve never seen Catte Street so busy at lunch time. I managed to make a few pictures on my lunch break photo walk. Thanks for the pancake girls, it was very tasty.
[Tech info:] Bronica ETRSi, 75/2.8, loaded with expired Ilford FP4, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31 (dilution b).
These portraits were all made during the swimming and water polo events at the Oxford vs Cambridge Varsity 2014. I was struggling to find enough space to set these shots up and it was also difficult to find competitors that had spare time to stop but in the end I’m pleased with how these turned out.
[Tech info:] Bronica ETRSi, 75/2.8, Ilford FP4 (expired). Processed in Kodak HC110 1+31.
Last weekend was packed with sporting events for the Oxford vs Cambridge Varsity 2014 competition and on Saturday morning I attended the Fencing which was held at the Examination Schools on the High Street. It was a grand venue for a sporting event and I really enjoyed seeing some of the action. Although I went prepared with a small lighting kit I decided to make use of the daylight coming in through the windows. These portraits were all made during the competition which is why there aren’t very many. This is the contents of an entire roll of film, all 10 frames. I did also photograph some of the action but those shots will follow at a later time.
[Tech info:] Mamiya RZ67, 110/2.8 lens, loaded with Kodak Tri-X 400 (expired), processed in Kodak HC110 (dilution b).
It’s been a while since I’ve done any photography of the Oxford tailor’s at Clements & Church because of all the wet weather we’ve had but at the moment we seem to be having a dry spell so I decided to do a couple of test shots with using a flash connected to one of my Polaroid Land camera’s which I’ve never done before. Despite it being an overcast day it was difficult to overpower the ambient light because the flash sync speed on this camera is only 1/60 but overall I like the look. My first test shot with Hugo looked a little over-exposed so I stopped the lens down 1 stop for Ian’s shot – you can see a slight difference in the depth of field of the background.
[Tech info:] Polaroid 190 Land camera, Nikon SB800 speedlight, Fuji FP-100C instant pack film (expired).
The last time I photographed the Oxford v Cambridge Varsity Powerlifting was in 2012 and two years later I was photographing it again. Interestingly there were some of the same students lifting for both teams, some of whom I photographed at the previous event. There will be more film shots to follow, these are the only colour portraits I managed to make during the event due to lack of time, they are all from the Oxford team.
[Tech info:] Mamiya RB67, 90/3.8 lens, Fuji FP-100C instant pack film (expired), sliding Polaroid back.
Here are some more images from backstage at The Benefactor Charity Show I was at last week. With these I decided to use one of my favourite films for low light photography – Ilford HP5. All shot in available light. You can see some of the hive of activity that was going on in the main room by the hair and make-up teams. A bit of a surprise was when some of the OUABC boxers turned up to model some boxer shorts. Boxers in boxers, very clever!
[Tech info:] Nikon FM2, 50/1.4D, loaded with Ilford HP5 @ ISO1600, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31.
More backstage shots from The Benefactor Charity Fashion Show that I attended earlier this week. These are all on different film to the first post and you can see a clear difference in terms of both contrast and grain. I’ve found that Kodak Tri-X pushes to ISO 1600 very nicely if you have enough light. The hard thing about trying to photograph backstage at a fashion show is usually the lack of space and time to work in because of all the other things going on – hair, make-up, styling etc. The other hurdle is usually the quality of light you have to work with which tends to be fluorescent tubes in the ceiling which is the case at the Town Hall. It’s all of these challenges that make it exciting and I quite like having to work for my shots. The downside is that during the show the models usually have a minute between outfit changes which makes it impossible to photograph them which can be frustrating when you see lots of amazing outfits flashing past without being able to photograph any of them. You take the rough with the smooth, do the best you can and enjoy the journey. These shots are all from the same roll of film, I only get 15 frames with this medium format camera so it’s not a bad hit rate.
Credits: Hair by Toni & Guy, Oxford. Make-up by Majenta.
[Tech info:] Bronica ETRSi, 80mm/2.8, loaded with Kodak Tri-X 400 (expired) @ ISO1600, processed in HC110 1+31 for 16 mins.
Oxford’s Town Hall is a great venue for a fashion show, I’ve photographed quite a few there in the past and earlier this week that was where The Benefactor Charity Fashion Show was held. Here’s a first set of images but there are lots more to come. I decided to experiment a little and for these shots I combined a grainy film (Ilford Delta 3200) with a developer that is known to exaggerate grain (Rodinal). The film expired in 2007 and has lost some of its low light sensitivity but I like the results.
[Tech info:] Bronica ETRSi, 80/2.8 lens, loaded with Ilford Delta 3200, processed in Rodinal 1+25 for 9mins.
