November, 2014
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Saturday, November 29th, 2014
These are the first shots from my Voigtlander Nokton 50/1.5 lens which I tested during my lunch break yesterday. Technically this is the second roll of shots with this lens – the first roll was unusable because I forgot to close the back door of my M2 properly so the film wasn’t flat and the whole roll was out of focus. That’s what can happen when you’re excited to use a lens you’ve been looking forward to for quite a while. Lesson learnt. The weather was heavily overcast sky with a really gloomy feel everywhere. It’s the kind of light I would never usually waste a roll of film with but I really wanted to see how this lens performed so I decided to go out regardless and I must admit I do like the results, especially the bokeh, this lens is definitely a keeper. My thanks go to Jason Howe for all of his help and advice about this lens which I prefer for b&w over my Summicron 50/2. I’ll be keeping the Summicron because I shot some slide film with it and the results look fantastic so I can see it being useful for colour (as suggested by my friend Anthony).
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voitlander Nokton 50/1.5, Ilford Delta 400 (expired), processed in Kodak D76 1:1 for 14 mins.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait, Street portraits, students | No Responses »
Tags: black&white, d76, delta 400, film, leica, m2, oxford, pakon, people, portraits
Tuesday, November 25th, 2014
Recently I managed to pick up a roll of quite unique film and these are some of my first test shots with it. The roll is 350ft long and 5 inches wide so it’s perfect for being cut down to 5×4 inch sheets to use for large format photography. The film is Kodak Plus-X Aero film that was developed for aerial photography – this is stock used by the M.O.D. and expired in 2000. During my lunch break yesterday I went into town hoping to make some test portraits because the tonal range in this film is more like what you find in wet plate photography and I wanted to know if it was going to be usable for portraits. I’m very happy with the results which look very smooth tonally and the grain is almost non existent.
[Tech info:] Polaroid 110B (modified for 5×4), Kodak Plus-X 2402 Aero film, ISO 100, processed in Rodinal 1:50 for 14 mins.
Here’s the camera I used (shown below with a roll film back). Modified by Randy at HolgaMods.com
Posted in Oxford, People, Portrait, Street portraits, students | No Responses »
Tags: 110B, 5x4, aero, black&white, film, oxford, people, plus-x, polaroid, portraits, rodinal
Friday, November 21st, 2014
In between lots of wet weather over the past couple of weeks we’ve had some nice dry spells and I managed to finish off a roll of film in my M2 during my lunch time photo walks. A bit of a mixed bag here including a shot of me from the generous photographer with the Polaroid camera. I spotted him crossing beaumont street while loading in a fresh pack of Impossible b&w film so I stopped him to ask if I could make a quick portrait of him and he was happy to oblige (picture at the bottom of this post). I don’t know what caused the bright white patch in the middle of the picture but it does make it a bit more mysterious.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Summicron 50/2 (rigid), Ilford FP4 (expired 12/99), processed in D76 stock for 8.30.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Street portraits, students | No Responses »
Tags: ashmolean, black&white, d76, film, fp4, impossible, leica, m2, oxford, people, portraits
Monday, November 17th, 2014
These shots were made to test out a camera/lens combination I put together. The body is a Pentax 645N and the lens is a 105/2.4 designed for a Pentax 6×7 body but I’m using a lens adapter that allows this lens to be mounted on a smaller format body. I recruited the help of a friend for some of the testing (thanks Jean Pierre) and I experimented with different apertures to see how the depth of field looked, I also added in a portable LED light for some fill which worked out particularly well. The portrait in the top right hand corner is of Paul from Covered Arts, we went to school together many moons ago and it was nice to bump into him during his coffee break.
[Tech info:] Pentax 645N, 105/2.4 lens (attached with a 6×7 to 645 adapter), expired Ilford HP5 film, processed in Kodak D76 1+1 for 13mins.
Posted in film, Oxford, Portrait | 1 Response »
Tags: 645, black&white, d76, film, HP5, oxford, pentax, people, portraits
Sunday, November 16th, 2014
When I went to London last month for a day of photography with my friend Benedict Campbell, one of the cameras I took with me was a Canon Sureshot Ace point and shoot compact which has a wasit level finder on the top. I had only just got it so I decided to take it with me to see how useful it might be for some candid street photography. It took a little getting used to because the finder window is so small but I began to enjoy the low viewpoint and the ability to get quite close to people. Here are some of the results during lunch time in the city.
[Tech info:] Canon Sureshot Ace, Fuji Reala 100 film (expired), processed in Rollei Digibase C41 kit, Pakon scans.
Posted in film, London, People | 2 Responses »
Tags: 35mm, c41, canon sureshot, film, fuji, london, pakon, people, reala
Wednesday, November 12th, 2014
Now that winter is here and the weather is getting colder and wetter I think it’s the perfect time to start posting my coverage of the trashing that happened here in Oxford during the summer when it was a lot warmer and sunnier. This was such a lot of fun to photograph but also quite difficult, not only because I had to avoid getting in the firing line of the various liquids that were flying around but also because I kept getting accused of being from the Daily Mail after they published an article about binge drinking and used pictures of Oxford students getting trashed to illustrate it – the two things couldn’t be further apart. It’s hardly surprising really because if the Daily Mail are good at one thing it’s publishing lies – just ask George Clooney.
[Tech info:] Nikon F100, Agfa Vista 200 (Poundland) film, processed and scanned by ASDA Swindon.
Posted in film, Oxford, students | No Responses »
Tags: agfa vista, asda, exams, f100, film, nikon, oxford, students, summer, trashing
Tuesday, November 11th, 2014
This is my second set of pictures from the Remembrance Sunday event on St Giles in Oxford. After I finished the roll of Ilford Pan F I loaded a roll of Kodak TMAX 100 film into my M2. While I had another roll of Pan F in my bag, I decided to use the TMAX because I didn’t know how the extreme contrast was going to render so I thought I’d cover all bases by using a different stock. It was also a good experiment to see how different both films might be in the same conditions. For this roll I also changed lenses for a different perspective.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Summicron 50/2 (rigid), Kodak TMAX 100, processed in Kodak HC110 1:31 for 6 mins.
Posted in film, Oxford, People | No Responses »
Tags: black&white, film, hc110, leica, m2, oxford, people, remembrance sunday, summicron, tmax
Monday, November 10th, 2014
Here’s a set of pictures from the Remembrance Sunday service and parade that took place on St Giles yesterday. I’ve never been before so I didn’t quite know what to expect but the scale of the event was very impressive. After a wet and miserable Saturday we were fortunate to have a dry and sunny morning but even though the contrasty light made photography difficult I did like the long shadows and rim lighting. I packed my Leica M2 because I wanted to be discreet without using a noisy camera and apart from some difficulty with the rangefinder when looking towards the sun I soon found a workaround so it wasn’t too bad.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voightlander Nokton 35/1.2 II, Ilford Pan F (expired), processed in Kodak D76 stock.
Posted in film, Oxford, People | 1 Response »
Tags: black&white, d76, film, leica, m2, oxford, pan f, people, remembrance sunday
Sunday, November 9th, 2014
These shots were made during my lunch break to test a wide-angle lens I picked up for my Leica M2, it’s a Voigtlander Nokton 35/1.2 II. A couple of years ago my friend Benedict Campbell bought this same lens and the first place he went to test it out was the Natural History Museum in Oxford so I thought it appropriate that I should do the same. Not only are the light levels inside perfect to test out such a fast lens but there are also lots of interesting things to photograph as well as lots of people. The film I used was an expired roll of Ilford FP4 but there was no box with it so I don’t know how old it was. The grain seems heavier than I would expect so perhaps it was quite old. On my way back to my office I stopped off at Clements & Church tailors on Little Clarendon Street to use up the last few frames with Ian who is always obliging.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voightlander Nokton 35/1.2, Ilford FP4 (expired), processed in Kodak HC110 1+31.
Posted in Equipment, film, Oxford, People | 4 Responses »
Tags: black&white, film, fp4, hc110, leica, m2, natural history museum, oxford, pakon
Sunday, November 2nd, 2014
At my office I keep a Zenit TTL camera, it’s my go to camera to use during my lunch hour when I haven’t taken in anything else to use. Sometimes it can be pouring with rain in the morning which is when I usually decide not to take a camera with me to work but then it might clear up and be nice at lunch time and that’s when I dust off my trusty Zenit. As a result of this inconsistent use the film in the camera can end up being in there for quite a few months so it’s always exciting when I finish the roll and process it because I never quite know what’s going to be on it. The shots here span approximately the past five months.
[Tech info:] Zenit TTL, 58/2 Helios lens, loaded with Kodak TMAX 100, processed in HC110 1+31 for 6mins.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, students | No Responses »
Tags: black&white, film, hc110, oxford, people, students, tmax, zenit
