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Sunday, March 20th, 2016
Oliver Stone came to the Oxford Union for a Q&A session and I was there to do some photography. The previous two Q&A sessions I had photographed had been in the debating chamber but this one was in a much smaller more intimate space and for the first time I had daylight coming in through windows which made for some nice contrast. After my initial light readings before the start of the session I was only able to visually judge my exposure because as the sun was starting to set it gradually got darker outside and neither of my cameras had light meters in them.
[Technical info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 35/1.2 and 50/1.5 Nokton lenses, Ilford HP5 @ ISO1600, developed in Kodak HC110 1+31, Pakon scans.
Posted in film, Oxford, People | No Responses »
Tags: black&white, film, hc110, HP5, iso1600, leica, m2, oliver stone, oxford, pakon, people, voigtlander
Monday, March 14th, 2016
A couple of pictures from the recent Mary Berry Q&A at the Oxford Union. Apparently the most watched tv show of 2015 was the final of The Great British Bake Off but I must confess that I don’t watch a lot of tv and I’ve never seen the show. This was probably a good thing because going into this event I had zero preconceptions of what Mary Berry would be like and I’m happy to say that I found her very down to earth and also quite funny.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 35/1.2, 50/1.5 Nokton, Iford HP5 @ ISO 1600 developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 11mins 45secs. Pakon scans.
Posted in film, Oxford, People | No Responses »
Tags: black&white, film, hc110, HP5, leica, m2, oxford, oxford union, pakon, people, voigtlander
Monday, March 7th, 2016
Mark Hamill came to the Oxford Union last week for a Q&A session and I was fortunate to have permission to do some photography (thanks Stuart). Not only is Mark extremely funny but he’s also very talented at doing different voices and impersonations of people as he shared stories and anecdotes that only he can tell. The hour went by far too quickly but I’m sure this is a talk that everyone present in the room will remember for a long, long time to come. Video from the event can be viewed on the Oxford Union YouTube channel here.
I shot one roll of medium format film in my Rolleiflex 2.8F TLR but haven’t scanned those yet.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5 and 35/1.2 Nokton lenses. Ilford HP5 @ ISO 1600. Developed in HC110 1+31 for 11mins 45secs.
Posted in Oxford, People | 1 Response »
Tags: black&white, film, hc110, HP5, iso1600, leica, m2, oxford, oxford union, pakon, people, students
Thursday, February 25th, 2016
One of my favourite rangefinder cameras to use is the Yashica Electro and it’s the camera I most often have with me to take on my lunch break photo walks when I haven’t chosen something else to use. It’s light, quiet, simple to use and the lens gives excellent results. It also looks beautiful too. It’s an aperture priority only camera so there’s no need for an external light meter. Just choose an aperture, focus and click. Simple. Here are some shots from December 2015 and January/February 2016.
[Tech info:] Yashica Electro 35, Eastman Double X motion picture film, developed in Kodak D76 1+1. Pakon scans.
Posted in film, Oxford | No Responses »
Tags: black&white, d76, double x, electro 35, film, oxford, pakon, westgate, yashica
Monday, February 22nd, 2016
A generous friend of mine (thanks Clive) gave me an Olympus OM1 that he had been given over 10 years ago but never got around to using it. I was very pleased to accept it as I’ve been curious about the Olympus OM1 for a long time. I keep hearing so many positive things about it but I don’t have any experience of Olympus SLR cameras having been a lifelong Nikon user. It turned out that the light meter doesn’t work in this OM1 but fortunately it’s a manual mechanical camera and still works fine without the light meter or batteries. These shots are from the first test roll I put through it during my lunch break.
[Tech info:] Olympus OM1, Zuiko 50/1.8 lens, Kodak TMAX 1oo developed in Kodak HC110 1+31. Pakon scans.
Posted in Architecture, Equipment, film, Oxford, People, Portrait | No Responses »
Tags: black&white, film, hc110, olympus, OM1, pakon, tmax100
Saturday, February 13th, 2016
Here are some images from the first test roll through a medium format camera that I picked up recently. The Pentacon Six TL has been on my radar for the last couple of years because of one particular lens, the Carl Zeiss Jena 180/2.8. As luck would have it I came across a nice condition setup for sale last weekend for a reasonable price so I decided it was time to give it a go.
The first thing that struck me was the size of the front element of the 180/2.8 lens, it’s huge! My largest filters are 77mm but this lens requires 86mm filters. The camera is very nice to use, especially with a prism instead of a waist level finder which makes it easier to balance the big lens. The only camera I have that is similar in size and design is a Pentax 6×7 but two immediate differences struck me about the Pentacon Six TL – it’s a 6×6 format camera so you use it in landscape orientation the whole time, also the mirror in it is a lot quieter than the Pentax 6×7 and doesn’t cause as much camera shake. One thing I didn’t realise about the prism is that the viewfinder is not 100%. I’ve got a lot more image in the frame on the film than I remember seeing through the lens. I’m not sure if this is down to the prism or whether you get the same with the waist level finder (which I don’t have).
So far I’ve enjoyed using this camera and lens combo and look forward to seeing more results from it.
[Tech info:] Pentacon Six TL, Carl Zeiss Jena 180/2.8, Kodak Tri-X (expired 2002) developed in Kodak HC110 1+47 for 8 mins.
Posted in Equipment, film, Oxford, People, Portrait | 6 Responses »
Tags: 180mm, 6x6, black&white, film, hc110, oxford, pentacon six, people, portraits, Tri-X
Tuesday, February 9th, 2016
This is the third instalment of my photography from the Oxford Town vs Gown Boxing event at the Oxford Union last week.
[Tech info]: Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton, Kodak TMAX 400 @ ISO1600, developing in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 8mins. Pakon scans.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, students | No Responses »
Tags: black&white, boxing, hc110, iso1600, leica, m2, pakon, people, students, tmax400
Sunday, February 7th, 2016
This is the second instalment of my photography from the Oxford Town vs Gown Boxing event at the Oxford Union earlier this week. More to come.
[Tech info]: Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton, Kodak TMAX 400 @ ISO1600, developing in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 8mins. Pakon scans.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Sport, students | No Responses »
Tags: black&white, boxing, film, hc110, iso1600, leica, m2, oxford, people, portraits, tmax400
Saturday, February 6th, 2016
The Oxford University Boxing Club invited me to photograph this years’ Town v Gown Boxing event at the Oxford Union because they really liked my pictures from the previous two years and I was very happy to go along. It was nice to see some familiar faces and new ones too. I tried to mix things up with photographing some action in the ring along with behind the scenes shots but the lighting on the ring was too harsh to record it well. More to come.
[Tech info]: Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton, Kodak TMAX 400 @ ISO1600, developing in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 8mins. Pakon scans.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Sport | No Responses »
Tags: black&white, boxing, film, hc110, iso1600, leica, m2, people, students, tmax400
Thursday, January 21st, 2016
Some more shots from the last night of filming in Oxford for Endeavour series 3. This was close to when the crew wrapped just after midnight. I remember it feeling quite chilly out there despite this being the end of July. I’m very much looking forward to seeing how this scene looks in the final episode of series 3.
My sincere thanks go to Olly Blackburn, the director of this episode, for allowing me on set to photograph. I wish more directors were as accommodating. More pictures to come.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 35/1.2 Nokton, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 1600, developed in Kodak Xtol stock. Pakon scans.
Posted in Behind the scenes, film, Oxford | 2 Responses »
Tags: black&white, endeavour, exeter, film, filming, HP5, leica, m2, oxford, pakon, people, summer, xtol
Tuesday, January 5th, 2016
This set of behind the scenes pictures are from the final day of filming in Oxford for Endeavour series 3. It was a beautifully lit outdoor concert that took place on a summers evening in Exeter College gardens. The lighting crew did a fantastic job with all of the lights and the string quartet played for real which was a joy to listen to during every take. As it was the end of July the sky didn’t become dark until quite late so filming didn’t start until around 9pm and wrapped at almost exactly midnight.
My sincere thanks go to Olly Blackburn, the director of this episode, for allowing me on set to photograph. More pictures to come.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton, Ilford HP5, ISO 1600, developed in Kodak Xtol stock solution. Pakon scans.
Posted in Behind the scenes, film, Oxford, People | 4 Responses »
Tags: black&white, concert, endeavour, exeter, film, filming, HP5, oxford, pakon, people, xtol
Thursday, December 24th, 2015
Mark your calendar, Endeavour series 3 starts on ITV on 3rd January 2016. I can’t wait! Here’s some behind the scenes photography I did while filming was taking place in Oxford at the end of July. Looking back through these images it doesn’t feel like 5 months ago. I’m particularly looking forward to this episode because the scenes I saw being filmed looked very exciting and it was the first time that I’d seen so many of the cast members together.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton, Ilford HP5 developed in Kodak D76 1+1. Pakon scans.
Posted in Behind the scenes, film, Oxford, People | No Responses »
Tags: bank, black&white, endeavour, film, filming, HP5, leica, m2, oxford, pakon