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Monday, October 27th, 2014
Never say never! That’s probably the best way to describe this post because there was a time when I swore I would never own a Leica. That was when time and time again I would notice people carrying them around as some sort of display of wealth when clearly they had no idea about how to best use it. But not all Leica’s are the same and while the digital models can set you back more than a Rolex watch, there are plenty of old film models that are cheaper than a lot of DSLR’s and built to last much longer too. After I started to enjoy using my Yashica Electro 35 rangefinder camera more and more I began to look for something that would give me more options such as interchangeable lenses and full manual control and when it comes to rangefinders it’s hard to ignore the king of the hill. I ended up getting an M2 from 1964 which seems to have been looked after and is a pleasure to use. This is a 100% mechanical camera – no batteries required. This set of pictures are from the first roll I put through it in my lunch break last week. It started to rain on my way into town so I spent most of my time in the Ashmolean Museum.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, 50/2 Summicron rigid, Ilford FP4 (expired Dec/1999), processed in Kodak HC110 1+31.
Posted in film, Oxford | 4 Responses »
Tags: ashmolean, black&white, film, fp4, hc110, leica, m2, oxford
Tuesday, October 21st, 2014
One of the things I enjoy about photographing drama productions is being able to test out films that I wouldn’t usually be able to test out during my lunch hour because they need low light conditions. These shots are from a roll of expired Ilford Delta 400 which I rated at ISO 800 and pushed one stop in the processing. It looks a lot different to the Kodak Double-X that I shot in the same conditions but rated at half the speed. Once again my Yashica Electro 35 proved to be the right camera for the job and I’m becoming a bigger fan of it the more I use it.
[Tech info:] Yashica Electro 35, expired Ilford Delta 400 (ISO 800), pushed one stop in Kodak D76 1+1.
Posted in Behind the scenes, Drama, film, Oxford, students | No Responses »
Tags: backstage, black&white, d76, delta 400, electro 35, film, oxford, students, yashica
Monday, October 20th, 2014
This is the first set of pictures from my time backstage at The Oxford Playhouse while the cast of The Furies were getting ready. There isn’t a lot of space in the dressing rooms so I did my best to keep out of the way while still making pictures – notice my reflection in two of the shots. Before arriving I didn’t know what the light levels were going to be like inside but I wanted to test out some Eastman Kodak Double-X motion picture film (the same type that was used by Spielberg for Schindler’s List) so I took a gamble and rated this roll at ISO 400 which is a 1 stop push from box speed. Overall I’m very pleased with the results considering how much contrast there is in these shots – bright lights and black clothing is a torture test for any film. A quick shout out to Charles Graham, the director, for allowing me access and a big thank you to the cast for being so accommodating which always helps to make my job a little easier.
[Tech info:] Yashica Electro 35, Eastman Kodak Double-X film rated at ISO 400, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 6:30.
Posted in Behind the scenes, Drama, film, Oxford, People, students | No Responses »
Tags: backstage, black&white, double x, drama, electro 35, film, hc110, oxford, students, yashica
Wednesday, October 15th, 2014
Last Saturday was Worldwide Photo Walk Day (in case you didn’t know) and there was a walk organised in Oxford with the theme of film. I didn’t sign up so I wasn’t officially part of the group but I decided to go along to show some love for film and to make some pictures on a Saturday afternoon. It was a good opportunity to put a second roll through the Pentax 645N that I recently got but haven’t had much time to test out. The film I used came in a batch of expired films but there was no date on it. I suspect it’s quite old because the backing paper has left a mottled texture on the film – something I don’t actually mind here.
[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, People, Portrait | No Responses »
Tags: 645, black&white, d76, film, HP5, oxford, pentax, people, photowalk, portraits
Thursday, September 18th, 2014
Christ Church College is such a grand venue for a summer ball and back in July the summer’s evening light was absolutely perfect for the occasion. After doing the promo photography I was really looking forward to this ball and it was worth the wait. These shots were made with a little point and shoot compact camera and I really like the snapshot feel to them. After the sun went down for a time it was so dark in Tom Quad that I could hardly see who I was photographing but somehow the camera still managed to focus. Many thanks to Tori for inviting me and for helping organise such a wonderful event.
[Tech info:] Canon Sureshot Supreme, Fuji Superia 200 film, processed by ASDA in Swindon, Pakon scans.
Posted in film, Oxford, students | No Responses »
Tags: ball, christchurch, film, fuji, oxford, people, students, summer, superia 200
Wednesday, September 10th, 2014
Some shots from the last day of filming of a short film titled Meatchute, directed by Tom Shennan. It was after I posted my shots from Waterbird that I received an email from Tom asking if I’d be interested in doing some photography during his shoot. I liked the sound of the location and the prosthetic make-up and fortunately it was on my route home from work so I stopped by and shot a roll through my Rolleiflex twin-lens camera – this is the entire roll of 12 shots. The location was very cool in a run down kind of way and I liked the simple lighting they were using with some added smoke for atmosphere. I tried to photograph as many of the cast and crew as possible without disrupting the proceedings too much. Everyone was very nice to work with and I look forward to seeing the final edit.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex 2.8F, 80/2.8 Planar, Kodak Tri-X @ ISO 800 (expired), processed in Kodak HC110 1+31.
Posted in Behind the scenes, film, Oxford, students | 1 Response »
Tags: 6x6, black&white, film, filming, hc110, oxford, portraits, rolleiflex, students, Tri-X
Monday, September 1st, 2014
A large format portrait made on 10×8 inch xray film. The making of pic below was made by Amanda from her viewpoint but you don’t get a sense of how large this camera is. I really enjoy making simple honest portraits like this with nothing fancy in terms of styling, lighting or location – just one light, subject and camera.
[Tech info:] Wista 10×8, Sinaron 300mm lens, green sensitive xray film, processed in Rodinal 1+50 for 6 mins.
Wista pic by Amanda | Xray film hanging up to dry
Posted in Oxford, People, Photo shoot, Portrait | No Responses »
Tags: 10x8, amanda, black&white, film, oxford, portraits, rodinal, wista
Thursday, August 28th, 2014
Portraits of some of the cast from the Oxford University Dramatic Society production of Twelfth Night which played in the Old Schools Quadrangle, Bodleian Library. These were made five minutes before the audience were allowed in and I’m very grateful to the cast for giving up some of their warm up time. These costumes came from the Royal Shakespeare Company and were amazing when you were up close.
[Tech info:] Bronica ETRSi, 75/2.8, Fuji Pro 400H film, developed and scanned by Ag Photo lab.
Posted in Drama, Oxford, People, Portrait, students | No Responses »
Tags: 645, backstage, bronica, drama, etrsi, film, oxford, people, portraits, shakespeare, summer
Sunday, August 17th, 2014
Some film shots from a promo shoot I did for the Christ Church Commemoration Ball 2014 who’s theme was English Eccentrics. This was a really fun shoot to do but one of those times where I wished I had more time to shoot film. Thank you to everyone that gave up their time for this shoot and to the amazing Tori for putting it all together.
[Tech info:] Bronica ETRSi, 75/2.8, Fuji 400H (expired), processed and scanned by Ag Photo lab.
Posted in Fashion, film, Oxford, People, Photo shoot, Portrait, students | No Responses »
Tags: 400H, 645, agphotolab, ball, bronica, etrsi, film, oxford, portraits, students, summer
Saturday, August 16th, 2014
Colour portraits of some of the Giffords Circus performers when they were in Oxford last month. They’re such a talented group and very patient with me photographing them back stage during the performances. The light was very different this year to last, it was also quite a bit hotter on most of the days. The sun was beating down for most of the day so I’d take slow film with me but then by early evening heavy clouds would roll in and the light level would drop quite a bit which made things tricky but that’s all part of the fun with film. I find that being challenged keeps things interesting and you pay a lot more attention to the light than you would if you were just changing the ISO in a menu on the back of the camera.
[Tech info:] Bronica ETRSi, 75/2.8, Fuji Reala (expired), processed and scanned by Ag Photo lab.
Posted in Behind the scenes, film, Oxford, People, Portrait | No Responses »
Tags: 645, agphotolab, backstage, bronica, circus, film, giffords, oxford, people, portraits, reala, summer
Wednesday, August 13th, 2014
If you only see one drama production this summer I can’t recommend this one enough – Twelfth Night playing in the Old Schools Quadrangle, Bodleian Library. Tomorrow (14th August) is the final date in Oxford before the production travels to London and Guildford. I was fortunate enough to photograph the opening night yesterday and I can’t even begin to say how incredible all of the performances were and what a brilliant job the entire crew has done in putting this show together and no, they’re not paying me to say this! Yesterday I only had a chance to photograph during the performance but I was so impressed with everything that I felt compelled to rush back there this evening to make some portraits before the show started. Unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to photograph the entire cast (my apologies to those that I missed) because they needed to warm up and we only had a few minutes before the doors opened. Thank you to everyone for being so patient with me.
[Technical info:] Mamiya RB67, 140mm macro lens, Fuji FP-100C instant pack film (expired), sliding diptych Polaroid back.
Posted in Drama, Oxford, Portrait, students | No Responses »
Tags: diptych, film, fp100c, fujiroid, mamiya, oxford, portraits, rb67, students, summer
Monday, August 11th, 2014
Whenever the OWP put on a Jam at the Meadow Lane skate park it’s always a great opportunity for photography. I only made it to the second half of last month’s BMX Jam because it was too hot for me at midday. Here are some shots of the long jump competition that was full of thrills and spills.
[Tech info:] Nikon FM2, 50/1.4D, Kodak Hawkeye film, processed in a Tetanol C41 kit (at over 12 months old the chemicals are probably a bit past it now).
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Sport | No Responses »
Tags: bmx, film, fm2, hawkeye, owp, oxford, summer
