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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
Here are some shots from back in March that I made with my Zenit Russian tank of a camera. It gives random light leaks which I’ve come to quite like. This film is Kodak Double X motion picture film as used by some Hollywood movie studios.
[Technical info:] Zenit 35mm, 50/2 Helios lens, loaded with Eastman Kodak Double X film, processed in Rodinal 1+25.
Here are my first results from push processing Fuji slide duplicating film. This film is designed to make duplicate copies of slide film when projected in an enlarger with a tungsten light source. It’s not designed for regular photography in daylight but it seems to work very nicely. Not only did I use this film in conditions it wasn’t designed for I also (deliberately) cross-processed the film in the wrong chemicals. Film is amazing stuff and part of the fun is experimenting.
[Tech info:] Graflex Speed Graphic 5×4, Aero Ektar, Fuji CDU II slide duplicating film, rated at ISO 25 and pushed 1 stop in processing using Tetanol C41 chemistry.
These shots are from my first shoot with Suzie on an overcast Saturday morning. I decided to experiment a little here and keep the overall look a little underexposed for a heavier feel. Two different cameras were used on these shots – one of them had a wide-angle lens on which was not what I had intended but I decided to go with it anyway and I quite like the results despite the obvious distortion. More to come.
[Tech info:] Pentax 6×7, 105/2.4 lens. Bottom two images with Mamiya RB67, 50mm lens. Kodak Tri-X (expired), processed in Kodak HC110 1+31.
Waterbird is a short film directed by Alex Darby which was being filmed in Oxford a few weeks ago. Alex invited me along to shoot some behind-the-scenes stills during a night shoot in the Westgate car park. Unfortunately I couldn’t stay for very much of it but I did manage to shoot a roll of film of some of the cast and crew.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66, 80/2.8 Zeiss Planar, Kodak Tri-X @ ISO800, processed in Kodak HC110 for 9 mins.
Some shots here from a production of The Alchemist which was playing at Freuds last week on Walton Street. I managed to make these shots shortly before the doors opened and I must say I really liked the set that they had created in a relatively small amount of space. It was nicely lit too and fortunately for me I had some Cinestill motion picture film in my camera from when I photographed Giffords Circus and as it’s tungsten balanced it was perfect for these shots. The film has expired so these were a bit of an experiment but I do like how they turned out.
[Tech info:] Nikon FM2, 50/1.4D, Cinestill film (expired), home processed in a C41 kit that I opened in July 2013!
The Lewis crew were in Oxford in May, here are some shots from a scene they filmed at Freuds on Walton Street. The last shot is someone who works there, I had one frame left on my roll. I’ve got a huge backlog of shots to post from the past couple of months so expect plenty of blog updates.
[Tech info:] Bronica ETRSi, 75/2.8, Fuji 400H (expired), processed and scanned by Ag Photo lab.
The Gaffer and his crew.
Security
After the getaway
