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.
These portraits of Filippa were made last June (2013) but they got a little lost in my mountain of negatives so I’ve only just scanned them. All from the same roll of 10 frames with not a duff shot between them. Less is more. Zero retouching on these. Filippa was extremely easy to work with and it was a very relaxed shoot as I recall in tricky lighting which was rather flat. I think it worked out well in the end and I really like how these turned out. I hope I get to shoot with Filippa again, perhaps with large format next time.
[Tech info:] Mamiya RZ67, 110mm and 180mm lenses. Kodak Tri-X 400 (expired) film. Processed in Kodak HC110 1+31.
A couple of weeks ago I met with The Oxford Revue to make some portraits for them to use for publicity. It was at the end of one of their rehearsal sessions at the Burton Taylor theatre and there was not a great deal of time but it was a fun session with a really nice group of people who I hope to work more with in the future. We shot a variety of different expressions but I prefer the more serious ones especially as that’s not what you’d expect for a comedy group. The list of previous members of The Oxford Revue is quite impressive so keep an eye out for these guys (and girl), they’ll be touring soon. My thanks go to George (the director) for contacting me.
[Tech info]: Nikon D700, 50/1.4D. Fake Ilford HP5 filter applied to look less like digital and more like film. Not a chance!
These shots are from November 2013 when there was some filming going on for Endeavour series 2 episode 3. Hopefully it won’t be too long until the second series is broadcast, I’ve got a feeling it’s likely to be around April but I have no concrete information to go on. The scenes I saw being filmed were in King Edward Street and Catte Street, both day and very atmospheric night scenes with plenty of fog. During the filming of the scene with the red bus in Catte Street it was a pleasant surprise to see Colin Dexter arrive for his cameo appearance. He’s sitting next to the window on the lower deck. I’ve really enjoyed it when the Endeavour crew have rolled into town and not only am I excited to see series 2 when it’s broadcast but I look forward to hopefully seeing series 3 being filmed.
[Tech info:] Nikon FM2, 50/1.4D, loaded with Kodak Hawkeye film, dev and scan at ASDA, Swindon. My thanks to Simon for superb service.
This set of shots is from the beginning of the Town vs Gown boxing competition where you can see the boxers weighing in and looking a lot more relaxed than they did later on. With these shots I wanted to try out using on camera flash and with some of the shots I was going for that harsh old skool newspaper photography look, similar to the photographer Weegee. The light levels were very low but I like how these turned out.
[Tech info:] Nikon F100, 50/1.4D, loaded with Ilford XP2 (expired), rated at ISO 400, dev & scan at ASDA, Swindon.
The Oxford vs Cambridge Varsity competition takes place in Oxford every two years (the venue alternates between the two cities every year). In 2012 I photographed some powerlifting but I found out a bit late and most of the other events had already taken place so this year I’ve been doing some research to try to photograph as many events as possible.
Oxford won the Jitsu competition this year which took place in the dojo at the Iffley Road sports centre. I went along to photograph some of the training the day before the competition and then the next day which was the competition proper. The b&w shots below are from the training session and the colour shots are from the competition. The action was fast paced so I didn’t mange to shoot many frames but of the handful that I did shoot these are the ones I like best.
[Tech info:] B&w shots – Rolleiflex 2.8f, 80mm Zeiss Planar lens, Kodak Tri-X 400 (expired), processed in Kodak XTOL 1+1.
Colour shots: Nikon FM2, 50/1.4D, Agfa Vista 200 film, dev & scan at ASDA in Swindon. Many thanks to Simon for such great service.
