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Saturday, October 12th, 2013
Last Saturday was some sort of worldwide photo walk day where groups of photographers around the world met up in groups to walk around and do photography together. I wasn’t part of this but I stumbled across a group in Oxford city centre – the two organisers are the guys in the horse costumes. I don’t often go into town on the weekend so it was nice for me to see a totally different vibe on the streets compared to my lunch hour photo walks during the week – more shoppers and less working people out and about. I ended up bumping into some friends which was nice so we had a good chin-wag and catch up.
[Tech info:] 1950’s Rolleiflex Automat, 75mm/f3.5 Tessar lens, loaded with expired Kodak Tri-X, processed in Kodak Xtol 1+1 for 8 mins. I used a yellow filter on some of these shots because the sky was cloudy/overcast so I wanted to add a little contrast.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait, Street portraits | No Responses »
Tags: 6x6, automat, black&white, film, oxford, people, portraits, rolleiflex, tlr, Tri-X, xtol
Friday, October 11th, 2013
These are the only 35mm shots I managed to make at the BMX Jam that was held at the Meadow Lane skatepark back in July because halfway through the first roll of film the mirror inside my camera got stuck. I didn’t want to risk taking the lens off to look inside because of the risk of ruining the shots I had already made so I put the camera in my bag and switched to medium format for the rest of the event. This resulted in fewer shots and more portraits but less action (see my previous posts, part 1, part 2). After I got home and investigated a little more it turned out to be a piece of foam inside the camera that had gotten a little sticky with age, an easy fix. My beloved Nikon FM2 is back in service again, still going strong after 25 years.
I really enjoyed this BMX Jam and as it was my first one I didn’t quite know what to expect but now I know what it’s all about I can’t wait for the next one. It poured down with rain on the original date that had been set for this but on this day we had fantastic summery weather and a really good turn out. The portrait at top left is local BMX legend Alex Leech who I started my first day of school with many moons ago. I’d say he’s almost as passionate about BMX as I am about film photography and I always enjoy bumping into him at the skatepark.
[Tech info:] Nikon FM2, Zeiss 50/1.4 and Nikon 105/2.5 lenses, loaded with Fuji Superia 200, developed and scanned by ASDA in Swindon.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Sport | No Responses »
Tags: bmx, film, fm2, fuji, nikon, owp, oxford, people, portraits, skatepark, summer
Friday, October 11th, 2013
Here are two fujiroids from a photo shoot I had with Lauren, these are the bleached negs which have an extra 2 stops of shadow detail compared to the prints. There will be other images from this shoot to follow at a later time but they are almost all black & white. I really like how these turned out, very simple lighting in an incredible room.
[Tech info:] Graflex Speed Graphic 5×4, 180mm/f4.5 Schneider lens, Fuji FP-100C instant pack film (expired).
Posted in film, Oxford, Photo shoot, Portrait, students | 1 Response »
Tags: 180mm, film, fp100c, fujiroid, graflex, lauren, oxford, people, portraits, students
Tuesday, October 8th, 2013
Some test shots I made of Lauren last week. I wanted to test out my Rolleiflex Automat to see how it preforms as a portrait camera because I’ve read various comments about the 75mm lens not being anywhere near as good as an 80mm lens. Unfortunately I didn’t have another Rolleiflex with an 80mm lens with me to do a direct comparison, that will have to wait for another day. I also took t his opportunity to test out my Rolleinar 1 close-up lens to get in a little closer (I think the top left shot is with that). The sky was heavily overcast and the light level was so dark and flat that I’m honestly amazed that these look as good as they do especially as the film expired almost 10 years ago. Lauren was very easy to work with and I hope this is the first of more collaborations. I also shot a couple of sheets of large format 5×4 film but those will have to follow at a later time.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex Automat 3.5 (circa 1950’s), 75mm Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar lens, loaded with expired Kodak Tri-X, processed in Kodak Xtol 1+1 for 8 mins.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Photo shoot, Portrait, students | 2 Responses »
Tags: 6x6, automat, black&white, film, oxford, people, portraits, rolleiflex, students, Tri-X, xtol
Wednesday, October 2nd, 2013
Some shots from a photo shoot I had with Georgina a few months ago. Georgina had been rushing around organising things for the Balliol Commemoration Ball so I was glad when she managed to make some time to fit in this shoot a few days before the ball. This room was a tricky space to shoot in because of the height of the window and the amount of furniture in the room but I’m pleased with what I managed to achieve. I quite enjoy having to work to find images in less than ideal situations because it’s a great way to learn.
[Tech info:] Pentax 67 with 55mm and 105mm lenses, Kodak Portra 400VC and Tri-X films.
Posted in film, Oxford, Photo shoot, Portrait, students | 2 Responses »
Tags: 400vc, 6x7, balliol, film, georgina, oxford, Portra, portraits, students, summer, Tri-X
Tuesday, October 1st, 2013
Sometimes I don’t get around to processing some of my film until weeks or months after shooting it and sometimes I don’t label what’s on my film so I have no idea what’s on it until I hang it up to dry after processing it. That’s what happened with these shots that are from a lunch time photo shoot I had with Imogen just over 3 months ago! It’s the little surprises like this that make using film so fun. I really like the contrast in these shots which I think is from a film/developer combo that I haven’t explored much before (TMAX and Xtol). I’ll do some more testing with this.
[Tech info:] Nikon FM2, 50mm/1.4D loaded with Kodak TMAX 400 (expired), processed in Kodak Xtol 1+1 for 9:15.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Photo shoot, students | 3 Responses »
Tags: 35mm, black&white, film, fm2, imogen, oxford, portraits, students, tmax, xtol
Monday, September 30th, 2013
The first roll through my Rolleiflex Automat 3.5 (75mm Tessar) that I shot during my lunch hour. The camera is a joy to use, everything works like a brand new perfectly engineered machine so it’s hard to believe that this camera is from the 1950’s. The minimum focussing distance on Rollei TLR’s isn’t all that good so I also bought a set of close-up lenses which I used on some of these shots. There doesn’t seem to be any reduction in image quality that I can tell. I’m going to enjoy using this camera a lot more.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex Automat 3.5 loaded with expired (2003) Kodak Tri-X film, processed in Kodak Xtol 1+1 for 8 mins.
Posted in Equipment, film, Oxford, Portrait, Street portraits | No Responses »
Tags: 6x6, automat, black&white, diptych, film, oxford, people, portraits, rolleiflex, Tri-X, xtol
Sunday, September 29th, 2013
These portraits are from SS20’s 25th anniversary skate jam at the meadow lane skatepark. It was getting towards the end of the day and light levels were dropping so I struggled a little with the focus on a few of these but at this size they’re okay. I really like how these turned out considering the flat light and expired film I was using. Classic dignified portraits are what I like to make, no stupid poses or pulling faces – save those for camera phones!
[Tech info:] Pentax 67, 105mm/f2.4 lens, loaded with expired Kodak TMAX 400, processed in Kodak Xtol 1+1 for 9:15.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait, Sport | No Responses »
Tags: 6x7, black&white, film, owp, oxford, pentax, people, portraits, skateboarders, skatepark, tmax, xtol
Monday, September 23rd, 2013
It’s hard to believe that SS20 first opened 25 years ago. I was never a skateboarder but I do remember it was a big deal for the Cowley Road to have it’s first skateboard shop. Whenever I’d pass by I would look in the window to check out the new skateboard designs and the cool looking logos for the companies who’s products they stocked. SS20 is still going strong and still on the Cowley Road and to celebrate its 25th anniversary there was a skate jam at the meadow lane skatepark. I went along to do some photography and it was really nice to see the park so busy with skateboarders which was a first for me as there are usually BMX riders there whenever I visit. No BMX’s were allowed at this event of course. It was nice to see some familiar faces and to hear from people who have been enjoying my photography from the skatepark. I took three different cameras with me to this event, these shots are from the same roll of 35mm film. The medium format shots will follow at a later date.
[Tech info:] Nikon FM2, 50/1.4D lens, loaded with Fuji Superia 200 film, processed and scanned by Asda in Swindon.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait, Sport | No Responses »
Tags: film, meadow lane, owp, oxford, portraits, skateboarders, skatepark, ss20
Friday, September 20th, 2013
The second series of Endeavour (the Inspector Morse prequel) has started filming here in Oxford and I stumbled upon a scene being filmed during my lunch hour photo walk yesterday. I don’t watch much tv these days but Endeavour is one of my all time favourite tv shows to watch so you can imagine how pleased I was to come across the set. It’s amazing how Oxford can be so easily transformed to the 1960’s with minimal set dressing (I’ve read that series 2 is based in 1966). I only had five frames left on the roll of film I had in my Rolleiflex so I had to use them carefully. Shaun Evans who plays the title role was very down to earth and nice enough to stop for a couple of pictures, others I photographed below were some extras, the make-up artists, sound engineer and one of the guys in charge of the vehicles. I’m really glad that it was my Rolleiflex twin-lens that I had on me because it’s from the 1960’s. Some of these shots were from lunch time and some are from after work when they had moved to a different location. I would love to do more behind the scenes photography of Endeavour over the coming months but it’s impossible to know in advance when and where they’ll be filming around Oxford.
Here are some of my pictures during the filming of the final scene in the pilot episode of Endeavour back in 2011.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex 2.8f Planar, Kodak Tri-X 400 (expired) processed in Kodak Xtol 1+1.
Posted in film, Oxford, Portrait, Street portraits | 9 Responses »
Tags: black&white, endeavour, film, morse, oxford, people, portraits, rolleiflex, tlr, Tri-X, tv, xtol
Thursday, September 19th, 2013
Here are some large format portraits I made recently with one of my favourite camera, lens and film combos. The camera is from the 1940’s or 50’s, not quite sure, but I do know the lens was used for aerial photography during the second world war and judging by the condition of the paintwork it saw some action. The nice thing about this particular lens is the shallow depth of field and the way it renders everything with a beautiful smoothness but you can’t really appreciate the image quality in web resolution images.
[Tech info:] Speed Graphic 5×4, Pentac f2.9 lens @ f3.5, Ilford HP5 film processed in Kodak HC110 1+31.
Posted in film, Oxford, Portrait, Street portraits | 4 Responses »
Tags: 5x4, black&white, film, graflex, hc110, HP5, oxford, pentac, people, portraits, speed graphic
Wednesday, September 18th, 2013
One of the roll film holders for my Mamiya ProTL was faulty so I sent it off for repair. These shots are from a roll I used to check if the repair had fixed the wind on problem but unfortunately it’s still faulty and I only got 11 shots on this roll instead of 15. I’m going to stop using this film holder for now. Martin got a new smart phone and he’s seen here trying to do some panoramic photography (with not much success). In the last shot there’s a new ramp being built to provide wheelchair access into the Radcliffe Camera.
[Tech info:] Mamiya ProTL, 80/1.9 lens loaded with Kodak TMAX 400 (expired), processed in Kodak HC110 1+31.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait, Street portraits | No Responses »
Tags: 645, black&white, film, hc110, oxford, people, portraits, tmax
