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Tuesday, July 9th, 2013
A few Fujiroids (just like Polaroids) from a photo shoot I had with Tamsin. I also shot some 5×4 large format colour film that expired in 1991 so I’m looking forward to processing those. The bottom two shots are a little under-exposed because I metered for the highlights instead of splitting the difference between highlights and shadows. That’s something that can happen when you’re rushing. The sun was moving quite fast and between the time of composing the shot, focussing, cranking the shutter and putting the film into the back of the camera the light had changed and Tamsin was in complete shadow so I had to work fast.
[Tech info:] Graflex Speed Graphic 5×4, Kodak Aero Ektar lens (top & bottom left) Schneider 180/4.5 (bottom right) on Fuji FP-100C instant pack film.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Photo shoot, Portrait, students | 1 Response »
Tags: 5x4, aero, film, fujiroid, graflex, oxford, portraits, students, summer, tamsin
Monday, July 8th, 2013
Giffords Circus left Oxford earlier this evening after being here for almost a week in University Parks and I can’t say enough great things about the amazing people that work there. The weather was non-stop sunshine for the whole time they were here and although the temperature was pretty hot I think it was perfect summer weather to see the Circus. I made a few trips over there to see if I could make some nice portraits on film, each time I took a different camera with me for variety. The performers were all incredibly nice and friendly which made for a great experience. I went to the Sunday afternoon performance which was a full house and I enjoyed every second of it. I can’t recommend it highly enough if you get a chance to see it, these people are the real deal. Everything in this Circus is hand made with care and attention to detail from the sets to the costumes and I couldn’t help thinking that on some level it made perfect sense that I was photographing them because I hand process, scan and print my film with just as much attention to detail for the best possible end result. I’m keeping my finger’s crossed that Giffords Circus will come back to Oxford next year.
Lots more photography from Giffords Circus to come. If you’re one of the Circus performers and you see these pictures, please tell the others in the group and if you wish to, please leave a comment to let me know what you think.
[Tech info:] Graflex Super D 5×4, 190mm lens @ f8, Ilford HP5 film processed in Kodak HC110 1+31.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait | No Responses »
Tags: 5x4, backstage, black&white, circus, film, giffords, graflex, hc110, HP5, oxford, people, portraits, summer
Wednesday, July 3rd, 2013
I recently bought a batch of expired film which I have no idea about how they’ve been previously stored so I decided to test some out to see how well they worked. In this test I was using Kodak Tri-X 400 which expired in 2002 and 2004. Fortunately Tamsin was happy to help out for the testing but it started to rain just as I was loading the first roll of film so I rattled through the film at quite a pace. Also in this test I was using a lens that I haven’t used an awful lot – a 165mm/2.8 Pentax 6×7 which I found out is very difficult to hand hold steady at f2.8 and 1/125th shutter speed which resulted in quite a few out of focus shots (not shown here). I also shot a roll of Agfa colour film that expired in 1996 which I’m very curious to see the results from.
[Tech info:] Pentax 6×7, 105mm/2.4 and 165mm/2.8 lenses, loaded with Kodak Tri-X 400 film, processed in Kodak XTOL 1:1.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Photo shoot, Portrait, students | No Responses »
Tags: 6x7, black&white, film, oxford, pentax, people, portraits, students, tamsin, xtol
Tuesday, July 2nd, 2013
At this time of year it’s not uncommon to see oxford university students around town celebrating the end of their exams and it’s something I enjoy photographing whenever I can. There’s something very photogenic and timeless about their black & white outfits especially when photographed with black & white film. These images are all from the same lunch hour photo walk. At the bottom are Richard and Hugo, the Oxford Tailors that I pass on my way back to my office. I’ve been trying out a film that I never really liked when I first used it many years ago (Kodak TMAX) but I really like the results I’ve been getting recently.
[Tech info:] Nikon FM2 with 50mm/f1.4 lens, loaded with Kodak TMAX 400 film, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait, Street portraits, students | No Responses »
Tags: black&white, film, hc110, oxford, people, portraits, students, summer, tailors, tmax
Sunday, June 30th, 2013
Here are some of my images from the Balliol 750th Commemoration Ball that I made on medium format film. Once the sun had gone down I decided to switch to using only black & white film because I like how classic it looks – with lots of different coloured lights in the evening it can be quite distracting. The live acts in the second grid were King Charles (who were amazing) and Mark Ronson DJing. It was the first time I had photographed a live band with a twin lens reflex camera and although a bit of a challenge it was really good fun. With only 12 frames on a roll you really have to pick your moments carefully.
[Tech info:] Mamiya C330f, 80/2.8 lens, loaded with Kodak Tri-X 400 rated at ISO1600. Processed in Kodak HC110 1+31.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait, students | No Responses »
Tags: 6x6, ball, balliol, black&white, c330, film, oxford, people, portraits, students, summer, Tri-X
Tuesday, June 25th, 2013
Last week Balliol College held their 750th Commemoration Ball here in Oxford and I was there to photograph the event. The weather was a perfect summers evening with gorgeous light and as a photographer I couldn’t have asked for more. I believe there were somewhere around 1,200 guests in attendance so I kept busy the whole night. While there was still daylight I used colour film and after it got dark I switched to black & white. The colour images will be a while as I try to decide on whether to develop them myself or to send them out to a lab. I have a pile of colour films I need to develop which has been steadily growing over the past 5 months. I’m waiting to order the chemicals necessary to develop them because the 5L kit is good for 100 – 120 rolls and once you start to mix the chemistry it has a shortish shelf life.
So, here we have a little preview of some of my black & white shots from the evening. The 2012 Balliol Ball last year was the very first Oxford University ball I’ve ever attended and some of the images I made on film that night are my favourites from all of the ball’s I’ve attended so far. It was nice to see some familiar faces at this ball from last year and also to meet some visitors of this blog. Lots more film images still to come but I’ll be drip feeding them because I have so many to post.
[Tech info:] Mamiya C330f, 80/2.8 lens, loaded with Kodak Tri-X 400 rated at ISO1600. Processed in Kodak HC110 1+31.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, students | 2 Responses »
Tags: 6x6, ball, balliol, black&white, c330, film, hc110, portraits, students, summer, Tri-X
Monday, June 24th, 2013
These two portraits were made yesterday at the same skatepark session as the two in the previous post except these were made on 5×4 black & film. The maximum amount of 5×4 sheet film I can develop at the same time is 6 sheets so that’s usually how many I load into film holders at the same time. I had already used 4 sheets from this batch at a shoot I had with Imogen so I only had 2 sheets with me when I decided to go to the skatepark. It’s a shame because the light was nice (when the sun wasn’t behind a cloud) and there was a good crowd there.
[Tech info:] Graflex Super D 5×4, Pentac f2.9 @ f4, Ilford Delta 100 processed in Ilford DDX 1+4.
Posted in film, Oxford, Portrait | No Responses »
Tags: 5x4, black&white, bmx, ddx, delta 100, film, graflex, meadow lane, owp, oxford, pentac, people, portraits, skatepark, summer, super d
Sunday, June 23rd, 2013
These two portraits were made at my local skatepark today. It was a really fun session and my portrait volunteers did really well to stay still whilst being heckled from their friends. I wanted to test out my Super D camera after I had some focus issues the last time I used it and the good news is I’ve managed to achieve critical focus again with my workaround but the bad news is that I need to use the camera on a tripod to do it. When you’re working with really shallow depth of field it’s always a good idea to mount your camera on a tripod so it’s not the end of the world. I only had two sheets of film with me and these last two shots of Fuji instant pack film. The film shots will follow (I left them drying in the darkroom overnight).
[Tech info:] Graflex Super D with Pentac f2.9 lens @ f4. Fuji FP-100C instant pack film.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait | 2 Responses »
Tags: 5x4, bmx, film, fujiroid, graflex, meadow lane, owp, oxford, pentac, people, portraits, skatepark, super d
Wednesday, June 19th, 2013
This was a really fun photo shoot that came together yesterday. Josh contacted me to see if I would be interested in photographing this Elephant costume he had made for a party. I was instantly intrigued to see it so of course I said yes. This took him a week to make and it’s mostly made of foam, I was very impressed! Tamsin came to the photo shoot and we all had a lot of fun making pictures. At least I think Josh had fun because this was the hottest and most humid day of the year so far and I was concerned he might keel over from dehydration. (The last shot got a little ruined from the humidity). These are Fujiroids, I did also shoot some film so those shots will follow once I’ve developed them. I’ve built up quite a batch of colour rolls of film to develop from this year so it will be exciting to start developing them soon.
[Tech info:] Mamiya Universal, 100mm/3.5 lens, Fuji FP-100C instant pack film (expired).
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Photo shoot, students | 2 Responses »
Tags: film, fp100c, fujiroid, mamiya universal, oxford, students, summer, tamsin
Tuesday, June 18th, 2013
Whenever possible I take a camera along with me to my photo shoots that is able to shoot some Fuji instant pack film (similar to Polaroid). Here are some from recent photo shoots. I haven’t developed any of the film from these shoots yet so they’ll follow on later. The camera I used for these is a bit of a bulky beast with rangefinder focusing (not my favourite) but when I get it right this camera does deliver.
[Tech info:] Mamiya Universal, 100mm/f3.5 lens, Fuji FP-100C instant pack film (expired).
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Photo shoot, Portrait, students | No Responses »
Tags: fp100c, fujiroid, mamiya universal, oxford, people, portraits, students, summer
Monday, June 17th, 2013
Here are some images from a photo shoot I had with Imogen recently. I took along two cameras that were completely opposite in size, a 5×4 large format SLR (Super D) and a 35mm rangefinder (Yashica Electro). I’m not a fan of rangefinder cameras (despite owning a few) and whenever I use them it’s not a very enjoyable experience mainly because I much prefer to see the viewfinder image go in and out of focus but I do like the results I got from my Yashica in this session.
I was keen to try out my Super D with an old lens I had adapted to fit but after the first test Fujiroid I noticed the focus was a little bit off – when the image in the viewfinder was in focus the image in the final print was focused slightly in front of the point that I had focused on. As a result of this I had to do a bit of guess work with the rest of the shots so they’re not as sharply focussed as I wanted. Later when I got home I figured out the problem is that the mirror doesn’t rest as low as it should so now I have to manually twist and hold a lever to push the mirror down while I am focussing. It’s a bit of a faff so I need to find an alternate method.
[Tech info:] Graflex Super D 5×4, Pentac f2.9 lens @ f4, Ilford FP4 film processed in Kodak HC110 1+31. Yashica Electro 35 loaded with Kodak TMAX 400, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31.
Posted in film, Oxford, Photo shoot, Portrait, students | 2 Responses »
Tags: 5x4, black&white, film, fp4, graflex, hc110, oxford, people, portraits, students, super d, tmax
Sunday, June 16th, 2013
These images are all from my first photo shoot with Tamsin which went extremely well and was very enjoyable. I’ve wanted to shoot with Tamsin for a while but timings and weather never seemed to work out so I was pleased that we were able to arrange this shoot before the end of the academic year and the summer break. For this shoot I took along three different cameras, these shots are from two of them (medium format Rolleiflex 6×6 and 35mm Nikon), the other was a Mamiya Universal that I used to shoot some Fuji instant pack film, those shots can be found here.
This shoot went so well that I managed to finish a few different rolls of film – I don’t usually have enough time to finish more than one or two. The others haven’t been developed yet so those shots will follow at a later time.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66, 80mm/2.8 Zeiss lens, loaded with Kodak Tri-X 400, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 7:30. And a Nikon FM2, 50mm/1.4D lens, loaded with Kodak TMAX 400, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 5:30.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Photo shoot, Portrait, students | 3 Responses »
Tags: 6x6, black&white, film, fm2, hc110, oxford, portraits, SL66, students, summer, tmax, Tri-X
