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Monday, March 11th, 2013
Some rolls of colour film that I sent off to a photo lab for processing and scanning a week ago arrived back this morning and it was nice to see shots from lots of different photo shoots among them, mostly from the end of last year. I usually do all of my own processing and scanning but colour is tricky during the winter because the temperature of the chemicals needs to be kept within a very small tolerance (less than 0.5 of a degree) and my studio where I usually do my processing is an ice box during the winter. After building up a small batch of exposed colour film I decided to test out a new lab I had heard about rather than wait until the weather warms up in the spring and because I usually struggle a bit with colour scanning I went for the option to have the lab do it for me. I’ll drip feed the scans instead of cramming them all in together.
Here are a few shots from a lunch hour shoot I had with Georgina (I think at the beginning of December). We lucked out with the weather and nice wintery sunshine on that day. These were some of the last shots I made and the ones I was most excited to see, especially the two portrait shots where the sun is backlighting but also bouncing off a stone wall behind me to give a soft front light (one of my favourite kinds of light). These shots have had zero retouching done to them, one of the many joys of shooting with film.
[Tech info:] Bronica ETRSi loaded with Kodak 160VC.
One of my favourite kinds of light.
In front of the Sheldonian Theatre.
Posted in film, Oxford, Photo shoot, students | 2 Responses »
Tags: 645, bronica, film, oxford, portraits, students
Sunday, March 10th, 2013
Here are some of my experiments with Polaroid passport cameras. I’ve got two and four lens versions which allow you to either have all of the images on the print be the same or you can make them all different. Something I didn’t realise until peeling these prints was that the lenses are fixed to a focussing distance of 1.2m and even though there is a switch on the four lens version to set it to 1.92m it doesn’t actually move the lenses, you’re meant to attach additional lenses (which I don’t have) to the front if you expect to achieve in focus shots. Now I know! You should be seeing some in focus shots sometime in the future.
Top two shots are with flash, bottom two are without.
The shot on the left was with an additional lens from a 403R but it has no markings. Shot at 1.2m.
Posted in Equipment, film, Oxford, students | 1 Response »
Tags: fp100c, fuji, fujiroid, passport, polaroid
Wednesday, March 6th, 2013
Here are some shots from a recent lunch break photo shoot that I had with Jess to test out a new (to me) camera and lens combo that I picked up. Despite the sunny weather that we had on this day I decided to use some fast speed film that you’d only usually use in low light because I already had one roll of it to process and I like to process two rolls at the same time whenever possible. I really like how these turned out with the grain and I can see myself doing this a little more often.
[Tech info:] Mamiya 645 Pro TL, 150mm/f2.8 lens, Kodak Tri-X rated at ISO1600, processed in Rodinal (1:50).
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Photo shoot, Portrait, students | No Responses »
Tags: 645, black&white, film, jess, oxford, people, portraits, rodinal, Tri-X
Sunday, March 3rd, 2013
Here are some shots from a lunch hour photo shoot I had with Chloe a couple of weeks ago on a day where we were lucky enough to have a little sunshine to photograph in. Regular visitors to this blog are probably familiar with the location because I’ve used it a number of times. I like the lines, angles and shadows and I also like the challenge of trying to make good use of the same location. I’m sure there are some great shots still to be made here.
[Tech info:] Mamiya RB67, 90mm & 180mm lenses, loaded with Kodak Tri-X, processed in Kodak HC110 (1:31).
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Photo shoot, Portrait, students | No Responses »
Tags: 6x7, black&white, chloe, film, hc110, oxford, people, rb67, students
Saturday, March 2nd, 2013
Here’s a Fujiroid from a recent lunch hour photo shoot I had with Sylvia. I also shot some colour film but that has been sent to a lab that I’m trying out so those shots will follow at a later date. You may recognise the location from some of my other shoots and that’s because it’s close to my office and very convenient to walk to. I’ve been trying not to repeat the same shots at this location so it’s a bit of a challenge but I like that.
[Tech info:] Mamiya RB67, 180mm/f4.5 lens. Fuji FP100-C instant pack film loaded into a sliding Polaroid back.
Posted in film, Oxford, Photo shoot, Portrait, Street portraits, students | No Responses »
Tags: diptych, film, fujiroid, oxford, people, polaroid, portraits, rb67, students
Friday, March 1st, 2013
Last weekend I did a photo shoot with the amazing team at Popham Hairdressing on North Parade here in Oxford. They had picked out four of the models that they worked with during Oxford Fashion Week last year and it was nice to see some familiar faces. All of the photography was done in their salon which thankfully has a really high ceiling which was perfect for setting up a boom arm for one of the lights. I shot a mixture of film and digital. Below are the Fujiroids that I shot with the sliding Polaroid back on my RB67. I also shot some colour and black & white roll film which will follow at a later time.
[Tech info:] Mamiya RB67, 180mm/f4.5 lens with Fuji FP100-C loaded into a sliding Polaroid back.
Posted in Fashion, Oxford, People, Photo shoot, Portrait, students | No Responses »
Tags: diptych, film, fujiroid, oxford, people, polaroid, popham, portraits, students
Thursday, February 28th, 2013
One of my favourite cameras is my Graflex Super D which is a large format (5×4) SLR. The problem is I haven’t been able to use it very much this winter because the viewing screen inside it is quite dark so I need bright conditions to help me with focussing. The weather this winter has been overcast and cloudy most of the time which has been frustrating for me. This set of portraits were made on a rare sunny day last week during my lunch hour. There always seems to be more people around when the sun comes out.
[Tech info:] Graflex Super D, Carl Zeiss 18cm/f4.5 lens, Ilford HP5 film processed in Kodak HC110 for 5mins at 20C.
Christy & Helen, slightly out of focus. It's very difficult to focus when your subjects are backlit by the sun. I must remember not to do this.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Street portraits, students | 4 Responses »
Tags: 5x4, black&white, film, graflex, hc110, helen, HP5, oxford, people, portraits, students, super d, Tri-X
Wednesday, February 27th, 2013
Here’s a set of images I made at the dress rehearsal for Rope which was being staged at the Oxford Union Society (one of my favourite venues for photography). It was a tight schedule but fortunately for me things were running a little behind so I had time to try some different setups. When I arrived the last rays of sunshine were streaming into the windows to produce the most amazing ambience but sadly the actors weren’t in costume at that time. It was completely dark outside by the time the actors were ready so I lit all of these shots with the floor standing lamps that were part of the set. I’m pleased with how they turned out and I especially like the shot at the bottom right hand corner.
[Tech info:] Mamiya RB67 with 90mm and 180mm lenses, loaded with Kodak Tri-X rated at ISO 1600. Processed in Rodinal 1:50.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Photo shoot, Portrait, students | No Responses »
Tags: 6x7, black&white, drama, film, oxford, people, portraits, rb67, rodinal, students, Tri-X
Wednesday, February 20th, 2013
When the sun comes out so do lots of people to the streets of Oxford. You can feel a completely different buzz on the street when the weather is nice. People seem to be in a much happier mood and that makes for perfect conditions to do some street portrait photography. These shots were all made during the same lunch hour photo walk. I particularly like the shot of Mo, the cat that belongs to James (aka Cowboymod), the hairdresser on Walton Street.
[Tech info:] Bronica ETRSi, 75mm lens, loaded with Kodak Tri-X 400, processed in Rodinal 1:50.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Street portraits, students | No Responses »
Tags: 645, black&white, bronica, film, oxford, people, rodinal, students, Tri-X
Monday, February 18th, 2013
Here are some recent shots I made with Chloe on Fuji instant pack film (similar to Polaroid). Finally the weather has been slowly improving and so has the light for photography. This makes me happy. I also shot some black & white film on these shoots so those will follow once I’ve processed and scanned them.
[Tech info:] Mamiya RB67, 90mm and 180mm lenses.
Posted in film, Oxford, Photo shoot, Portrait, students | No Responses »
Tags: chloe, diptych, film, fujiroid, oxford, people, polaroid, portraits, rb67, students
Sunday, February 17th, 2013
Here are some images from my first lunch hour photo shoot with Chloe on film. I first shot with Chloe on the Oriental-inspired fashion shoot for The Oxford Tab here. We lucked out with some nice weather and although the sun was in and out I did my best to make the most of it. I juggled two different cameras (medium and large format) and I really wish we had more time to shoot because there were so many more shots I wanted to try at this location but they’ll have to wait for another time. Chloe was great to work with and there will be more collaborations to come. The colour image below was made on Fuji FP100C instant pack film (similar to Polaroid).
[Tech info]: Mamiya M645 1000s with 80mm/f1.9 lens loaded with Acros 100 film, processed in Rodinal 1:50. Graflex 5×4 Super D (top & bottom right), 190mm/f5.6 lens loaded with Ilford HP5 processed in HC110 (1:31).
Posted in film, Oxford, Photo shoot, students | No Responses »
Tags: 5x4, 645, acros, black&white, film, fujiroid, HP5, oxford, portraits, rodinal, students, super d
Friday, February 15th, 2013
Last week there was a salon day at Keble College where a designer dress hire company (Wish Want Wear) brought in lots of ball gowns for girls to try on to see whether they wanted to hire them for one of the many college balls that are being held this summer. I was invited along to do some photography (I photographed Keble’s ball last year) and here are some of the results. I shot quite a lot so there will be other shots to follow. For this shoot I decided to experiment quite a lot more than I would normally as a way of learning. For example I wouldn’t usually photograph someone backlit by a window. My thanks go to Mel for being so patient while I juggled with different cameras and to Katherine for inviting me. I’m really looking forward to this year’s Keble ball.
[Tech info:] Mamiya RB67, 90mm lens loaded with Kodak Tri-X rated at ISO1600, processed in Kodak HC110 (1:31).
Posted in Fashion, film, Oxford, Photo shoot, students | No Responses »
Tags: 6x7, black&white, film, hc110, keble college, oxford, portraits, rb67, students, Tri-X
