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Tuesday, September 11th, 2012
Here are the second set of images I made at the Meadow Lane skate ramps on the last day before they were demolished to make way for a bigger and better concrete skatepark.
As of last week the ramps have been demolished and work has begun on the new design. After being tipped off about the demolition day I cycled over there after finishing work to make some shots of the demolition site but I got there a few minutes too late and the van full of builders drove past me as I cycled along Meadow Lane. Doh! There were no holes in the fence big enough to poke my lens through so unfortunately I don’t have any images of it but if you can imagine a big pile of plywood that’s what it looked like.
[Tech info:] Pentax 67, 105mm lens loaded with Fuji Acros 100 film, processed in Kodak HC110 (dilution b).
The next generation
In conversation
Onlookers
Captive audience
Original skater
Final shot
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait | No Responses »
Tags: 6x7, acros, black&white, bmx, film, hc110, meadow lane, owp, oxford, pentax, people, portraits, skateboarders, skatepark, summer
Sunday, September 9th, 2012
Quite a few months ago I bought a box of 5×4 infrared sheet film and it’s been in my freezer ever since. I was waiting for summer to arrive with lots of sunshine and clear skies so that I could experiment with it. Partly due to the wettest summer on record I forgot about the infrared film until a few days ago. The weather this past week was unusually sunny and warm for September and that somehow reminded me that I had some infrared film in my freezer. I’m pleased to report that my initial tests were a success, you can see some of them below and there are lots more to come.
[Tech info:] Wista 5×4 with Schneider 90mm and 150mm lenses. Efke 820c infrared film processed in Rodinal 1:50 for 14mins (20c).
All in a row
View across Hinksey lakes
Over the bridge and far away...
Lock keepers cottage, Iffley lock
Setup shot
Posted in film, Oxford | No Responses »
Tags: 5x4, black&white, film, infrared, oxford, rodinal, wista
Friday, September 7th, 2012
This is the second half of the first roll of film I shot at the Caucus Race on Christchurch meadow. You can see the first set of images here.
[Tech info:] Mamiya C330f, 105mm lens loaded with Fuji Acros 100, processed in HC110 1:31 (dilution b).
One of the Art Deco swimmers
These Art Deco swimmers were a couple of my favourite characters at this event. They stayed in character and were fantastic.
I'm not sure what character this gentleman was but I thought he looked very relaxed sitting in the shade
I remember this guy coming across as being very nervous at being photographed. I've never seen anyone blink so fast and rapidly but I got my timing just right.
One of the hype men tasked with whipping the crowds into a frenzy
The House of cards built by the crew in my first set of images. This was at the entrance.
Posted in film, Oxford, People | No Responses »
Tags: 6x6, acros, black&white, c330, film, hc110, oxford, people, portraits, summer
Thursday, September 6th, 2012
I had another photo shoot with Helen recently and here are some of the results. We went to University Parks but used a different area to our last shoot and thanks to some nice late after summer sunshine we had everything we needed to make some nice images. This was a really relaxed shoot just like our previous one and I think that comes through in the images. I’ve had more compliments from people on my shots of Helen than any others on this blog and I look forward to collaborating more in the future.
[Tech info:] Mamiya RZ67, 110mm and 150mm lenses, Fuji Acros 100 pushed one stop in HC110 (8 mins) dilution b.
First shot
Lounging
Near the river
Catchlights
Lotus
The sun was going down directly behind Helen so I'm amazed at how good this turned out.
Last shot
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Photo shoot, Portrait, students | No Responses »
Tags: 6x7, acros, black&white, film, hc110, oxford, portraits, RZ67, students, summer
Wednesday, September 5th, 2012
Following on from yesterday’s post containing images made with my Graflex Super D large format SLR, here are some more images made with that camera during my lunch hour. The last two images were made on my way home on the same day as the others with the same camera. Technically they’re not lunch hour shots but they belong with this set.
[Tech info:] Graflex Super D 5×4 SLR camera, Ilford Delta 100 film (pushed 1 stop), processed in Ilford DD-X.
Richard the tailor on Little Clarendon Street
Street soldier human statue, Cornmarket Street
These two guys were painting and decorating inside a building being renovated on St Giles.
The bride and groom
Horse drawn carriage outside the church at a gypsy wedding
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Street portraits | No Responses »
Tags: 5x4, black&white, delta 100, film, graflex, oxford, people, portraits, super d
Tuesday, September 4th, 2012
It’s not often I get the chance to get into town at the weekends so when I had a little time recently I decided to take my Super D large format SLR camera out for a little air. As is often the case the street performers on Cornmarket Street were doing their thing and pulling in big crowds. The lens on the Super D is not particularly wide so I wasn’t about to capture much of the crowds but the performers themselves were great to photograph.
[Tech info:] Graflex Super D 5×4 SLR camera, Kodak Tri-X 320 film processed in Kodak HC110 (dilution b).
Fire juggler. It's hard to tell but this guy is holding a fireball behind his back in his left hand. After this he dropped it down his trousers!
Squeezing through a tennis racket
On my way to Port Meadow I passed these people that were guests at a wedding. The gentleman reminded me of Johnny Depp
Meg and her daughter. Meg is a photographer who spotted me with my Super D camera in the Divinity Schools quadrangle.
The grand finale of a street performance.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Street portraits | 2 Responses »
Tags: 5x4, black&white, graflex, hc110, oxford, people, super d, Tri-X, txp
Monday, September 3rd, 2012
You might recognise Peter from the punting photo shoot I did a couple of weeks ago. Having recently finished his masters degree he’s due to leave Oxford very soon to do a little travelling so we arranged to make some pictures before he leaves. For these images I used a large format camera from the 1940’s with a lens from World War II that was designed for the US military to do aerial photography at night. It’s renowned for its shallow depth of field that has a very unique signature. I don’t get to use this setup all that often partly because of the size of the lens and partly because it’s difficult to use it if the conditions are too bright but on this day it was perfectly cloudy with the sun trying to burn through. I took 6 sheets of film with me and all of them are here below.
[Tech info:] Speed Graphic camera with Kodak Aero Ektar lens on Ilford FP4+ processed in Rodinal (1:50).
On the steps.
Take it to the bridge
Distinctive bokeh
I think the gloves make this shot
Wider shot
No jacket required
Posted in film, Oxford, Photo shoot, Portrait, students | No Responses »
Tags: 5x4, aero, black&white, film, fp4, oxford, people, portraits, rodinal, speed graphic, students
Monday, September 3rd, 2012
On the last day of the current Meadow Lane ramps I went along to make some portraits of whoever was down there skating and riding for the last time before the ramps get demolished to make way for a brand new concrete skatepark. Along with lots of people I didn’t know there was a familiar and friendly face, BMX rider Alex Leech. Alex and I went to school together between the ages of 5 and 13. I hadn’t seen Alex is quite some years and it was so nice to bump into him and see that he was still riding a BMX, something he’s been doing since the 70’s. I’ve got some more portraits from the day but I haven’t finished the roll of film yet. I hope to document the building of the new skatepark as much as possible.
You can see my previous photography from the Meadow Lane ramps here.
[Tech info: Pentax 67 and 105mm lens, loaded with Fuji Acros 100, processed in Rodinal 1:50 for 13:30.
Alex Leech
Alex and family
Skateboarder
I had a great chat with this guy about photography.
I can't remember if this guy was skating
Waiting in line
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait | 3 Responses »
Tags: 6x7, acros, black&white, bmx, film, meadow lane, oxford, pentax, people, portraits, rodinal
Wednesday, August 29th, 2012
At the beginning of July there was a day of celebrations here in Oxford to mark the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s first telling of Alice in the place her story was originally conceived. There were lots of performers and events on Merton field in Christchurch meadow and it was lots of fun. I wanted to do as much photography as possible to record the event so I started off by making portraits of some of the crew that helped setup and build the sets.
[Tech info:] Mamiya C330f, 105mm lens loaded with Fuji Acros 100, processed in HC110 1:31 (dilution b).
This gentleman reminded me a little of David Bellamy. I really like his braces.
A very cheerful chap who couldn't stop smiling.
These guys were all sitting in a circle. As I moved round the light on them became harsher from the overhead sun.
This portrait turned out quite nice considering the unflattering sunlight.
I could hardly see this guy's eyes to focus on the shadows were so harsh. It turned out okay though.
This is such a timeless image apart from the camcorder in the Mad Hatter's hand.
Posted in film, Oxford, People | No Responses »
Tags: 6x6, acros, black&white, c330, film, hc110, oxford, people, summer
Thursday, August 23rd, 2012
Yesterday I had the most amazing photo shoot with a very creative and photogenic couple, Peter and Alexandra. They hired a punt and we all travelled slowly along the river Cherwell while the sun was setting. It was pretty much perfect and felt like I was in a movie. I first met Peter and Alexandra while I was photographing the Oxford Union Society summer ball back in May and I knew that I wanted to do a photo shoot with them but the idea of doing it on a punt was all Alexandra’s. This is a little taster of some of the images I made because I haven’t processed the film yet. These shots were made with Fuji instant pack film (the same as Polaroid) but for these I scanned the negative part after bleaching the black backing off. I can’t wait to see the film shots. Please note that none of these images have been retouched in any way, they are all straight scans. More to come.
[Tech info:] Mamiya RZ67 with 110mm and 150mm lenses. Fuji FP100C instant pack film.
First frame
We are all still in the punt for this shot. The Willow was overhanging the river. Zero Photoshop effects, this is a straight scan.
Looking at the setting sun.
Leaning back.
Posted in film, Oxford, Photo shoot, students | 6 Responses »
Tags: 110mm, 6x7, fp100c, fujiroid, oxford, people, photo shoot, portraits, punt, students, summer
Monday, August 20th, 2012
My first time out with the hulking great Super D large format SLR. I used a 6x7cm roll film holder to test it out before using 5x4inch sheet film. The tricky thing when using a roll film holder that is a smaller format than 5x4inches is there are no guide lines in the viewfinder to show you what will be in the frame so I had to use some guess work. As you can see, I wasn’t always successful. The roll film holder already had some Ilford HP5 film loaded in when I bought it but I didn’t know how expired it was. Overall I think the images turned out nicely.
[Tech info:] Graflex Super D camera with 6x7cm roll film holder loaded with Ilford HP5. Processed in Ilford DD-X (1+4 dilution).
Plugged in.
I've photographed this guy before.
These guys are a photogenic bunch. They're working in a building on St Giles.
I had a nice conversation with this gentleman about photography. My Super D caught his attention.
This man was handing out some christian leaflets. We had a great chat about film photography especially using slide film.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait | No Responses »
Tags: 6x7, black&white, film, graflex, HP5, people, portraits, summer, super d
Sunday, August 19th, 2012
These images are from the second half of a roll I shot during my lunch hour photo walks a few weeks ago. The first half of the roll is here. I’ve got a bit of a backlog of images to scan and post but I’ll have more time in the coming weeks to catch up so if you haven’t seen your portrait yet don’t worry, it’s more than likely coming soon.
[Tech info:] Mamiya C330f and 105mm lens loaded with Fuji Acros 100 film, Processed in Rodinal 1:25.
Lock and load. There's not much some WD40 can't fix.
Coffee break on the Walton Street construction project.
This guy was a bit camera shy. I like his flat cap and rolled up jeans.
David, a fellow film photographer carrying a camera that I don't own. A real beast of a medium format.
Olympic photographer from Uruguay. He didn't speak any english but somehow I managed to communicate with him. I'm sure he was intrigued by my camera.
Scaffolding on the Walton Street construction project at the corner of Little Clarendon Street.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Street portraits | No Responses »
Tags: 6x6, acros, black&white, c330, film, oxford, people, portraits, rodinal, summer
