Here are some more pictures from the Great Dorset Steam Fair 2016, this time from my little point and shoot camera that I took with me. The sky was overcast at this point but bright enough that it wasn’t too dull for photography. The colours have come out quite nicely on Fuji Reala 100 film – which sadly isn’t made any more.
[Tech info:] Konica Hexar AF, Fuji Reala 100 film, developed in Fuji Xpress C41 kit, Pakon scans.
If you ever visit the Great Dorset Steam Fair be sure to stay until after dark because the display of steam engines all lit up is a real highlight of the day. These images are from my first ever roll of Fuji Natura 1600 film which a generous friend brought over from Japan for me. To my knowledge Fuji only make it for the domestic Japanese market.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton Classic, Fuji Natura 1600 film developed in Fuji Xpress C41 kit. Pakon scans.
During my visit to The Great Dorset Steam Fair I got to experience the Wall of Death for the very first time. This wasn’t any old Wall of Death, it was the Ken Fox Troupe Wall of Death and what made it extra special was seeing it with my old friend Benedict Campbell who made an excellent short film about them (see it here). The show is nothing short of spectacular and I highly recommend it if you get the chance to see it.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton Classic, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 800, developed in HC110 1+31. Pakon scans.
Two days ago I visited The Great Dorset Steam Fair for a photography day out with my old friend and fellow photographer Benedict Campbell – we used to work at the same photography studio 25+ years ago and I was one of his assistants. Ben suggested the Steam Fair would be great to photograph because he previously visited it to make his short film about the Wall of Death (watch it here). After setting off at 6am we arrived there nice and early with beautiful morning light and not too many crowds. The weather was kind to us with just the odd passing shower during the afternoon which got rid of the humidity and helped keep the air a little fresher. It was a fantastic day out and I really enjoyed seeing so much passion for massive machines. We photographed all day, stayed until it got dark and brought back lots of pictures to share. Lots more to come.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton Classic, Agfa APX 100, Developed in Rodinal 1+25 for 8 mins. Pakon scans.
Recently I have been doing some wet plate collodion tintype photography and as it’s World Photo Day today I thought it appropriate to share some of my early results. It’s still early days for me and I don’t have my workflow dialled in yet to achieve consistent results but I’m really enjoying the surprise and beauty of the inconsistent results. These plates were scanned before I varnished them so the final results are slightly darker, richer and quite mesmerising to look at.
Here are some behind the scenes shots of Martin Parr at work on his project that has the working title of ‘Oxford’. I enjoy documenting all sorts of things but this is the first time I’ve shadowed a photographer at work. It was interesting to see which kinds of things caught Martin’s eye and also how many people didn’t know who he was. I’ve bumped into Martin on a number of occasions around Oxford so you’ll be seeing him again in the future on this blog. The book will be published by OUP and is due out in September 2017.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 800, developed in Kodak Xtol, Pakon scans.
The Oxford comma hangs on the wall in the background
Chimping
Behind the scenes during filming of the first episode of Endeavour series 4 in Oxford. This set of shots is from the first roll that I shot so there aren’t too many people around other than the cast and crew. You can see street signs being twisted around so they wouldn’t be picked up by the camera and last minute touch ups on some of the supporting actors.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5, Ilford HP5, developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 5mins. Pakon scans.
Endeavour IV: film 1
If you use Twitter it’s no secret that filming has begun on the fourth series of Endeavour. Here are some behind-the-scenes shots when they were filming in Oxford recently. This is one of my favourite things to photograph because the combination of clothes and cars look so good. It was very nice to see the crew again who this time are a mixture of familiar and new faces.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5, Ilford HP5, developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 5mins. Pakon scans.
The Common People music festival took place here in Oxford last weekend and I was fortunate enough to be invited to do some photography. I’m still working my way through developing and scanning the many rolls of film that I shot there but I wanted to share two shots that I’m particularly pleased with of Primal Scream on stage during their performance that closed the festival on Sunday night.
[Tech info:] Nikon F100, 70-200/2.8, Ilford HP5 @ ISO3200 developed in DDX 1+4 for 20mins. Pakon scans.
A while ago I picked up a Phillips K 165mm/f2.8 projector lens to experiment with on my Speed Graphic and last week I finally managed to make a few test shots. It’s always nice to have patient work colleagues when testing lenses. On this particular day it was very overcast and gloomy so I used a small LED video light for a bit of fill but it’s not very noticeable. There is no aperture inside this lens so it’s f2.8 all the time which could be tricky on a bright day so I must remember to keep some ND gels in my camera bag.
[Tech info]: Speed Graphic 5×4, Phillips K 165/2.8 projector lens, Kodak Tri-X 320 (expired 2003), developed in Kodak HC110 1+31. Colour shot is a bleached Fuji FP-100C neg.
Camera and lens used. I have since mounted the lens in a proper lens board. My cardboard effort was just to see if it was worth doing properly for this lens
These shots from the Mary Berry Q&A session at the Oxford Union were made on a different roll of film from the previous set and I wanted to post these as a comparison. The previous set were made with Ilford HP5 and these were made with Ilford Delta 400, both were pushed two stops to ISO1600. After the Q&A there was a book signing session where the light level was extremely low but the Delta film handled it very well thanks to my fast Voigtlander lenses.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 35/1.2 and 50/1.5 lenses, Ilford Delta 400 at ISO1600, developed in Ilford DD-X. Pakon scans.
The Oxford vs Cambridge Varsity Boxing 2016 event was held at the town hall in Oxford and I was invited along to do some photography to document the occasion. I had previously photographed this event in 2014 and it was nice to be back. It was also nice to see some familiar faces from previous alumni who had come along for support. The overall score was 52 – 52 so tension was high and I’m pleased to say that Oxford won to bring the trophy back home for another year. More pictures to come.
[Tech info:] Nikon F100, 17-35/2.8, Ilford Delta 400 @ ISO3200, developed in Ilford DD-X 1+4, pakon scans.
