Street portraits

...now browsing by category

 

Photo shoot: Oriental style

Monday, February 4th, 2013

After the success of my first fashion photo shoot for The Tab Oxford, I was asked to do another one. We did the photo shoot around Worcester college but as it was pitch black outside by the time we were ready to start I lit the shots with portable strobes. I’m a lighting fanatic so I jump at the chance to bust out some lights to experiment with on a shoot. Everything came together nicely for this one thanks to a really creative team and models that were brave enough to handle the cold. Thank you to all involved. Below are a couple of shots that didn’t make the final edit.

You can see the final selection of shots on The Tab website.

 

 

Photo shoot: Christy part 2

Wednesday, January 30th, 2013

Here are some of the film shots from my recent photo shoot with Christy. These are all medium format shots, I still have some large format sheet film to process from this shoot. For a while I’ve been wanting to test out some high speed film (Ilford Delta 3200) but it’s designed to be used in low light situations which mostly rules it out for my lunch hour photography sessions. Fortunately I had the chance to test a roll on this shoot as the light level began to drop in the late afternoon.

[Tech info:] Mamiya RB67, 90mm/f3.8 lens, loaded with Ilford Delta 100 and 3200. Processed in Ilford DD-X developer (1+4).

My two favourite shots from the shoot.

 

Photo shoot: Jess

Monday, January 28th, 2013

As a photographer I like to experiment with light. Here’s a set of images that I shot with Jess using only a bunch of fairy lights and a small bedside table lamp, nice and simple. Space was at a premium on this shoot but sometimes it’s nice to work within some constraints to push your creativity a bit. Jess was really good to work with – it always helps to work with someone who is willing to make suggestions and come up with new ideas to try on a shoot.

[Tech info:] Nikon D700, 50mm/f1.4 lens.

Photo shoot: Christy

Sunday, January 27th, 2013

Here are some shots from a photo shoot I had today with Christy. The light in Christy’s room at college is amazing thanks to some tall windows and dark wood panelling on the walls which stops the light from bouncing around too much. I started the shoot with experimenting with some double exposures, then I set up my 5×4 Speed Graphic to shoot some b&w sheet film and then we finished off with experimenting with some fairy lights. I haven’t processed the b&w film yet so those will follow at a later time.

[Tech info:] Cameras used were 5×4 Speed Graphic, Mamiya RB67 with sliding Polaroid back and a Nikon D700 digital.

Fuji instant pack film (aka Fujiroids)

Oxford: Venus in furs*

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013

We finally got some snow this winter and as luck would have it I got invited to do a fashion shoot with an amazing team in an incredible location. The stars must have aligned just right because it doesn’t get much better than that. I shot mostly on digital because of the fast next day turnaround required for the shots but I also took along a film camera with me to shoot some Polaroids which turned out to be a huge hit. I’m really looking forward to shooting some more with this creative team so stay tuned.

You can view the final photo shoot images on The Tab website here.

[Tech info:] Mamiya Universal, 100mm/f3.5 lens, loaded with Fuji FP100C (expired) instant pack film.
*Trivia fans might like to know that the title of this post comes from the code name given to Photoshop 6.0.

First shot

Black & white

Backlit

Paisley

Paisley

Last shot in the snow

Photo shoot: Georgina H

Sunday, January 13th, 2013

Here are the film shots from my shoot with Georgina H. I found a new location to use that I think works really well in black & white. I think there will be some nice shadows to use on a sunnier day.

[Tech info:] I used two cameras, a Mamiya RZ67 with 110mm lens and a Speed Graphic 5×4 large format camera from the 1940’s. Films used were Tri-X (RZ) and HP5 (SG), processed in Kodak HC110 (dilution b).

Large format shots

Photo shoot: Georgina

Saturday, January 12th, 2013

My first photo shoot of 2013 was with Georgina who I first photographed during a dress rehearsal of POSH at the Oxford Union almost a year ago. How time flies! The winter weather has been very grim with nothing but rain and heavy overcast gloomy skies so I haven’t been able to do any photography for the past month. My lunch hour photo shoots are always a bit rushed but I have to say I felt a little out of practice on this one so I didn’t shoot as much as I had hoped. This Fujiroid is from the very end of the shoot and the only colour shot from it. The black & white shots will follow (I left them hanging to dry in the darkroom over night), below is a shot of some of the 5×4 inch film hanging up. Georgina was great to work with and I hope we can shoot together some more.

[Tech info:] Mamiya RZ67 with 110mm/2.8 lens on Fuji FP100-C instant pack film (similar to Polaroid).

Last shot from the shoot

 

5x4 negatives hanging up to dry

 

Oxford: Helen, window light experiments part 2

Friday, January 4th, 2013

A new year and I’ve yet to do any photography thanks to the gloomy weather we’ve been having. At least it gives me an opportunity to carry on working through my backlog from last year. Here are some film shots from my most recent shoot with Helen. I love the quality of the light in these and hope to do more. It’s completely different to shooting outside. For the first time I had a digital camera with me on this particular shoot for comparison and you can see some of those shots here. I also shot some colour film but I’m stock piling my colour film so that I can process more of it in one go with fresh chemicals so those will follow later in the year. It’s exciting to wait to see my images.

[Tech info:] Pentax 67, 105/2.4 lens loaded with Kodak TMAX 400 @ ISO1600 processed in Kodak HC110 (1+31) for 7:30.

Comparison of film and digital

 

Oxford: Photo walk with Gerard

Sunday, December 16th, 2012

A friend of mine visited Oxford for a few days so we met up for a photo walk around town. Gerard asked if he could borrow one of my medium format film cameras to use on the walk so I decided to let him try out a Mamiya C330f twin lens reflex (TLR). Needless to say we attracted some attention and we even overheard someone referring to the TLR as a 3D camera!

I shot a roll of film through my SL66 and below is every single frame from the roll, all 12 of them. A few of the portraits of Gerard were made with an old 127mm Graflex lens from my Speed Graphic 5×4 camera with me free-lensing.

[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66, 80mm Zeiss lens, Kodak Tri-X film processed in Kodak HC110 (B).

Oxford: Vagrant [theatre production]

Friday, December 7th, 2012

Here are some shots of the cast from a student production of a play called Vagrant that was at the Burton Taylor theatre a couple of weeks ago. The writer/director Alex Darby contacted me to see if I wanted to do some photography of the cast before the performance started so I took the opportunity to test out pushing Kodak TMAX 400 film to ISO1600. I had previously had great results with this film while doing some backstage photography during  Oxford Fashion Week but I knew the light in the theatre would be a lot more contrasty so it would be a good test. I’m pleased with the results I got here and the grain is amazingly fine apart from the shadows which is to be expected.

[Tech info:] Mamiya RZ67, 110mm/f2.8 lens, loaded with TMAX 400 (rated @ ISO1600). Processed in Kodak HC110 (1+31) for 7:30.

Photo shoot: Georgina

Thursday, December 6th, 2012

These images are all from the same roll of film that I shot during a recent lunch break photo shoot I had with Georgina who I first met at the Haute Couture show during Oxford Fashion Week 2012. What’s not apparent here is the amazing colour palette we had in these shots. The light was perfect and after I finished this roll of black & white I shot some images in colour but that roll is still in my camera because I ran out of time to finish it. Georgina was very nice to work with – very relaxed and easy going – and I hope we can collaborate some more after the new University term starts in the new year.

[Tech info:] Bronica ETRSi with 150mm/f3.5 lens loaded with Fuji Acros 100, processed in Kodak HC110 (b) for 5:30.

Photo shoot: Adam

Tuesday, December 4th, 2012

These shots are from a recent photo shoot I had with Adam who you might recognise from some of my shots from the Oxford Fashion Week 2012 Haute Couture show. It was an opportunity for me to test out a new lens that had arrived that morning and also to see how a certain film/developer combination handled very flat overcast light. When I say very flat light I mean extremely dull hard to get inspired horrible light. After starting off in an open area (top and bottom left) we moved under some cover which was a lot better because it gave some light/shadow to work with. I think the shots made during the second half of the shoot are the best and overall I’m pleased with the 150mm lens. Adam was very easy to work with and hopefully we’ll shoot some more in the future in better light and weather.

[Tech info:] Bronica ETRSi, 150mm lens, Fuji Acros 100 film processed in Rodinal 1:100 for 1 hour (semi-stand).