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Oxford: around and about

Monday, August 29th, 2011

Here we have a bit of a mixture of shots from the same roll of film. I was trying out a new type of film, Kodak Portra 160 rated at 100 and then processed normally. The first two images are of my daughter, the colour difference is down to me testing different scanning software. I prefer the one on the left made with Silverfast SE. Over the past few years I’ve made so many images of Nya with digital but recently I’ve mainly been using film. There’s something wonderful about having images of Nya on physical media compared to bits and bytes on hard drives.

All shots made with a Mamiya 645 1000S and 80mm/2.8 lens.

Nya loves swings

A student from Taiwan with his mum's old Nikon FM and 50/1.4 lens. This is the first SLR camera that a dear friend of mine (thank you Susie Barker) handed me in 1986 to use. How many DSLR's will be in use 25 years from now?

Worn out bicycle

I never tire of photographing this worn out bicycle.

old peugeot bicycle

I've got a thing for photographing beaten up bikes

MG car

These buildings have been marked for redevelopment in the next month. More student accommodation, more people for me to photograph. I like the red and black in this scene..

Dulux dog

I don't usually stop anyone that isn't an adult because of how controversial photographing children can be. On this occasion I thought this guy looked so cool waiting with his dog so I decided to ask him. I like how his trousers match the colour of the stone and the blue signs echo his top.

Chandilier and sun rays

Window display in vintage furniture store Liscious, Walton street, Oxford.

Oxford: Street portraits

Sunday, August 28th, 2011

Regular visitors to this blog will have noticed a huge difference in the design and layout. This is because I received so many comments about how difficult the old design was to navigate.

Here are the first images from a new lens (110mm/2.8) I got for my Mamiya RZ67.

Celebrating the end of exams

I'm always attracted to cool looking sunglasses. You can see me on the left.

Fellow photographer and work colleague, Martin. He used to be the lead singer and guitarist in one of Oxford's biggest bands in the 80's, TARGA. Not a lot of people know that.

Ice-cream seller, Radcliffe square.

Artist

Street style, Broad street, Oxford.

Oxford: Street portraits

Monday, August 22nd, 2011

I love Oxford in the summer, especially the warm evening light when the sun starts to drop and there are nice long shadows everywhere. It’s been quite a while since I had the time to do street photography in the evenings so I’m pleased I have some free time at the moment to make the most of the summer evenings and light.

These images are from one of the first rolls of colour negative film that I developed myself. I’ve been putting it off until now because I thought it would be more difficult than it was.

[Tech info:] All of these images are from the same roll of Kodak Portra 400 film inside a Mamiya RZ67 camera with a 110/2.8 lens.

russian students

Two Russian students on the steps of the Clarendon Building, Broad Street, Oxford.

I really like this young lady’s vintage look, especially the fur coat. There’s a movie star quality about her. I had seen her during some of my lunch hour sessions but she always seemed to be on the other side of the road or in a hurry. Hopefully I can photograph her again.
A photographer holding a Yashica twin lens reflex camera

Another fellow film photographer whom I met during a Flickr meet up in University Parks.

This was part of a test shoot with Mayumi who I've photographed before. I wanted to test out a new lens and film.

A man wearing a trilby hat

On my way home one evening I passed this gentleman on Cornmarket street, I really liked how smartly dressed he was. I never go along Cornmarket street during my street photography sessions because of the shops the line both sides of the street and the sheer volume of people you find along there that makes it impossible to photograph anyone. At this time of the evening it was much emptier. I'm pleased with how the background doesn't show the shops very clearly.

Brussels: Street portraits

Friday, August 19th, 2011

A few weeks ago I went to Antwerp and Brussels with my family for a holiday. I took only film cameras with me, hoping to do lots of photography, especially street portraits but the weather wasn’t always on our side so I didn’t get as much done as I had hoped. Overall I shot more colour than black & white but I haven’t developed any of the colour yet.

[Tech info]: Mamiya M645 1000S loaded with Kodak Tri-X film, exposed at ISO 400 and developed in HC110 for 13mins at 20C.

Fellow photographer and huge inspiration, Jan Scholz.

Backlit portrait

This gentleman said he didn't usually like being photographed but was kind enough to oblige. He was backlit by the sun and I liked how the flare looked.

Evening sunlit portrait

There was no shade around so the harsh evening sunlight is not very flattering here.

A man watching the sun go down

This gentleman was watching the sun setting as it made its way down to the horizon.

Normal service has resumed

Monday, August 8th, 2011

I’m back after almost a month of no posts. I must apologise to regular viewers of this blog and I hope you didn’t think I’d abandoned you. Truth be told I’ve been busier than ever with my photography but I haven’t had much time to develop and scan the films that I’ve been amassing in my fridge.

The good news is there will be a good supply of images appearing on this blog in the coming weeks as I feverishly work away at clearing the backlog. Yesterday 5 rolls of colour neg (C41) films arrived back from the lab and amongst those are shots from Eights Week that I’ve been looking forward to seeing. Over the next few weeks I am going to try my hand at developing my own colour neg films which will be a first for me. I have the chemicals ready but once I mix them they are only good for a week so I’ve been steadily building up a stock pile of films to develop.

Below are images from early July from a new camera format for me. The 645 format is 6cm wide by 4.5cm tall and is approximately 2.5 times larger than 35mm. The nice thing is the camera is smaller and more compact than my 6×7 cameras and I get 15 shots on a roll compared to 10. The downside is it takes me longer to finish the roll before I can develop it.

[Tech info]: Shot on Fuji Acros 100 film with a Mamiya M645 1000S. Developed in Kodak HC110 developer.

Lunch on the steps of the Clarendon Building

Pasties and coke

Divinity Schools quad

Divinity Schools quad, Oxford. This was shot in harsh midday sun with this gentleman being lit from behind. This is a perfect example of the amazing dynamic range of film.

St. Giles, Oxford.

Little Clarendon Street, Oxford. This gentleman said 'don't put my picture on Facebook!'. Lucky for him I don't put any of my images on Facebook.

 

Oxford: Lunch hour session

Sunday, July 3rd, 2011

Here in Oxford it’s the time of year where University students sit their end of year exams. For many that’s something to celebrate and let me tell you they sure know how to celebrate it here in style – with a trip to Tesco for some grocery shopping and then dumping the entire contents of said groceries onto a friend who has just finished their exams! It makes for a good photographic subject but it’s frowned upon at the higher levels of the university and students caught doing it can get fined £80. Some students that I came across pleaded with me not to photograph them for fear of being fined, so I didn’t. Others were braver and those are the ones you see here. I’ve delayed posting these images as a way of protecting them from a fine because exams are all over now and most of the students have gone back home for the summer.

[Tech info]: Mamiya C330f camera, Fuji Acros 100 film.

subfusc

These outfits are called subfusc but I have no idea why.

Celebrating the end of exams

Celebrating the end of exams

Celebrating the end of exams

Celebrating the end of exams

Photographer holding an Olympus film SLR

Another film photographer

A photographer holding a Rolleicord film camera

Another film photographer

Oxford: Street portraits

Thursday, June 23rd, 2011

SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE IMAGES

These images were made a number of weeks ago but it took me longer than I expected to get through the Summer 8’s images so I apologise if you’re included in one of these shots and have been checking to see if your image has been posted 🙂

[Tech info]: Pentax 67

Man with curly moustache

This man had a great look but I couldn't get far enough back to get him all in for a full length because there was a wall behind me.

A couple on Broad street

Broad street.

Brasenose lane

This builder was working in Radcliffe Square and was heckling me as I was photographing someone else so I asked him if he wanted to be photographed and he agreed.

A student smoking

I quite liked this guy's russian looking t-shirt

Jay, I thought she had a cool look. We had a brief chat about photography and portrait competitions. A very pleasant girl that I hope to run into again around town some time.

Oxford: Summer 8’s 2011 (part 1)

Thursday, June 9th, 2011

This is the first of a multi-part series of images from the Summer 8’s Oxford University rowing competition. I always look forward to this every year because of the mix of different people you find along the river. I especially like to see the different generations where grandparents and parents come along to show support for the young blood.

The ones that got away
One of my film cameras has developed a fault with the winding on of film and unfortunately it’s the camera I used the most during the Summer 8’s competition. The fault meant that I didn’t know when the film roll had finished so there are a lot of shots that I thought I was getting on film when in fact there was no film in the back of the camera. Argh! To make matters worse I tried to tell everyone that I photographed about this blog so there will be quite a number of people visiting who’s portrait have been lost. I’m really sorry about this and no one is more disappointed that I am. The camera in question is still being repaired so hopefully this won’t ever happen again.

Make sure you wait for the rest of this series because it’s possible that your portrait might be included in a future post.

[Tech info]: Pentax 6×7, Fomapan 100 and 400 film rated at ISO 80 and 200 respectively. Developed in ID11 (stock), 10secs agitation every minute.

Rowing boats in boat house

Rowing boats in boat house

Oxford university students

Oxford university students

Red carnation for luck?

Red carnation for luck?

Rowing crew celebrating with a group photo

Rowing crew celebrating with a group photo

Photographer using a Leica 35mm film camera

Photographer using a Leica 35mm film camera

Photographer using a Nikon F3 film camera

Photographer using a Nikon F3 film camera

Obey vest

Obey

Oxford: lunch hour session

Monday, June 6th, 2011

Here’s a set of images made on the same roll of film during one of my lunch hours. I’ve been experiencing some problems with the wind on in my Pentax 6×7 medium format camera which has meant that the frame counter tells me I have a few shots left to use when in fact the film has run out. This has meant that I’ve lost images that I thought I had made so if you’re one of the people that I photographed and told to visit this blog I’m very sorry that your image didn’t come out. No one is more disappointed than I am about it especially as I had the camera serviced at the end of April. I’m going to post it back to the repair company tomorrow morning to have it looked at.

Last week was the Summer Eights rowing competition here in Oxford and I have lots of rolls of film still to develop from that but unfortunately I lost quite a few great shots during that time as well. I won’t know the full extent of the loss until I’ve developed all of the film so stay tuned.
[Tech info]: Pentax 6×7, 135mm.

Frills and platforms outfit

Frills and platforms (Catte street)

Rugged looking man wearing glasses

The rugged look (Broad street)

Leather bags in shop window

Leather bags in shop window (Ship street)

Annabelinda shop front

Annabelinda shop front

London: street portraits

Monday, May 30th, 2011

Here are some street portraits I made during a recent day trip to London. These were from the same day as the ‘London calling’ set but I had to wait to receive the colour film from the lab, hence the delay. I must admit it’s very exciting to receive an envelope of negatives in the post from the lab because up until that point I’m never completely sure what might be on the film. Even after I get my first look as I hold the film strips up against the nearest source of light, I still don’t get to see the images properly until I start to scan them in. As the images appear on my screen for the first time I get the same buzz as when I used to watch a b&w print appear in the developer tray in my darkroom days, many years ago. Looking at an image on an LCD screen on the back of my digital cameras just doesn’t give me the same buzz. Convenient? Yes. Exciting? No.

Teen

Somewhere in Soho

A smartly dressed man on a London street

Smart dressed man

A man standing in a London park

Park life

Couple standing on a London street

This lady told me that she studied at Oxford. Small world!

Cyclist standing with his bike on a London street

Nice wheels

Man wearing suit, red tie and sunglasses

Sharp dressed man

Lunch hour session: around and about

Sunday, May 22nd, 2011