5×4
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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
Sunday, August 5th, 2012
For the longest time I’ve wanted to be able to do large format street photography but up until now I’ve always found it difficult because of the time required to set up a shot. Most of the people I stop to photograph on the street probably don’t want to have to stand still for a few minutes while I set up a shot so I’ve been searching for a camera that I can hand hold and operate quite fast. My hope was I had found such a camera in the Graflex Speed Graphic which was a favourite among press photographers as far back as the 1920’s but the rangefinder focusing and approximate framing guide never really worked very well for me so my search continued. Once I came across the Graflex Super D which was designed as a large format SLR it looked like my search was over. I’ve wanted one of these cameras for a long time and now I finally have one. It’s a big wooden box with a mirror inside that helps you with focussing and composition and the really nice thing is the image you’re looking at isn’t upside down, it’s just flipped horizontally. My Super D came from New York and dates from the late 1940’s to early 1950’s. It looks like it’s had plenty of use but it still works perfectly. These images were all made in the space of around an hour on my first time using it with 5×4 inch film.
[Tech info:] Graflex Super D camera, 190mm lens and Ilford HP5+ film processed in Ilford DD-X (1+4).
This young lady works at 'Objects of use' on Market street, a lovely shop that is well worth a visit.
I've photographed this fantastic bike a few times but this is the first time I've seen its owner. The girl he was speaking to, just out of frame on the right. said to me 'Oh, so you're the Simply Oxford guy that keeps taking those annoying pictures of pretentious people'. I can't see how my pictures would be annoying. What a strange thing to say.
Brooks saddle, Market street.
I thought I was composing this to be portrait orientation but I was working in a hurry and forgot to rotate the camera back. Ship Street.
Coffee break, Ship street.
This man is an old skool photographer that I bump into from time to time. We usually chat about whatever camera I happen to be carrying. Outside Carfax tower.
Here's a shot I made quite a while ago of the friendly staff at 'Objects of use' on Market street. I struggled a little with the low light.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Street portraits | 2 Responses »
Tags: 5x4, black&white, film, graflex, HP5, oxford, people, portraits, super d
Monday, March 26th, 2012
Following on from my previous of experiments with my Aero Ektar lens, here are a couple more shots with the same camera/lens combination from a test shoot I did with Hai Lin during my lunch break in Oxford. I first met Hai Lin during the launch party of Oxford Fashion Week 2011 and since then we have photographed together a handful of times. I have to say that Hai Lin is one of the nicest people I’ve collaborated with, totally reliable, easy to get along with and she always arrives ready to shoot with no fuss.
Working with a large format camera is not something that is particularly fast so it helps to be working with someone that is patient. The other key ingredient required from your subject when photographing them with an Aero Ektar lens is an ability to stay perfectly still because the depth of focus when using the lens wide-open is around an inch so a tiny bit of movement either way would mean an out of focus shot. Not a problem for Hai Lin.
I’ve enjoyed using the Aero Ektar lens and with spring finally here with lots of sunny weather I hope to use it some more.
[Tech info:] Speed Graphic 5×4 camera with Kodak Aero lens shot wide-open at f2.5 on Kodak Tri-X 320, processed in Kodak HC110 dilution b (1:31).
The key signature of the Aero Ektar is the lovely bokeh (blurry background).
We had to wait a couple of minutes for clouds to pass so the sun would cast some shadows.
Posted in film, Oxford, Portrait | 6 Responses »
Tags: 5x4, black&white, hc110, oxford, portraits, Tri-X
Wednesday, March 21st, 2012
These two images were made with a Kodak Aero Ektar lens on my Speed Graphic 5×4 large format camera. The lens was designed for aerial photography during WWII and it’s quite a chunk of glass. Here’s a picture of the setup: http://www.simplyoxford.com/equipment/equipment-aero-ektar
I’m still getting to grips with how best to make use of the shallow depth of field you get with this lens but so far I think it’s a good start.
Broad street & Catte street junction. This film is Ilford XP2 (expired).
Broad street. This film expired in 1991. I bought a job lot of it so I'm pleased with this result.
Posted in Equipment, film, Oxford, People | 1 Response »
Tags: 5x4, black&white, people
Saturday, February 4th, 2012
Sometimes the most photogenic still life objects are closer than you think. This red pepper had been sitting on our kitchen worktop for a few days before I noticed how perfect it would be for a photograph. I wanted to compare the difference between the multigrade paper negatives I’ve been producing recently and some Polaroid instant pack film. The Polaroid expired in 2004 and although it’s meant to have an ISO of 100 I’ve found that it’s actually now ISO 50. The paper negative is Ilford multigrade glossy rc paper with a grade 2 filter on the camera lens.
[Tech info:] Wista 5×4 with 150mm lens.
Paper negative
Expired Polaroid 664
Posted in Equipment, Still life | 4 Responses »
Tags: 5x4, paper negative, pepper, polaroid, still life, wista
