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Oxford: Graflex Super D with 200/2.5 Hektor lens

Saturday, February 1st, 2025

Here are street portraits from my first outing with this camera and lens combo in Oxford. It attracted a fair bit of attention and I enjoyed chatting with people about it, I also had some patient volunteers to help me with my testing. The Hektor lens is from a projector and doesn’t have any aperture control. This means the depth of field is wafer thin and exposure can only be controlled by shutter speed which is limited on my Super D. If those limitations weren’t enough, the furthest focus distance is approximately 1.5m because the lens has to be quite far forward for the rear element to clear the mirror. I enjoy portrait photography so this is not a problem.

It seems the more limitations I have, the more enjoyment I get out of photography.

[Tech info:] Graflex Super D 5×4, 200/2.5 Hektor lens, Fomapan 400 @ ISO 200, Developed in Adox XT-3 stock.

Super D Hektor 20250125_Hektor_Foma400_001_web 20250125_Hektor_Foma400_002_web 20250125_Hektor_Foma400_003_web 20250125_Hektor_Foma400_004_web 20250125_Hektor_Foma400_005_web 20250125_Hektor_Foma400_006_web

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Posted in Equipment, film, Oxford, People, Portrait, Street portraits | No Responses »
Tags: 5x4, b&w, film, fomapan 400, graflex, hektor, oxford, portrait, super d, xt-3

Devon: Dawlish

Thursday, December 1st, 2022

Some pictures from a brief visit to Dawlish back in April.

[Tech info:] Nikon FE2, 28-75/2.8 Tamron zoom, Delta 100 film developed in Ilford DDX 1+4, Pakon scans.

20220418_Dawlish_FE2_28-75_DELTA400_DDX_04A_web

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Posted in film, Travel | 3 Responses »
Tags: 28-75, 35mm, b&w, ddx, delta 100, devon, fe2, film, ilford, nikon

Oxford: Intrepid 10×8 street portraits – part 1

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2022

The Intrepid 10×8 is the lightest 10×8 camera I own and after you add the weight of a lens, film holders, tripod, light meter, dark cloth, loupe and rucksack it’s on the limit of what I can comfortably cycle with. Here are the street portraits I made on my first trip into town with this kit. On the first shot I used a little front swing to bring both people into focus – the first time I’ve done this.

[Tech info:] Intrepid 10×8, 300mm f6.3 Komura lens, Fomapan 100 (expired), developed in HC110 1+63 for 10mins.

20220819_Intrepid_Broad-St_300mm_Komura_Fomapan100_HC110_001_web

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Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait, Street portraits | 2 Responses »
Tags: 10x8, 300mm, b&w, film, fomapan, hc110, intrepid, komura, oxford, portrait

Oxford: Gowlandflex street portraits – part 1

Sunday, August 21st, 2022

Here are some street portraits from the first trips out with my Gowlandflex large format TLR camera on a Saturday and Sunday morning in Oxford. The camera is a beast and attracted a fair bit of attention. I enjoyed chatting with people and making their portraits – something I haven’t done for a couple of years.

The mirror calibration was completely wrong when I received this camera so I replaced the springs to lower the mirror by 2.5mm. This is the first time I’ve used it properly and it looks like I need to re-check the calibration because most of these shots are front focussed but overall I’m pleased with the results. A couple of the shots have some strange light leaks which might be from the film holder not being seated properly. Further investigation needed.

[Tech info:] Gowlandflex TLR, 180/4.5 Voigtlander Heliar lens, Ilford HP5 & Funi Across 100 film (expired), developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 6 mins.

20220813_Bus-Driver_Gowlandflex_HP5_HC110B_01_web 20220813_Gowlandflex_Oxford_HP5_HC110B_01_web 20220813_Radcliffe-Square_Gowlandflex_HP5_HC110B_02_web 20220814_Broad-Street_Gowlandflex_HP5_HC110B_05_web 20220815_Andrew_Gowlandflex_HP5_HC110B_10_web 20220815_Broad-Street_Gowlandflex_HP5_HC110B_09_web

20220814_Gowlandflex_Oxford_Acros_HC110B_01_web 20220814_Gowlandflex_Oxford_HP5_HC110B_01_web 52282473538_b15170863a_c

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Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait, Street portraits | No Responses »
Tags: 5x4, b&w, film, gowlandflex, hc110, HP5, ilford, oxford, portraits

Oxford: BMX Jam 2022

Wednesday, August 10th, 2022

It’s been 10 years since I first photographed at my local skatepark. When I mentioned this to a friend of mine he kindly tipped me off about a BMX Jam which was taking place there the following weekend. Despite the heatwave at the time, I ventured along and made some portraits.

[Tech info:] Pentax 67, 105/2.4 lens, Fuji Acros 100 (expired), developed in HC110 1+31.

20220806_BMX-Jam_P67_Acros_HC110-B_01_web

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Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait | No Responses »
Tags: 105mm, 6x7, acros, b&w, bmx, film, hc110, jam, owp, Pentax 67, skatepark

Oxford: 10×8 x-ray film

Wednesday, November 4th, 2020

Here are some shots I made on 10×8 x-ray film recently. The shot from Catte Street with the Radcliffe Camera was actually made last summer but I only came across the film holder recently. That’s over 12 months that the latent image was sitting quietly on the film before it got developed. Speaking of developing, I used a bottle of developer that expired in 2014, it was sealed and the colour looked good so I thought I’d give it a try. If anything it seems to have tamed the contrast that is often found in x-ray films so I’m happy with that.

[Tech info:] Intrepid 10×8 camera, 300mm/f4.2 Plaubel Anticomar lens, Fuji Super HR-T x-ray film, developed in HC110 1+100 for 7 mins.
Radcliffe Camera image: 10×8 Tachihara, 210mm/f5.6 Nikon lens which just about covers 10×8. I applied some front rise on this shot.

20190718_Radcliffe_Camera_XRay_HC110B_01_web 20201018_Iffley_SHRT-XRay_HC110B_01_web

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Posted in film, Oxford | No Responses »
Tags: 10x8, 2020, b&w, film, hc110, intrepid, oxford, plaubel, x-ray

Oxford: lunch break – around and about

Monday, May 15th, 2017

Here are some pictures from a recent lunch break photo walk. My Yashica Electro is one of my go to cameras and as I already had the shots from the filming of The Favourite (see previous blog post) on this roll I was keen to finish it to see how they turned out.

[Tech info:] Yashica Electro 35, Eastman Double X film, developed in HC110 1+31. Pakon scans.

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Posted in Oxford | 1 Response »
Tags: 35mm, b&w, double x, electro 35, film, hc110, oxford, pakon, yashica

Endeavour series 5 filming in Oxford

Thursday, May 11th, 2017

It’s no secret that filming has begun on Endeavour series 5 but if you’re looking for pictures of the main cast or spoilers I’m afraid you’ll have to move along because this blog post is dedicated to the crew – some familiar faces and some new. Oxford is where the filming for series 5 began and I was fortunate enough to be able to document a little of it on the second day of filming. This really is one of my favourite things to photograph and it’s something I never get tired of.

[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton, Ilford FP4 film developed in Kodak HC110 1+31, Pakon scans.

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Posted in Behind the scenes, Endeavour, film, Oxford, People | 1 Response »
Tags: b&w, endeavour, exeter, film, filming, fp4, ilford, leica, m2, oxford, pakon

Oxford: Transformers 5 filming – part 1

Saturday, October 29th, 2016

Michael Bay came to Oxford with his crew at the end of September to film some scenes for Transformers 5: The Last Knight and despite the tight security I managed to do a little behind-the-scenes photography.

[Tech info:] Yashica Electro 35, Kodak TMAX 100 @ 200, developed in Ilford DD-X 1+4, Pakon scans

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Tags: 35mm, b&w, ddx, electro, filming, ilford, imax, oxford, pakon, tmax100, transformers, yashica

The Great Dorset Steam Fair 2016 – part 1

Saturday, August 27th, 2016

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.