George Takei came to speak at the Oxford Union and I was asked to photograph the event. Although he’s probably best known for his role as Hikaru Sulu in the original Star Trek television series and movies, George has had a very varied and successful acting career. I highly recommend watching the video of his talk when it’s posted to the Oxford Union YouTube channel.
A couple of weeks ago I met with The Oxford Revue to make some portraits for them to use for publicity. It was at the end of one of their rehearsal sessions at the Burton Taylor theatre and there was not a great deal of time but it was a fun session with a really nice group of people who I hope to work more with in the future. We shot a variety of different expressions but I prefer the more serious ones especially as that’s not what you’d expect for a comedy group. The list of previous members of The Oxford Revue is quite impressive so keep an eye out for these guys (and girl), they’ll be touring soon. My thanks go to George (the director) for contacting me.
[Tech info]: Nikon D700, 50/1.4D. Fake Ilford HP5 filter applied to look less like digital and more like film. Not a chance!
Roll up, roll up, Billy Smart’s Circus is in town and it’s a helluva show! They were kind enough to contact me last week to ask if I’d like to photograph their show and of course I said yes. It’s not often I blog an event the same day as seeing it but I wanted to get my pictures online as soon as possible because the show was excellent and I thoroughly recommend it. When I was a kid I remember seeing Billy Smart’s Circus on tv but this was my first time seeing the show for real. There are no animals in this show, it’s all humans. I shot quite a lot of images but I’ve only posted a small selection here because I didn’t want to give away the entire show which last around 2 hours. They’re on Oxpens for the rest of this week, check them out. Here’s their website.
[Tech info:] Nikon D700, 70-200mm/2.8 lens.
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.
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.
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)
The second set of my images from back stage at the Oxford Fashion Week 2012 Haute Couture show at the Ashmolean museum. These all turned out extremely well considering the amount of space I had to work in. Just out of shot to the left is a lift that I didn’t want to include in the shots! (Click on the thumbnails below for a larger preview).
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For a long time I’ve wanted to do a photo shoot where I experimented with window light so this is what I did in my recent photo shoot with Helen. Previously we have always shot outside so it was nice to have some limitations to work within (space being one and the light being another). These shots were all made a few hours after my shoot with Jake Dean (previous post) and by this time the sun had already started to drop along with the light level. The windows that were directly behind me face north which helped give a beautiful softness to the light quality which reminded me of paintings by the old masters. It was very interesting to see how moving a small amount made quite a difference and by using curtains you can completely change the feeling of the light altogether.
As with my previous shoot I shot both film and digital – these are all digital. I’m especially excited to see the results from film because I used a new type (Kodak Portra 800) which I haven’t used before. I also shot a roll of TMAX 400 at ISO 1600 after the great results I got from Oxford Fashion Week. Those shots will follow at a later time.
[Technical info:] Nikon D700, 50mm/f1.4D lens.
Here are images from a photo shoot I had with one of the models from the Oxford Fashion Week Couture show yesterday. The light outside was amazing and I’m really pleased with the results. It’s very rare for me to take a digital camera with me on a photo shoot these days but I decided to on this occasion simply for convenience so that I could get some images to Jake without too much delay. I also shot some film so some of those may follow at a later date. Jake was very easy to work with and it wouldn’t surprise me if he gets snapped up by a London agency soon.
[Technical info:] Nikon D700 with 50mm/f1.4D lens.
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Some of my photography from backstage at the Haute Couture show which was held in Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum. Regular visitors to this blog may recognise the tailor’s from Clements & Church (especially Richard) who I tend to photograph quite regularly. It was great to see them in their element, doing what they do best. I have lots of images to post so I’ll be drip feeding them as I get time to do so. I’ve been doing so much photography recently that my backlog is slowly building up. Apologies to anyone waiting to see their images.
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Oxford Fashion Week 2012 is currently on and I’ve been doing some backstage photography. Here are some images from the Elysium show held at Oxford’s Town Hall last night. Space was at a premium so it was extremely difficult to photograph there but I did my best to stay out of the way amidst the busyness that comes with fashion shows. I really wanted to do some stunning photography that completed some of the amazing outfits and styling but sadly I didn’t get the time I needed. At the very end I did get some help from designer Crimson-Rose O’Shea (who had designed the colourful outfits that were accompanied by big paper hats) which was nice. I especially liked the outfits from designer Chloe Reynolds (the black designs with lace across the models’ eyes) so it was a shame not to get a chance to make more shots of them.
I’ll add more images to this post when I get time to process them all. I shot both film and digital and a few shots on Fuji instant pack film (aka Polaroid).
Despite the title of this conference it has nothing to do with models or modelling. One of the organisers had seen my photography on this blog and asked if I’d like to do some photography of the conference delegates. I agreed to go along and although I would have loved to have made some selective portraits on film I know from past experience that these types of events are very difficult to be selective at because for some reason people react with sheer terror if you ask them if they’d like to be photographed by themselves. Anyone know why? The venue was Oxford’s Town Hall, a venue that I’ve photographed in before so I knew from experience the available light there is not very good for photography which is why I took my own lighting along. There was a steady flow of people to photograph but towards the end it got a bit crazy with the groups becoming larger and larger. Overall it was fun. Any delegates wishing to order prints can do so directly from me, please get in touch via email: simplyoxford [at] gmail.com.
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