If you ever visit the Great Dorset Steam Fair be sure to stay until after dark because the display of steam engines all lit up is a real highlight of the day. These images are from my first ever roll of Fuji Natura 1600 film which a generous friend brought over from Japan for me. To my knowledge Fuji only make it for the domestic Japanese market.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton Classic, Fuji Natura 1600 film developed in Fuji Xpress C41 kit. Pakon scans.
Behind the scenes pictures from The Mummy (2017) reboot starring Tom Cruise when filming took place in Oxford. The facade of Hertford College was cleverly dressed to look like The Royal Thames Hospital complete with ambulance vehicles parked outside. I had a great chat with the lighting guys and it was from them that I discovered the movie is being shot on Kodak film stock which is always nice to hear.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, 50/1.5 Voigtlander Nokton, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 1600, developed in Kodak Xtol stock. Pakon scans.
During my visit to The Great Dorset Steam Fair I got to experience the Wall of Death for the very first time. This wasn’t any old Wall of Death, it was the Ken Fox Troupe Wall of Death and what made it extra special was seeing it with my old friend Benedict Campbell who made an excellent short film about them (see it here). The show is nothing short of spectacular and I highly recommend it if you get the chance to see it.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton Classic, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 800, developed in HC110 1+31. Pakon scans.
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.
These pictures have been sitting on a roll of film in my fridge for the past year. I remember making these pictures but I couldn’t remember exactly which roll they were on and because the last shots on the roll ended up being made at the 2015 Cowley Classics car show I labelled the roll ‘car show’ when I removed it from my camera. Recently I have been working my way through a backlog of colour films and that’s when I came across these shots.
[Tech info:] Konica Hexar AF, Fuji Press 400 (expired), developed in a Fuji Xpress C41 kit, Pakon scans.
Behind the scenes during filming of the first episode of Endeavour IV in Oxford. I managed to come across the crew during my lunch break and managed to catch the end of a scene by the river. The straw boater hats were a nice touch.
[Tech info:] Konica Hexar AF, Fuji Reala 100 (expired), Pakon scans.
Here are some behind the scenes shots of Martin Parr at work on his project that has the working title of ‘Oxford’. I enjoy documenting all sorts of things but this is the first time I’ve shadowed a photographer at work. It was interesting to see which kinds of things caught Martin’s eye and also how many people didn’t know who he was. I’ve bumped into Martin on a number of occasions around Oxford so you’ll be seeing him again in the future on this blog. The book will be published by OUP and is due out in September 2017.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 800, developed in Kodak Xtol, Pakon scans.
The Oxford comma hangs on the wall in the background
Chimping
Behind-the-scenes photography during the filming of the first episode of Endeavour series 4 (or to be more precise, Endeavour IV: film 1). These pictures were all made before the masses of tourists turned up. To say that things ended up getting very hectic would be understating it a little.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton, Ilford FP4 @ ISO 400, developed in Kodak Xtol, Pakon scans.
Lots of activity on Turl Street in Oxford for the first episode of Endeavour series 4. The sky started out overcast in the morning but sunshine was forecast later so deciding on which film stocks to take with me was a little tricky. In the end I decided on ISO 400 for the earlier part of the morning and ISO 125 (FP4) for later. I ended up using my faster film sooner than expected so I decided to push Ilford FP4 to ISO 400 and I must say I like these results a lot.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton, Ilford FP4 @ ISO 400, developed in Kodak Xtol 1+1, Pakon scans.
Jerry Springer came to the Oxford Union to talk about US politics and the presidential race. It was a fascinating talk and Jerry is a fount of knowledge on the subject.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 3200 developed in Ilford DD-X 1+4 for 20mins. Pakon scans.
These shots are from an Olympus OM1 I wanted to test four months ago. I was also testing some expired Ilford Pan F film that I was given inside a bulk film loader but I had no idea how long ago it had expired. Somehow the roll got fogged but I can’t remember how – I need to start making notes.
[Tech info:] Olympus OM1, 50/1.8, Ilford Pan F (expired), developed in Kodak D76, Pakon scans.
Behind the scenes during filming of the first episode of Endeavour series 4 in Oxford. This set of shots is from the first roll that I shot so there aren’t too many people around other than the cast and crew. You can see street signs being twisted around so they wouldn’t be picked up by the camera and last minute touch ups on some of the supporting actors.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5, Ilford HP5, developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 5mins. Pakon scans.
