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Oxford: flooded meadow

Thursday, January 14th, 2021

During December 2020 the UK saw a lot of rainfall and some parts of the country were flooded. I don’t remember Oxford receiving enough rain to cause flooding but as the massive volume of water from other parts comes rushing through Oxford the rivers swell which in turn causes some areas to flood, especially a local meadow. I made the most of the flooding and did some photography with a large format camera I’ve been wanting to try out for a while. It’s custom made with a 75mm Schneider lens which is fitted to a helicoid for focussing and the back rotates – something I found out by accident which was a nice bonus. There is no branding on it but it’s extremely well designed and made.

I wanted to fill the frame with sky and the reflection in the water so I had to stand in the water because a 75mm on 5×4 film gives an extremely wide angle of view. The Benbo Mk 2 tripod is perfect for this because the legs extend upwards from inside the bottom part of the legs and is designed to stand in water. What a didn’t realise was how easily one of the feet would end up coming off in the mud because it had a split in it, something I only noticed once I got back home. Fortunately Paterson in the UK still sell spares and supply them in a pack of 3. I’ve included some behind the scenes pictures below.

[Tech info:] Custom red dot 5×4 camera, 75mm Schneider lens, FP4 film (expired), developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 (-1 minute to prevent the highlights blowing out).

20201229_Flooded_Meadow_75mm_FP4_HC110B_001_web 20201229_Flooded_Meadow_75mm_FP4_HC110B_002_web 20201229_Flooded_Meadow_75mm_FP4_HC110B_003_web 20201229_Flooded_Meadow_75mm_FP4_HC110B_004_web IMG_5044 IMG_5045 IMG_5049 IMG_5053

 

 

 

Oxford: Endeavour 5, FILM 1 – part 6

Tuesday, December 25th, 2018

Behind the scenes during filming of Endeavour series 5, FILM 1 in Oxford on 30th October 2017. Despite the overcast looking light I think it was fairly bright on this day because I used a relatively slow film, certainly slower than I usually would on a dull day. It was nice not to be fighting contrast for a change.

[Tech info:] Konica Hexar AF, Ilford FP4, developed in Kodak HC110 1+31. Pakon scans.

Oxford: Endeavour 5, FILM 6 – part 3

Sunday, April 22nd, 2018

Behind the scenes photography during the filming of Endeavour series 5, FILM 6 in Oxford. This was a busy day of filming for the crew with the bulk of the time spent on the drive-by shooting outside the pet shop on Turl Street (the Oxfam bookshop on any other day). The first set up was outside Joan’s flat – you can see leaves on the ground as this was the end of October and Autumn was on the turn. More shots to come from this day of filming.

[Tech info:] Hexar AF, Ilford FP4 film developed in Kodak HC110 1+31. Pakon scans.

Black Country Living Museum

Friday, March 30th, 2018

Last month I visited the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley for the second time and on this trip I decided to take along a large format camera for a change. The most portable 5×4 camera I have is a modified Polaroid 110B which folds up nicely to make it very portable and easy to travel with. I’ve got some sheets that I haven’t developed yet and those will follow in a future blog post.

[Tech info:] Polaroid 110B, Yashinon 127mm lens, Ilford FP4 film (expired), developed in Kodak HC110 1+31. Last shot was made on Fomapan 100 (expired), developed in Rodinal 1+25.

Oxford: Endeavour 5, episode 4 – part 7

Saturday, October 21st, 2017

Behind the scenes during filming of Endeavour series 5, episode 4 in Oxford. At the start of this roll the main action was taking place inside rooms at Exeter College – you can see the big lights used to simulate sunlight through the windows. After that it was a location move around the corner to Radcliffe Square for a very quick shot involving supporting artists only and once again a big light was used to simulate sunlight. It’s amazing how much work goes into what will probably end up being seconds on screen.

[Tech info:] Leica M6, Voigtlander 40/1.4 Nokton lens, Ilford FP4 developed in Tetanol Ultrafin. Pakon scans.

War & Peace reenactment – part 1

Wednesday, July 26th, 2017

Last weekend I visited a war and peace reenactment event in Kent and here are some of my first pictures I made there. Most of the other film I shot there was colour so those pictures will follow in the future. The event was spread over a huge area of fields that usually make up a camping ground but it was easy enough to walk around. Weather in the morning was fine but in the afternoon rain clouds rolled in very quickly and rain stopped play – for me at least – which was a shame as it was right after having discovered the home front village which had a little street scene that had been recreated complete with a row of shops and a fully functioning barber!

[Tech info:] Leica M6, Voigtlander 40/1.4 lens, Ilford FP4 film developed in Tetenal Ultrafin 1+10, Pakon scans.

 

 

Oxford: Endeavour 5, episode 2 – part 1

Monday, June 19th, 2017

Behind the scenes photography from filming of Endeavour series 5 episode 2 in Oxford a couple of weeks ago. I’ve picked out a selection of spoiler free shots, others will follow after the broadcast of the episode. I did a good amount of colour photography as well which is not my first choice but sometimes a situation calls for it and I couldn’t resist it when I saw the vintage bus pull up – those pictures will follow in the future. I am beginning to really like the Voigtlander 40/1.4 lens that I used for all of the these shots to the point that I don’t even pack my 50/1.5 Nokton classic – something I never thought would happen.

[Tech info:] Leica M6, Voigtlander 40/1.4, Ilford FP4 developed in Kodak HC110 1+31, Pakon scans.

Oxford: Endeavour 5, episode 1 – part 2

Tuesday, June 6th, 2017

Behind the scenes photography during filming of Endeavour series 5, episode 1 in Oxford. These are spoiler-free images of the crew hard at work. I’ll post the rest of my pictures after each episode has been broadcast.

[Tech info:] Leica M6, Voigtlander 40/1.4, Ilford FP4 developed in HC110 1+31, Pakon scans.

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.

Oxford: Endeavour 4, episode 2 – part 2

Wednesday, January 18th, 2017

Behind the scenes photography from Endeavour series 4 episode 2. This was part of the opening sequence which was filmed in Radcliffe Square. The crew started very early to set this up and the day started off overcast but the clouds burnt off quite quickly as I recall and it became a real scorcher of a day. At the time I think it was the hottest day of the year. As the morning progressed the temperature started to rise and so did the numbers of tourists that flowed into Radcliffe Square. If the buildings weren’t enough to get mobile phones snapping it was the presence of a film crew that certainly did. The security crew did a fantastic job with crowd control as the numbers of onlookers increased.  These shots are all from the same roll of film and you can see the harsh sunlight in some of the later shots.

[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5, Ilford FP4 film @ ISO 200, developed in Kodak HC110 1+31, Pakon scans.

 

Oxford: Transformers 5 filming – part 2

Thursday, December 29th, 2016

Hollywood came to Oxford in the form of Michael Bay and his Transformers 5 film crew to film some scenes for The Last Knight (or was it E75). Security was quite heavy handed but I did my best to document some of the goings on in-between the rain showers. There was a good variety of camera vehicles and they used a drone for some aerial footage of the black Citreon car driving along New College Lane. I’ve got a feeling the scenes filmed in Oxford will probably be set in London in the final edit of the movie.

[Tech info:] Yashica Electro 35, Ilford FP4+ @ ISO 200, developed in Kodak D76 1+1 15mins. Pakon scans.

 

Foggy morning in Oxford

Monday, December 26th, 2016

As 2016 comes to a close I am ever conscious of the photography backlog that has piled up from this year that (if I’m perfectly honest with myself) I probably won’t manage to ever get on top of. It’s not much different to 2014 and 2015 but looking on the bright side I won’t ever run out of new material to post. This set of pictures is from March 2016 when we had a few foggy mornings which felt quite unusual at the time.

[Tech info:] Nikon F100, Ilford FP4 developed in Kodak D76. Pakon scans.