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Photo shoot: Imogen

Monday, June 17th, 2013

Here are some images from a photo shoot I had with Imogen recently. I took along two cameras that were completely opposite in size, a 5×4 large format SLR (Super D) and a 35mm rangefinder (Yashica Electro). I’m not a fan of rangefinder cameras (despite owning a few) and whenever I use them it’s not a very enjoyable experience mainly because I much prefer to see the viewfinder image go in and out of focus but I do like the results I got from my Yashica in this session.

I was keen to try out my Super D with an old lens I had adapted to fit but after the first test Fujiroid I noticed the focus was a little bit off – when the image in the viewfinder was in focus the image in the final print was focused slightly in front of the point that I had focused on. As a result of this I had to do a bit of guess work with the rest of the shots so they’re not as sharply focussed as I wanted. Later when I got home I figured out the problem is that the mirror doesn’t rest as low as it should so now I have to manually twist and hold a lever to push the mirror down while I am focussing. It’s a bit of a faff so I need to find an alternate method.

[Tech info:] Graflex Super D 5×4, Pentac f2.9 lens @ f4, Ilford FP4 film processed in Kodak HC110 1+31. Yashica Electro 35 loaded with Kodak TMAX 400, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31.

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Posted in film, Oxford, Photo shoot, Portrait, students | 2 Responses »
Tags: 5x4, black&white, film, fp4, graflex, hc110, oxford, people, portraits, students, super d, tmax

Oxford: OWP skate park portraits

Monday, April 15th, 2013

Here are some portraits I made at the new OWP (Oxford Wheels Project) skate park on Meadow Lane yesterday. This is a personal project to document some of the users of the park because I think it will be great to look back at these images many years from now. I’ve never owned a BMX and I could never balance on a skateboard to save my life so I never found myself visiting the old ramps which is a real shame. I wish I had thought about starting this project years ago because it would be interesting to see how the bikes and fashions have changed over time as well as the riders and skaters themselves.

[Tech info:] Speed Graphic 5×4 large format camera with a Kodak Aero Ektar lens on Ilford FP4, processed in Kodak HC110 (1+31) for 7mins.

Setup shot - photo by Alex Leech

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Posted in Equipment, film, Oxford, People, Sport | 6 Responses »
Tags: 5x4, black&white, bmx, film, fp4, graflex, hc110, owp, oxford, people, portraits

Photo shoot: Peter

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).