Waterbird is a short film directed by Alex Darby which was being filmed in Oxford last week. Alex invited me along to shoot some behind-the-scenes stills during a night shoot in the Westgate car park. Unfortunately I couldn’t stay for very much of it but I did manage to shoot a roll of film of some of the cast and crew. More to follow.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66, 80/2.8 Zeiss Planar, Kodak Tri-X @ ISO800, processed in Kodak HC110 for 9 mins.
These shots are from a few weeks ago from possibly one of my shortest photo shoots ever – start to finish I think we spent around 15 minutes. They were all made handheld on 5×4 large format film and I really like how these have turned out. The camera is from the 1960’s and was originally designed to shoot on Polaroid film that came on a roll. It was never designed to shoot 5×4 film so the viewfinder is not 100% accurate for what will be on the film and that’s something I’m still trying to get used to which is why the top of the frame is cropped so tightly in a few of these shots. This summer I plan to do more large format film photography than I have before and I think my modified Polaroid 110B will be getting quite a bit of use.
[Tech info:] Polaroid 110B land camera (modified by Holga Mods), Ilford HP5 5×4, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 5mins.
It’s hard to believe that it’s been a year already since Giffords Circus was in town especially as I remember it so well and it feels more recent than that. This year there are familiar faces that I saw last year and also some new people. I saw the show this afternoon and it was fantastic – very different from last year. If you haven’t been to see the show yet I highly recommend it. Here are some portraits I made back stage.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66, 80/2.8 Zeiss Planar, loaded with Fuji Acros 100, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31.
These shots were all made with a Polaroid 110B Land Camera that has been modified to shoot 5×4 large format film, handheld. It can also shoot a whole host of other formats thanks to the Graflok back and I plan to do a separate post on this camera at some point. The conversion has been beautifully done by Randy of Holgamods.com and it was worth every day of the 3 months I had to wait.
[Tech info:] Polaroid 110B, Ilford HP5 film processed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 6mins.
Eric rowed for Keble College in 1955.
Chelsea Clinton received her doctorate degree last Saturday in a ceremony at The Sheldonian Theatre. Bill and Hillary were also there along with Chelsea’s husband and they all looked extremely proud when I saw them exit the Sheldonian and be photographed for their family group shot while a mass of students (who had also just graduated) looked on. I managed to photograph them as they casually walked through Radcliffe Square on their way back to University College on the High Street. It all happened so quickly and I did my best to maintain focus on my Rolleiflex twin-lens camera while walking backwards and trying not to trip over. They were surrounded by secret service agents that insisted that I stayed back which added another element of difficulty because I had to keep an eye out for when they were about to step in front of my camera. A group of paparazzi were quite a way off behind me concentrating on Chelsea and her husband who were walking off ahead of Bill and Hillary. I only had seven frames left on the roll in my Rolleiflex so I had to make every frame count and I’m very pleased with my shots.
Back in the summer of 2012 Bill visited Oxford to give a presentation at a conference in town. I didn’t know this and while I was on my lunch hour photo walk I came across one of his secret service agents standing outside Blackwell’s bookshop on Broad Street. I noticed him from across the street but I didn’t realise he was an actual secret service agent until I got closer and noticed the white coiled wire connected to an ear piece. We had a brief conversation and he was nice enough to allow me to make a quick portrait (below). At that point I didn’t know that Bill Clinton was inside Blackwell’s and I only found out when I got back to my office and one of my work colleague’s told me because a friend of his was working at Blackwell’s and Bill in there. Later that evening I went to the Malmaison hotel to photograph an event and when I got there I noticed lots of vehicles with blacked out windows parked in the front. When I left the hotel after I had finished my photography, standing at the door was the same secret service agent that I had photographed at lunch time. We had a nice chat and I explained a bit about this blog and my passion for film photography and just as I was about to leave he handed me a secret service pin badge which I thought was a very kind of him. I didn’t ask his name but whoever he is I hope he gets to see the portrait I made of him two years ago.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex 2.8F, 80mm Zeiss Planar, loaded with Fuji Acros 100, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 5:30.
Secret service agent: Rolleiflex SL66, 80/2.8 Zeiss Planar, Fuji Acros 100, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 5:30.
I haven’t used my Mamiya Universal press camera for a while so I decided to dust it off for a quick shoot with Imogen during my lunch break. No matter how hard I try I still don’t like rangefinder camera’s. I like to use wide aperture’s for shallow depth of field and having to focus in the middle of the frame and then recomposing is not helpful for maintaining critical focus. The thing I like about the Mamiya Universal is the versatility of being able to shoot so many different film formats and also full-frame Polaroids. These were all made with a 6×9 roll film back which gives you 8 frames on a roll of 120.
[Tech info:] Mamiya Universal, 100/2.8, 6×9 roll film back, Kodak Tri-X 400 (expired), processed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 7:30.
Behind the scenes photography during filming of the movie Testament of Youth that took place in Radcliffe Square, Oxford on 9th April 2014. In the first shot the Director of Photography for the movie is on the left. The movie is based on the memoirs of Vera Brittain and the lead role is played by Alicia Vikander who can be seen in a few of the shots below. Security was quite tight so there wasn’t a lot of opportunity to vary my position for photography and my Rolleiflex TLR has a fixed 80mm lens so that was another limiting factor but I’m pleased with how these shots turned out, all from the same roll of 12 frames.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex 2.8F, 80/2.8 Zeiss Planar, loaded with Kodak Tri-X 400 (expired), processed in Kodak HC110 1+31.
Some test shots from a roll of Ilford FP4+ that expired 20 years ago (1994). I picked up a box of this film as part of a mixed lot of expired rolls and I’ve been waiting for some sunny weather to test it out. Spring seems to have finally sprung so this is the first test roll that I used on my lunch break photo walk around town in very sunny and contrasty light. The contrast of this film seems to have gone way down which is perfect for using on a very sunny day. I bumped up the contrast in post by an unusually high amount to achieve the results below. Overall I’m very surprised and pleased with the results.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66, 80/2.8 Zeiss Planar, loaded with Ilford FP4 (expired 1994), rated at ISO 100, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 12mins.
Last week a movie crew were in town filming a period drama called Testament of Youth which is based on the memoirs of Vera Brittain. It was wonderful to see a large scale production crew transform parts of Oxford to how it would have looked 100 years ago with the use of various props, old cars, horses, carriages, people dressed in period costumes and lots of grit to cover modern day tarmac and double yellow lines. There was a lot of interest from tourists and locals so there was plenty of security on hand to keep things under control with the use of barriers which made it difficult to move around for photography. While most people concentrated on photographing the main actors, I’m always drawn to photographing the crew, the unsung heroes who are usually the first ones to arrive on set in the morning and the last ones to leave at the end of the day.
Below you’ll find pictures of one of the lighting trucks, a 20K fresnel light waiting to be deployed, the Gaffer (Julian) with his ND filters at the ready, the lighting crew during their lunch break in the sun, Security guards (Neil and Duncan), stills photographer (Laurie) and old bicycles used as props in Radcliffe Square. It was very nice chatting with some of the crew members especially Julian and Laurie who have previously worked on some great projects.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66, 80/2.8 Zeiss Planar, loaded with Ilford FP4 (expired 1994), rated at ISO 100, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 12mins.
I caught the end of one match and the beginning of another in University Parks. Trying to photograph sport with a hulking big medium format camera was quite fun but unfortunately I didn’t have much spare time to stay because I had to get over to Iffley Road for the swimming and water polo.
[Tech info:] Pentax 67, 165mm/2.8, loaded with Ilford FP4 (expired), processed in Kodak HC110 1+31.
Helen and Pascale were raising money for a good cause outside Hertford College a few weeks ago with a pancake sale. I’ve never seen Catte Street so busy at lunch time. I managed to make a few pictures on my lunch break photo walk. Thanks for the pancake girls, it was very tasty.
[Tech info:] Bronica ETRSi, 75/2.8, loaded with expired Ilford FP4, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31 (dilution b).
These portraits were all made during the swimming and water polo events at the Oxford vs Cambridge Varsity 2014. I was struggling to find enough space to set these shots up and it was also difficult to find competitors that had spare time to stop but in the end I’m pleased with how these turned out.
[Tech info:] Bronica ETRSi, 75/2.8, Ilford FP4 (expired). Processed in Kodak HC110 1+31.
