hc110
...now browsing by tag
Saturday, February 6th, 2016
The Oxford University Boxing Club invited me to photograph this years’ Town v Gown Boxing event at the Oxford Union because they really liked my pictures from the previous two years and I was very happy to go along. It was nice to see some familiar faces and new ones too. I tried to mix things up with photographing some action in the ring along with behind the scenes shots but the lighting on the ring was too harsh to record it well. More to come.
[Tech info]: Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton, Kodak TMAX 400 @ ISO1600, developing in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 8mins. Pakon scans.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Sport | No Responses »
Tags: black&white, boxing, film, hc110, iso1600, leica, m2, people, students, tmax400
Sunday, November 15th, 2015
Last year I photographed the Remembrance Day ceremony is Oxford with only 35mm film so this year I decided to change things up and only use large format. There’s no sense in repeating things, right? After much deliberation I opted to use my Speed Graphic 5×4 and 7 inch Aero Ektar lens (aka The Burnett combo). Using a lens from WWII seemed somewhat appropriate and I need all of the speed I could get because the sky was very overcast and the light level very low. Once I had packed my camera bag I only had space for 6 film holders (12 sheets of 5×4 inch film) so that’s all I took. Some of my shots ended up with very strange looking focus shift so I think in my rush to set up I must have moved the lens from being parallel with the film plane. Overall I think this camera and lens combo is well suited to this subject and hopefully I’ll get a chance to photograph some more military parades when I’m not rushing so much.
[Tech info]: Graflex Speed Graphic 5×4, Kodak Aero Ektar lens, Ilford HP5 developed in HC110 1+31 for 5 mins.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Street portraits | No Responses »
Tags: 5x4, aero ektar, black&white, film, graflex, hc110, HP5, oxford, people, speed graphic
Wednesday, October 7th, 2015
These shots were made during my lunch break yesterday, all from the same roll of film that I used to test a Contax G1 camera I recently bought. The weather has been very wet the past two days but fortunately there was a break in the rain just long enough for me to shoot this roll. In a few of the shots I was also testing an external flash (TLA 200) that I got with the camera body. It’s very simple to use as it only has two modes, manual and TTL. I left it on TTL. The light from it seems nice and balanced and it’s small enough to keep in the camera case without noticing it. One thing I did notice is the AF doesn’t seem to lock on very well if you try to focus on something that is low contrast or backlit. Some of the shots on the roll were slightly out of focus. So far I’ve been enjoying using the G1 as a point and shoot camera.
[Tech info:] Contax G1, 45/2 Carl Zeiss lens, Ilford FP4 film (expired) developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 9mins. Pakon scans.
Posted in Equipment, Oxford, People, Portrait, Street portraits | No Responses »
Tags: 45mm, black&white, contax, film, fp4, g1, hc110, oxford, pakon, people, portraits
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2015
I must admit I’m not a huge fan of shaving and usually go a few weeks between shaves whenever possible. When I found out about the Oxford Beard Festival my first thought wasn’t about entering, it was to make portraits of some of the competitors in a formal portrait kind of way. It took me a while to decide on which camera to take and in the end I opted for my Graflex Super D which is a large format SLR allowing me to shoot 5×4 inch sheet film. For this event I packed 12 sheets of film and used one sheet on each person below so making mistakes wasn’t an option. After arriving at the venue (The James Street Tavern) I scoped out a place to set up that would be both out of the way and would also give me consistent lighting during the afternoon and managed to find a nice shady spot in the corner of the beer garden. It was a fun event and I enjoyed photographing such a variety of beards but this was more than just about beards, I could appreciate the thought that had also gone into the clothes and styling for a lot of these guys and that made for better pictures in the end. My thanks go out to all of these guys for being so patient and for sitting very still for me.
[Tech info:] Graflex Super D 5×4, Pentac 8inch f2.9 lens, Ilford HP5 film processed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 6 mins.
Behind the scenes shots of the camera I used and some of the sheet film hanging up to dry.
Posted in Oxford, People, Portrait | 2 Responses »
Tags: 5x4, beard, black&white, festival, film, graflex, hc110, HP5, oxford, pentac, people, portraits, super d
Friday, June 5th, 2015
The Endeavour film crew were back in Oxford a few weeks ago to start work on the second episode of series 3. Here are some behind the scenes shots that I made during filming that took place on Holywell Street.
[Tech info]: Leica M2, Voigtlander Nokton 50/1.4 lens, Eastman Double X motion picture film, developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 6 mins.
Posted in Behind the scenes, film, Oxford, People | No Responses »
Tags: 50mm, black&white, double x, endeavour, film, filming, hc110, leica, m2, nokton, oxford, voigtlander
Monday, May 11th, 2015
The Endeavour crew were back in Oxford filming the first episode from series 3 and here are some shots from behind the scenes. It was very nice to see some familiar faces among the crew which was made up of a mixture of crew members from both Lewis and Endeavour. These shots were all made with my 1960’s Rolleiflex twin lens reflex camera which I like to use for behind the scenes photography because not only is it very quiet but it’s also from the same era as Endeavour is set.
Tech info: Rolleiflex 2.8F, 80mm Zeiss Planar lens, Kodak Tri-X film, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31.
Endeavour behind the scenes
Posted in Behind the scenes, film, Oxford | No Responses »
Tags: 6x6, black&white, endeavour, film, filming, hc110, oxford, rolleiflex
Monday, April 13th, 2015
On the same day as this year’s Worldwide Pillow Fighting Day the EDL decided to hold a demonstration in Oxford. Good timing! That in turn brought out a large gathering of United Against Fascism demonstrators which led to a massive Police presence in Oxford City Centre which I have never seen before. The Police did a fantastic job of keeping both parties away from each other and the EDL were so well penned in opposite the Police station on St Aldates that whatever message they were trying to get across fell on deaf ears.
From there I went to photograph the pillow fight in Catte Street which was a completely different vibe and fun to get in amongst even if it meant getting bopped on the head a number of times. I decided to use my panoramic camera to try to capture a sense of how many people were there. To be honest I think there were more people photographing the event than pillow fighters but it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately the film ripped off the spool inside the camera when I was winding on the last frame so I was unable to load a second roll. I had to remove the film in a changing bag and the film got scratched when I pulled the film out. A bit of a shame but not the end of the world.
[Tech info:] Zenit S3 Pro Horizon, Ilford HP5, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 5mins.
Posted in film, Oxford, People | 2 Responses »
Tags: black&white, film, hc110, horizon, HP5, oxford, panoramic, people, pillow fight, zenit
Tuesday, March 17th, 2015
This set of images were made with what I think is the oldest camera I currently own – a Voigtlander Bessa I 6×9 folder from 1936. It works incredibly well for its age but it is a little quirky (it has separate viewfinder windows for focussing and composing) and it’s not particularly fast to use in a hurry but I do enjoy the size of the frames on the film and it folds down to a very compact size which makes it perfect for carrying around. I’ve only put three rolls through it so far and I think I’ll try a roll with this camera mounted on a tripod to see how much sharper the images become.
[Tech info]: Voigtlander Bessa I 6×9 folder, 105mm Skopar lens, Fuji Acros 100 film, developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 5:30.
Posted in Equipment, Oxford, Portrait, Street portraits | 2 Responses »
Tags: 6x9, acros, bessa, black&white, film, hc110, oxford, people, portraits, voigtlander
Saturday, February 28th, 2015
Here are some images from a recent lunchtime photography session with Ella. I wanted to practice a little with this camera and lens combination because while I really like the results I get from them, I’m not happy with the shutter release on the camera and how far you need to press before it will activate the shutter. I have a power-winder for it that came as part of the kit but I haven’t tried it yet. Maybe it’s about time I did. Ella was very easy to work with and hopefully there will be more opportunities to do some photography together.
[Tech info:] Mamiya 645 Pro TL, 80/1.9 lens, Fuji Acros 100 (expired) film, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 5:30.
Posted in film, Oxford, Photo shoot, Portrait, students | No Responses »
Tags: 645, acros, black&white, ella, film, hc110, oxford, portraits, students
Wednesday, February 25th, 2015
Some of the results from my large format lunchtime session with Alice using a 1940’s press camera. For this session I wanted to test out some Fomapan 100 film that I’ve had laying around for over a year and recently discovered. So far so good. I like these results. I’m hoping to do more large format photography in my lunch break because I really enjoy composing my shots on a large ground glass screen – often times upside down – and also having a limited amount of shots as well as the slower pace compared to other kinds of photography.
[Tech info:] Graflex Super D 5×4, Pentac 8inch f2.9 (bottom left), Kodak Ektar 190/5.6 lens, Fomapan 100 (expired), processed in Kodak HC110 1+31.
Film hanging up to dry
Posted in film, Oxford, Photo shoot, Portrait, students | 2 Responses »
Tags: 5x4, alice, black&white, fomapan, graflex, hc110, oxford, students, super d
Monday, February 9th, 2015
Yesterday I taught a landscape photography workshop at New College with Anthony (the current Oxford University Photographic Society President) and after a classroom session we all went out into the New College grounds to do some photography. The sky was very clear which made for quite contrasty light with nice shadows. I decided to take my Polaroid 110B to do some large format photography on Kodak Plus-X Aerographic film to test out how it handled contrast. Overall I think the film handled the contrast very well, especially in this first image below. I only took six sheets of film with me and to save time I bracketed the first two shots and then used my last two on Anthony (we couldn’t decide on jacket on or off so we shot both).
[Tech info:] Polaroid 110B, Kodak Plus-X Aerographic film, processed in Kodak HC110 (1+31) for 5 mins.
Behind-the-scenes – film drying in the darkroom
Posted in Architecture, film, Oxford, Portrait | 4 Responses »
Tags: 110B, 5x4, aerographic, anthony, black&white, film, hc110, new college, oxford, plus-x, polaroid, portraits
Sunday, February 8th, 2015
It was nice to see some familiar faces at this years’ Town vs Gown Boxing competition at the Oxford Union, especially some of the team from last year who had come to cheer on Oxford. Last year was my first time photographing this event and I had no idea what to expect when I arrived there. This year was very different because this time I had access all areas and I also had last years’ pictures to live up to (which can be seen here and here).
After much deliberation on which cameras and film to take with me I eventually decided that I wanted to make some portraits on medium format but the difficult part was choosing which medium format camera to take. In the end I went for my Mamiya 645 Pro TL because it’s the one that I own with the fastest lens and not only did I want a shallow depth of field but I also knew that the light levels inside the Oxford Union are fairly low. The 80/1.9 lens that I took with me is quite unforgiving when it comes to focussing it at anywhere near to wide open and the focussing screen that came in my camera (I’m not sure if it’s the standard stock screen) is very bright and clear which actually makes it more difficult to tell whether something is in focus or not so the sharpness in some of the shots below is lacking. The Mamiya 645 Pro TL is a nice camera to use but the thing I hate most about it is the shutter release travel feels like it goes on forever which can cause movement of the camera (in my experience) just before the shutter fires. I have a motor-drive for mine which came with the camera but I haven’t used it yet because once you’ve loaded the grip with AA batteries it adds quite a bit of weight to it as well as increasing the overall size.
[Tech info:] Mamiya 645 Pro TL, 80/1.9, Kodak Tri-X 400 @ ISO 1600, processed in Kodak HC110 (1+31) for 16mins.
Posted in Behind the scenes, Oxford, Sport, students | No Responses »
Tags: 645, backstage, black&white, boxing, film, hc110, mamiya, oxford, portraits, protl, students, Tri-X
