This is the first part of my coverage of the 2016 Remembrance Sunday event in Oxford. The sky was clear in the morning which made for very contrasty light. Last year I used large format film so this year I decided to change things up a bit and mainly used 35mm. I did also take a 6×9 medium format camera but didn’t use it very much. More images to follow.
[Tech info:] Olympus OM40, Ilford HP5 film developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 5 mins. Pakon scans.
When I heard that Public Enemy would be performing at the Common People 2016 music festival in Oxford I was really looking forward to photographing them but when Chuck D came on stage he announced that Flava Flav couldn’t make it due to problems with obtaining a visa in time which was very disappointing and quite limiting in terms of photography as I find him the more photogenic of the duo.
[Tech info:] Nikon F100, 70-200/2.8 VR, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 800, HC110 1+31, Pakon scans.
Here are some pictures from the Q&A session with Sir Michael Gambon at the Oxford Union. It was a very entertaining talk and I highly recommend viewing the video which can be found here.
[Tech info:] Nikon F100, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 3200, developed in Ilford DDX 1+4, 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.
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
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.
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.
Endeavour IV: film 1
If you use Twitter it’s no secret that filming has begun on the fourth series of Endeavour. Here are some behind-the-scenes shots when they were filming in Oxford recently. This is one of my favourite things to photograph because the combination of clothes and cars look so good. It was very nice to see the crew again who this time are a mixture of familiar and new faces.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5, Ilford HP5, developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 5mins. Pakon scans.
A Hollywood film crew came to town last week as filming of a new modern day reboot of The Mummy began filming here in Oxford starring Tom Cruise. I’ve never seen so many trucks for one production before. All filming was done at night and security was obviously very tight but I did manage to do some photography during the day of a transformed New College Lane and the front of Hertford College which was made to look like a Hospital. It’s too bad they didn’t ask me to do some behind the scenes photography at night with my film cameras because this movie is being shot on film.
Please excuse the heavy watermarking which is not something I’m a fan of but I am tired of seeing the same images of Tom Cruise in Oxford being reused over and over on the internet with either no credit to the original photographer or credited to someone completely different.
[Tech info:] Canon Sureshot Supreme, Ilford HP5 developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 and Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton, Eastman Double X motion picture film developed in Kodak D76 1+1. Pakon scans.
Oliver Stone came to the Oxford Union for a Q&A session and I was there to do some photography. The previous two Q&A sessions I had photographed had been in the debating chamber but this one was in a much smaller more intimate space and for the first time I had daylight coming in through windows which made for some nice contrast. After my initial light readings before the start of the session I was only able to visually judge my exposure because as the sun was starting to set it gradually got darker outside and neither of my cameras had light meters in them.
[Technical info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 35/1.2 and 50/1.5 Nokton lenses, Ilford HP5 @ ISO1600, developed in Kodak HC110 1+31, Pakon scans.
A couple of pictures from the recent Mary Berry Q&A at the Oxford Union. Apparently the most watched tv show of 2015 was the final of The Great British Bake Off but I must confess that I don’t watch a lot of tv and I’ve never seen the show. This was probably a good thing because going into this event I had zero preconceptions of what Mary Berry would be like and I’m happy to say that I found her very down to earth and also quite funny.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 35/1.2, 50/1.5 Nokton, Iford HP5 @ ISO 1600 developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 11mins 45secs. Pakon scans.
