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Oxford Union: Mark Hamill Q&A

Monday, March 7th, 2016

Mark Hamill came to the Oxford Union last week for a Q&A session and I was fortunate to have permission to do some photography (thanks Stuart). Not only is Mark extremely funny but he’s also very talented at doing different voices and impersonations of people as he shared stories and anecdotes that only he can tell. The hour went by far too quickly but I’m sure this is a talk that everyone present in the room will remember for a long, long time to come. Video from the event can be viewed on the Oxford Union YouTube channel here.

I shot one roll of medium format film in my Rolleiflex 2.8F TLR but haven’t scanned those yet.

[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5 and 35/1.2 Nokton lenses. Ilford HP5 @ ISO 1600. Developed in HC110 1+31 for 11mins 45secs.

Oxford: Endeavour 3, episode 4 – part 8

Thursday, January 21st, 2016

Some more shots from the last night of filming in Oxford for Endeavour series 3. This was close to when the crew wrapped just after midnight. I remember it feeling quite chilly out there despite this being the end of July. I’m very much looking forward to seeing how this scene looks in the final episode of series 3.

My sincere thanks go to Olly Blackburn, the director of this episode, for allowing me on set to photograph. I wish more directors were as accommodating. More pictures to come.

[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 35/1.2 Nokton, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 1600, developed in Kodak Xtol stock. Pakon scans.

Oxford: Endeavour 3, episode 4 – part 7

Tuesday, January 5th, 2016

This set of behind the scenes pictures are from the final day of filming in Oxford for Endeavour series 3. It was a beautifully lit outdoor concert that took place on a summers evening in Exeter College gardens. The lighting crew did a fantastic job with all of the lights and the string quartet played for real which was a joy to listen to during every take. As it was the end of July the sky didn’t become dark until quite late so filming didn’t start until around 9pm and wrapped at almost exactly midnight.

My sincere thanks go to Olly Blackburn, the director of this episode, for allowing me on set to photograph. More pictures to come.

[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton, Ilford HP5, ISO 1600, developed in Kodak Xtol stock solution. Pakon scans.

Oxford: Endeavour 3, episode 4 – part 6

Thursday, December 24th, 2015

Mark your calendar, Endeavour series 3 starts on ITV on 3rd January 2016. I can’t wait! Here’s some behind the scenes photography I did while filming was taking place in Oxford at the end of July. Looking back through these images it doesn’t feel like 5 months ago. I’m particularly looking forward to this episode because the scenes I saw being filmed looked very exciting and it was the first time that I’d seen so many of the cast members together.

[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton, Ilford HP5 developed in Kodak D76 1+1. Pakon scans.

Oxford: Remembrance Day, 2015

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.

Oxford Beard Festival 2015

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.

Oxford: Endeavour series 3 – night shoot

Wednesday, September 16th, 2015

It’s nice when you find shots on film months after the fact. These shots are from 16th May (easily identified thanks to a handy shot of the slate) when the Endeavour crew were filming late into the night in Oxford. Unfortunately for them it didn’t start to get dark until very late so their shoot didn’t end until 2am. I stayed around until close to midnight and  left when I felt I had the best of what I could get in the can. The nice part of this shoot was seeing Radcliffe Square lit up like never before. Those of you that know that part of town might notice something about the phone boxes.

[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander Nokton 50/1.5, Ilford HP5 film developed in Kodak D76 1+1. Pakon scans.

Oxford: Magdalen College Ball, 2015 – part 1

Tuesday, July 7th, 2015

The only summer ball I had time to photograph this year was at Magdalen College and here are some images from the evening. Ambient light was quite scarce around the college grounds so I had limited options of where I could photograph after dark. For the first time I decided not to use a flash and I’m glad about my decision because it forced me to make pictures I probably wouldn’t have made otherwise. Trying to decide which cameras to take was difficult but in the end I opted for my Leica M2 because of the ease of focussing with the rangefinder in low light and the quality of the lenses. More images to come in a follow up post.

[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton, Ilford HP5, ISO 1600, developed in Kodak D76 stock, Pakon scans.

 

Oxford: Endeavour series 3 behind the scenes

Thursday, June 18th, 2015

Behind the scenes photography from series 3 of Endeavour which was filming in Oxford recently. For the first time the crew are filming during the summer which is not helping the moody look and feel of the tv show. I’m curious to see how the final episodes look after they’ve been through grading and post production.

[Tech info:] Rolleiflex 2.8F, Zeiss Planar, Ilford HP5 (expired), developed in Ilfotec LC29 1+19.

Oxford: Endeavour 3, episode 1 – part 1

Monday, April 20th, 2015

The first episode of Endeavour 3 is currently being filmed and here are some behind-the-scenes shots from a scene that took place outside Endeavour’s flat in Park Town, Oxford. It was a fairly brief scene with only two members of the main cast present – I won’t go into any more detail or give any spoilers. This is the first bit of filming that I have seen from the new series and it was really nice to see some familiar faces among the crew. The crew consisted of a mix of people that I had previously seen working separately on Lewis and Endeavour so it was nice to see them all working together.

[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander Nokton 50/1.5, Ilford HP5, processed in Ilford LC29 1+19 for 6.30.

Oxford: Police and Pillow Fighting

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.

Oxford: Pentax 645 test

Monday, November 17th, 2014

These shots were made to test out a camera/lens combination I put together. The body is a Pentax 645N and the lens is a 105/2.4 designed for a Pentax 6×7 body but I’m using a lens adapter that allows this lens to be mounted on a smaller format body. I recruited the help of a friend for some of the testing (thanks Jean Pierre) and  I experimented with different apertures to see how the depth of field looked, I also added in a portable LED light for some fill which worked out particularly well. The portrait in the top right hand corner is of Paul from Covered Arts, we went to school together many moons ago and it was nice to bump into him during his coffee break.

[Tech info:] Pentax 645N, 105/2.4 lens (attached with a 6×7 to 645 adapter), expired Ilford HP5 film, processed in Kodak D76 1+1 for 13mins.