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Thursday, October 19th, 2017
Music composer Howard Shore came to the Oxford Union for a Q&A event and I went along to do some documentary photography. He has composed the scores for over 80 films but appears to be most well known for his work on the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies. I’ve been a fan of his film scores for many years and was hoping there would be some discussion on his collaborations with David Fincher – one of my favourite directors – but the Lord of the Rings movies was the main topic of conversation on this occasion. The projector screen you can see in some of the pictures was used to play some movie clips to talk about which was a great idea.
This was my first event at the Oxford Union since the summer break and with a new term there is a new President – Chris Zabilowicz. There’s an impressive line up of guest speakers planned for this term and lots to look forward to.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, Voigtlander 40/1.4, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 1600, developed in HC110 1+15 using the time for 3200 to give an extra boost to the negs. Pakon scans.
Posted in film, Oxford, People | No Responses »
Tags: 35mm, black&white, film, hc110, howard shore, HP5, iso1600, leica, oxford, oxford union, pakon
Tuesday, October 17th, 2017
Behind the scenes photography during filming of Endeavour series 5, episode 4. This was the last day of filming and it was interiors all day at the Police station. Watching how the set was brought to life with simulated sunlight pouring in through the fake windows was fascinating, add in some haze and you’re instantly transported back to the 1960’s. It was a fun day and we even managed to finish slightly ahead of schedule which always makes for a happy crew.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, 40/1.4 Voigtlander Nokton, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 1600, developed in Xtol stock. Pakon scans.
Posted in Behind the scenes, Endeavour, film, People | 1 Response »
Tags: 35mm, black&white, endeavour, film, filming, HP5, iso1600, leica, m6, pakon, people, voigtlander, xtol
Thursday, October 12th, 2017
It’s not every day you come across an Endeavour photo shoot on the streets of Oxford so when I did I thought it would be nice to document a little behind the scenes. I didn’t do much because I didn’t want to be too distracting and disrupt the shoot. The Endeavour crew were in town to film some pick-up shots for the first episode and this photo shoot was slotted in before that. After the shoot had finished I got to chat briefly with the photographer who must be one of the nicest and most down to earth photographers I’ve ever come across. I didn’t have long to chat because I wanted to catch the filming that was taking place in Exeter College – more on that in a separate blog post.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, 35/2.8 Zeiss Biogon, Eastman Double X motion picture film developed in Kodak HC110 1+64. Pakon scans.
Posted in Behind the scenes, Endeavour, Oxford, People | No Responses »
Tags: 35mm, biogon, black&white, double x, endeavour, film, hc110, leica, m6, oxford, pakon, people, photo shoot
Tuesday, October 10th, 2017
Ricky Gervais came to the Oxford Union for a Q&A session with Michael Li – the president at the time – and I went along to do some photography to document the event. You can see the video here and I recommend it.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, 40/1.4 Voigtlander Nokton, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 1600, developed in Kodak HC-110 1+31, Pakon scans.
Posted in film, Oxford, People | No Responses »
Tags: 35mm, black&white, film, hc110, HP5, iso1600, leica, m6, oxford, oxford union, pakon, people, ricky gervais, voigtlander
Sunday, October 8th, 2017
Behind the scenes photography from filming of Endeavour series 5, episode 5 in University Parks, Oxford, September 2017. The weather in the morning started off very overcast and dull which was a shame because the scenes due to be filmed called for nice sunny weather but in a stroke of luck the sun eventually burnt through the clouds to completely transform the location. These shots are from my first roll of the day before the sunshine arrived. As this was a new episode I decided to try something different in terms of lens choice for a change so instead of using my Voigtlander 40/1.4 Nokton lens I opted for my 35/2.8 Zeiss Biogon instead. My reasoning for this was that I wouldn’t be needing the speed of the 40/1.4 because there would be plenty of light and I wanted to more accurately compose in the viewfinder – the M6 displays 50mm frame lines when using a 40mm lens. I’m very pleased with the results and have used the images uncropped apart from one frame.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, Zeiss 35/2.8 Zeiss Biogon, Eastman Double X motion picture film, developed in Kodak D76 stock, Pakon scans.
Posted in Behind the scenes, Endeavour, film, Oxford, People | No Responses »
Tags: 35mm, biogon, black&white, double x, endeavour, film, filming, leica, m6, oxford, pakon, people, university parks, zeiss
Saturday, October 7th, 2017
Behind the scenes photography from the filming of Endeavour series 5, episode 2 in Oxford, June 2017. This set of pictures were made with 35mm film and you can compare them to the previous post which was medium format film from the same day – different formats and different film stocks give you different looking images of the same thing. The last few shots below are from the following day in the Covered Market.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, Voigtlander 40/1.4 Nokton, Fuji Superia 200 film developed in Fuji Xpress C41 kit, Pakon scans.
Posted in Behind the scenes, Endeavour, film, Oxford, People | 1 Response »
Tags: 35mm, 40mm, endeavour, film, filming, leica, m6, oxford, pakon, people, superia 200, voigtlander
Thursday, August 17th, 2017
Behind the scenes during late night filming of Endeavour series 5 episode 4 in Oxford. This was a tricky little set up that took quite a bit of planning, rehearsing and lighting to transform what is usually a very dark street. You can see in some of the earlier shots how dark the background is compared to when the bright background light was switched on to give a wash of light across the fronts of the buildings.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, 40/1.4 Voigtlander Nokton, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 1600, developed in HC110 1+31, Pakon scans.
Posted in Behind the scenes, Endeavour, film, Oxford, People | 1 Response »
Tags: 35mm, black&white, endeavour, film, filming, hc110, HP5, iso1600, leica, m6, night, oxford, pakon, voigtlander
Monday, August 14th, 2017
On my first visit to Endeavour HQ the crew weren’t using the interior CID set on the day I was there so it wasn’t lit. I was fortunate enough to visit a second time when there was a day of filming taking place in the CID set on a different episode so I have pictures from that which I am working my way through. Here are some shots from my first roll of the day. On this occasion I decided to use a lens that hasn’t had much use for quite a while (35/1.2 Voigtlander Nokton), mainly because it’s designed for very low light levels and also because it’s quite big and heavy and not the kind of lens you want to be carrying around all day when there is plenty of light. The other reason is because I have taken quite a shining to the 40/1.4 Voigtlander Nokton which is tiny in comparison.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, 35/1.2 Voigtlander Nokton, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 1600, developed in Kodak Xtol stock, Pakon scans.
Posted in Behind the scenes, Endeavour, film, People | 1 Response »
Tags: 35mm, black&white, CID, endeavour, film, filming, HP5, iso1600, leica, m6, pakon, people, voigtlander, xtol
Sunday, August 13th, 2017
Behind the scenes photography during filming of Endeavour series 5 episode 3 in Oxford. It was a very hot day in July and the crew had a very busy schedule as I recall because they were only in Oxford for one day on this occasion. I decided to use colour film for a change to capture the summery feel. It’s not often you see the lighting crew setting up lights outside in bright sun but I must say it did make the front of the Jaguar look nice.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, 40/1.4 and 75/1.8 Voigtlander lenses, Fuji Superia 200 film, developed in Fuji Xpress C41 kit. Pakon scans.
Posted in Behind the scenes, Endeavour, film, Oxford, People | 3 Responses »
Tags: 35mm, c41, endeavour, film, filming, fuji, leica, m6, nokton, oxford, pakon, summer, superia 200, voigtlander
Saturday, August 12th, 2017
If you’ve ever travelled around the back streets of Oxford at night you’ll know how dark they are but that all changes when the Endeavour crew come to town. With a few well placed lights they can completely transform a place as you can see here in Lamb and flag passage – a place usually so dark you could easily bump into someone without too much effort. The first couple of shots are from a very quick setup in Radcliffe Square which were at the start of this roll. For the night shots I was frequently dropping my shutter speed to 1/15th and 1/8th to prevent the shadows from plugging up and I have to say how impressed I am with my Leica M6 because although there’s no mirror inside to cause camera shake the cloth shutter does move in the back of the camera but the body is so solid that vibration is next to none at all. Of course steady hands are required to avoid camera shake but having a solid camera body does help a lot. More pictures to come after the episode is broadcast some time in 2018. No spoilers.
[Tech info:] Leica M6, 40/1.4 Voigtlander Nokton, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 1600, developed in Kodak HC110 1+31. Pakon scans.
Posted in Behind the scenes, Endeavour, film, Oxford, People | 1 Response »
Tags: 35mm, black&white, endeavour, film, filming, hc110, HP5, leica, m6, oxford, pakon, people, summer, voigtlander
Friday, August 11th, 2017
Behind the scenes photography during the filming of Endeavour series 5 episode 4 in Oxford. There was interesting looking equipment being used in this setup but I’m afraid I don’t know the correct technical name for the large ARRI crane. I’ve picked out the most spoiler-free shots, others will follow after the episode has been broadcast some time in 2018. Most exciting for me was the sight of old cameras being used!
[Tech info:] Leica M6, 40/1.4 Voigtlander Nokton, Ilford HP5 developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 5 mins. Pakon scans.
Posted in Behind the scenes, Endeavour, film, Oxford, People | No Responses »
Tags: 35mm, black&white, endeavour, film, filming, hc110, HP5, leica, oxford, oxford union, pakon, people, summer, voigtlander
Wednesday, August 9th, 2017
Here are some test shots from a roll of Kodak HIE high speed b&w infrared film that expired in 1990. I think it’s been frozen since purchase but I can’t be sure so I bracketed my exposures widely erring on the overexposure side which turned out not to be necessary. I rated the film at ISO 10 and used a B+W 093 filter which is around 5 stops in density which is too dense to look through so for that reason I decided to use a rangefinder camera which meant I wouldn’t need to keep removing the filter to compose my shots. Out came my M2.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 35/1.2 Nokton, Kodak HIE high speed infrared b&w film developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 6mins. Pakon scans.
Posted in Equipment, film, Oxford | 1 Response »
Tags: 35mm, black&white, film, hc110, iffley, infrared, leica, m2, oxford, pakon, voigtlander
