oxford
...now browsing by tag
Thursday, March 1st, 2012
The majority of my photography last Sunday during the Oxford V Cambridge Varsity competition was done during the Powerlifting. I started off by doing portraits of some of the competitors (which I will post soon) in the warm up area. Right next door was where the actual lifting was taking place. It was a great atmosphere with clouds of chalk dust everywhere and black walls which reminded me of black boards from school. The light level was low for photography (too low I thought) but the quality of the light looked really nice and I thought it was worth giving it a shot.
For these shots I used a roll of Kodak Tri-X that I rated at ISO 1600. I thought the light level was so low that I didn’t bother with taking a light reading. I simply set the shutter speed to the lowest I thought I could hand hold steady (1/60) and kept the lens wide open (f4.5). If I had known that the images were going to turn out this well I would have shot a lot more.
[Tech info:] Mamiya RZ67 and 50mm lens loaded with Kodak Tri-X rated at ISO 1600. Processed in Kodak HC110 (dilution b, 1:31) for 17mins at 20C.
It's a shame I cut this guy's feet off but I was standing directly behind and over the judge so I couldn't get a better angle.
With all of the health and safety rules and regulations these days it's amazing that this guy doesn't have to wear steel toe protectors!
Taking the strain.
Bench pressing.
Posted in film, Oxford, People | No Responses »
Tags: black&white, hc110, oxford, people, RZ67, students, Tri-X
Wednesday, February 29th, 2012
Last weekend I visited the University sports centre on Iffley Road during the Oxford v Cambridge Varsity sports competition. My intention wasn’t to make action shots of sport it was to find people to make portraits of. Not being a particularly sporty person myself, I found it very interesting to be among so many people that were. As I write this the Varsity competition is not over yet, it’s spread across different weekends with some other events to follow in the summer. I did quite a lot of photography during my visit and I’ll post the images in batches as I make my way through the scanning.
My thanks go to Simon Griffin from the sports centre for being so accommodating and supportive of my photography and also to everyone that made time to stand in front of my camera.
[Tech info:] Mamiya RZ67 and 110mm lens loaded with Kodak Tri-X film, processed in Kodak HC110 (dilution b, 1:31) for 7mins 30secs.
These guys were not part of the Varisty competition but as I walked past the room they were practicing in and saw the diffused light I knew I'd be able to make some great images. Fortunately these guys were very friendly and didn't mind me interrupting their practice session.
These two guys are also photographers which made it easier for me to get my shots. At first they were a little surprised when I barged in on their practice session and announced that I wanted to photograph them but after they saw the size of the camera around my neck they knew I was serious.
These was the last shot on my roll and shot outside quite a while after the first couple above. Imagine having a face off with this guy.
Posted in film, Oxford, People | 2 Responses »
Tags: 110mm, black&white, hc110, oxford, people, portraits, RZ67, Tri-X
Tuesday, February 21st, 2012
Here are two portraits I made on the end of the roll of the Cabaret portraits in the previous post. Both on the same day during my lunch break.
[Tech info:] Mamiya RZ67 with 110mm/f2.8 lens, on Kodak Tri-X 400 film rated @ ISO1600, processed in Kodak HC110 (1:31) for 17mins.
Kevin, a Big Issue seller I pass almost every day on my way back to work. I'll be giving him a print of this.
Catte Street looking towards The Bridge of Sighs
Posted in film, Oxford, Street portraits | No Responses »
Tags: 110mm, black&white, oxford, people, portraits, RZ67, Tri-X
Monday, February 20th, 2012
These are the portraits I made of the cast and crew of Cabaret back stage at the O’Reilly Theatre, Keble College. Curtain up was probably around 20mins away so I was very rushed and also very cramped for space. These were done in a corridor at the bottom of the rear stair well, the bright lights facing the camera are lights on the wall. I thought they might look good as a background but they’ve turned out being brighter than I would have liked. I left my spot meter at home so I was unable to make very accurate exposure calculations. Overall I think these turned out well with all things considered. Thank you to everyone below that made time to be photographed.
I’m interested in doing more backstage photography on film so if you’re involved in a project or performance please get in touch.
[Tech info:] Mamiya RZ67 with 110mm lens loaded with Kodak Tri-X film rated at ISO1600. Processed in Kodak HC110 (dilution B, 1:31) for 17mins at 20c.
Cast member
I did a rough retouching job in Photoshop to erase the bright lights in the background of this image and I think it works better without them.
Cast member
Choreographer (right) and assistant choreographer
Cast member
Posted in film, Oxford, Photo shoot | No Responses »
Tags: backstage, black&white, oxford, people, portraits, RZ67, Tri-X
Sunday, February 19th, 2012
It feels like ages since I did any street portraits so getting back into it this week has given me a real buzz. The weather in January was really bad so I didn’t get many opportunities to do much street photography. The shots here are all from the same roll of film shot during the past two days which makes them the fastest turned around images (from my camera to this blog) so far. The film I used is one of my favourites (Fuji Acros 100) but for this roll I decided to test out a developer that I haven’t used with this film before (Kodak HC110). I was a bit nervous because I had shots that I was very excited about and didn’t want to lose but nothing ventured nothing gained as they say. I’m pleased to say that it all worked out well and I’m very happy with this film/developer combo.
[Tech info:] Mamiya M645 and 80mm/f1.9 lens loaded with Fuji Acros 100 film. Processed in Kodak HC110 dilution B for 5mins at 20c.
I love the outfits this couple are wearing (I think they're a couple) and I hope I get to photograph them again.
- I photographed this smartly dressed gentleman last summer on Cornmarket Street and when I saw him walking towards me on Turl Street I had to photograph him again.
One of the security guards where I work.
There's something very classic about the way this gentleman is dressed with his wax cotton coat and scarf. As he came walking towards me I had the feeling that he wouldn't want to be photographed but I was happy to be wrong.
On the steps of the Clarendon Building. The first time I passed this guy he was eating some lunch so I decided not to interrupt him. By the time I'd done a circuit of my usual haunts he had finished. Funnily enough someone else had asked to photograph him the other day.
These builders are working on the Walton Street site at the corner of Little Clarendon Street. When i approached them they didn't want to be photographed but after I explained my street photography project they were happy to. I think there's something about using a film camera that shows people you're serious about photography in a way that digital cameras don't.
I think this camera is a Leica. All of the logo's have been covered in black tape. It reminds me of what I did with my first Nikon SLR to prevent it from attracting attention.
Posted in film, Oxford, Street portraits, Street style | 1 Response »
Tags: 645, acros, black&white, oxford, people, portraits, street style, students
Sunday, December 11th, 2011
The weather hasn’t been particularly great for photography recently. These shots are from a couple of weeks ago. A lot of the University students have packed up and are away for the Christmas holidays so the streets I usually photograph on in town are noticeably quieter. This might mean less photography for me but in some ways that’s not a bad thing because I still have a huge backlog of film to scan from earlier in the summer. If you’re one of the people that I photographed and you’ve been visiting this blog to see your picture I apologise for the delay. There have been some unfortunate accidents that happened where I lost some images (either by the film running out in my camera without me realising it or a mistake I made in the darkroom where I ended up with two completely blank rolls of film) but fortunately that only happened on a few occasions.
It would be nice to see some comments so please feel free to leave one. I’d especially like to hear from people that feature in my pictures. Thanks.
[Tech info:] Mamiya C330f with Kodak Portra 400 film.
Marco, Broad street. A really pleasant guy that I enjoyed speaking about photography with.
I really liked this students' outfit and ended up chasing after her. I'm amazed at how well this has turned out considering the lack of light, I could hardly focus it was so dark.
Maria. This was shot in colour but I prefer this black & white version. Again, it was very dark and cold on this day but film renders everything so nicely.
Tourists eating lunch on the Martyr's memorial.
Some of the demolition crew that are working on the shops along Walton Street. This is the corner of Walton Street and Little Clarendon Street. Notice one of the guys is hiding.
Posted in film, Oxford, Street portraits, Street style | 3 Responses »
Tags: oxford, people, Portra, street style, students
Wednesday, September 21st, 2011
A new Inspector Morse prequel is being filmed here in Oxford and I just so happened to walk through a scene being shot while I was out during my lunch break. Of course I had a camera on me so here are some images made with my little Olympus Mju-II point and shoot film camera. These are straight scans and I’ve left some of the dust in them for that old skool flavour. Hand processed and scanned by me. The tv show is titled Endeavour and is set in 1965 – you can read more about it here.
*Update* Now that I’ve seen this pilot episode it turns out that my shot below of the black Jaguar car turning the corner is actually the very final shot in the episode. I loved every minute of it.
Camera crew and an extra waiting patiently.
Cyclists on old bikes.
Vintage bus.
Old van.
Vintage Jaguar car, possibly used by Morse?
Old bicycles.
Extras waiting patiently. I love the old metal dustbins.
Extras waiting patiently. Notice the fake traffic lights on the left and the chain link bollards. They are not usually there.
A blast from the past.
Posted in Oxford, Street portraits | 2 Responses »
Tags: endeavour, film, morse, oxford, tv
Sunday, August 28th, 2011
Regular visitors to this blog will have noticed a huge difference in the design and layout. This is because I received so many comments about how difficult the old design was to navigate.
Here are the first images from a new lens (110mm/2.8) I got for my Mamiya RZ67.
Celebrating the end of exams
I'm always attracted to cool looking sunglasses. You can see me on the left.
Fellow photographer and work colleague, Martin. He used to be the lead singer and guitarist in one of Oxford's biggest bands in the 80's, TARGA. Not a lot of people know that.
Ice-cream seller, Radcliffe square.
Artist
Street style, Broad street, Oxford.
Posted in Oxford, Street portraits | 3 Responses »
Tags: black&white, oxford, people, portraits, RZ67, students
Thursday, August 11th, 2011
Here are some images from the colour films that I shot during Summer VIII’s 2011. The delay in posting these was because of the expense of posting one or two rolls away for developing. It’s much more economical to send off a batch of film but as I mostly use b&w film it’s taken me a while to use up enough rolls of colour for a batch.
In the coming weeks I intend to start developing my own colour film so look forward to seeing some of my results. I have the chemicals ready, I just need some spare time. More colour images from Summer VIII’s coming soon.
[Tech info:] Camera: Pentax 67, film: Kodak Ektar 100.
Cheer leader practice. Between two of the college boathouses I noticed this group of cheer leaders practicing. It looked quite bizarre with all of the rowing going on behind me.
Curiouser and curiouser
Spectators
Another film photographer. I had an enjoyable chat about film photography with this photographer. The camera was in mint condition and had belonged to his mother. I still own and use the previous model that I bought in 1992.
Cup cakes for sale.
Posted in Oxford | No Responses »
Tags: oxford, pentax, people, rowing, students, summer 8's
Wednesday, July 13th, 2011
Sometimes you’ll find a lot of contrast between people on the streets of Oxford. These three images illustrate that quite well. During my lunch hours when I’m in town looking for visually interesting people to photograph there tends to be three category’s that the majority of people fall into; students, people that work in the city and tourists. It’s the summer holidays for Oxford university students at the moment and the city centre is overflowing with tourists. Hopefully there will be lots more street style to be found during the rest of this summer.
A well dressed tourist
A cool looking student
Very street
Posted in Oxford, Street style | 2 Responses »
Tags: D700, oxford, people, street style
