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.
The Olympic gold medalist and two-time world heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman came to the Oxford Union and I did some photography at the event. As the event started at 5pm the sun was starting to dip just enough to light up the interior of the library where the event took place so I didn’t have to push the film too much and I really like how these turned out.
[Tech info:] Nikon F100, Kodak TMAX 400 @ ISO1600, developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 11 mins. Pakon scans.
The Common People music festival took place here in Oxford last weekend and I was fortunate enough to be invited to do some photography. I’m still working my way through developing and scanning the many rolls of film that I shot there but I wanted to share two shots that I’m particularly pleased with of Primal Scream on stage during their performance that closed the festival on Sunday night.
[Tech info:] Nikon F100, 70-200/2.8, Ilford HP5 @ ISO3200 developed in DDX 1+4 for 20mins. 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.
These shots from the Mary Berry Q&A session at the Oxford Union were made on a different roll of film from the previous set and I wanted to post these as a comparison. The previous set were made with Ilford HP5 and these were made with Ilford Delta 400, both were pushed two stops to ISO1600. After the Q&A there was a book signing session where the light level was extremely low but the Delta film handled it very well thanks to my fast Voigtlander lenses.
[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 35/1.2 and 50/1.5 lenses, Ilford Delta 400 at ISO1600, developed in Ilford DD-X. Pakon scans.
The Oxford vs Cambridge Varsity Boxing 2016 event was held at the town hall in Oxford and I was invited along to do some photography to document the occasion. I had previously photographed this event in 2014 and it was nice to be back. It was also nice to see some familiar faces from previous alumni who had come along for support. The overall score was 52 – 52 so tension was high and I’m pleased to say that Oxford won to bring the trophy back home for another year. More pictures to come.
[Tech info:] Nikon F100, 17-35/2.8, Ilford Delta 400 @ ISO3200, developed in Ilford DD-X 1+4, 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.
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.
One of my favourite rangefinder cameras to use is the Yashica Electro and it’s the camera I most often have with me to take on my lunch break photo walks when I haven’t chosen something else to use. It’s light, quiet, simple to use and the lens gives excellent results. It also looks beautiful too. It’s an aperture priority only camera so there’s no need for an external light meter. Just choose an aperture, focus and click. Simple. Here are some shots from December 2015 and January/February 2016.
[Tech info:] Yashica Electro 35, Eastman Double X motion picture film, developed in Kodak D76 1+1. Pakon scans.
A generous friend of mine (thanks Clive) gave me an Olympus OM1 that he had been given over 10 years ago but never got around to using it. I was very pleased to accept it as I’ve been curious about the Olympus OM1 for a long time. I keep hearing so many positive things about it but I don’t have any experience of Olympus SLR cameras having been a lifelong Nikon user. It turned out that the light meter doesn’t work in this OM1 but fortunately it’s a manual mechanical camera and still works fine without the light meter or batteries. These shots are from the first test roll I put through it during my lunch break.
[Tech info:] Olympus OM1, Zuiko 50/1.8 lens, Kodak TMAX 1oo developed in Kodak HC110 1+31. Pakon scans.
This is the third instalment of my photography from the Oxford Town vs Gown Boxing event at the Oxford Union last week.
[Tech info]: Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton, Kodak TMAX 400 @ ISO1600, developing in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 8mins. Pakon scans.
