Behind the scenes during filming of the first episode of Endeavour IV in Oxford. I managed to come across the crew during my lunch break and managed to catch the end of a scene by the river. The straw boater hats were a nice touch.
[Tech info:] Konica Hexar AF, Fuji Reala 100 (expired), 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
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 while ago I picked up a Phillips K 165mm/f2.8 projector lens to experiment with on my Speed Graphic and last week I finally managed to make a few test shots. It’s always nice to have patient work colleagues when testing lenses. On this particular day it was very overcast and gloomy so I used a small LED video light for a bit of fill but it’s not very noticeable. There is no aperture inside this lens so it’s f2.8 all the time which could be tricky on a bright day so I must remember to keep some ND gels in my camera bag.
[Tech info]: Speed Graphic 5×4, Phillips K 165/2.8 projector lens, Kodak Tri-X 320 (expired 2003), developed in Kodak HC110 1+31. Colour shot is a bleached Fuji FP-100C neg.
Camera and lens used. I have since mounted the lens in a proper lens board. My cardboard effort was just to see if it was worth doing properly for this lens
It’s a few weeks to go until Summer Eights 2016 and I’ve just realised that I didn’t seem to post any shots from 2015 so here’s the start of some. I remember the weather on the final day was sunny and hot but the number of spectators seemed to be a little down on the previous year. More to come.
[Tech info:] Pentax 645N, 105/2.4 lens with 67-645 adapter, Fuji Reala 100 (expired) film.
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.
Here are some images from the first test roll through a medium format camera that I picked up recently. The Pentacon Six TL has been on my radar for the last couple of years because of one particular lens, the Carl Zeiss Jena 180/2.8. As luck would have it I came across a nice condition setup for sale last weekend for a reasonable price so I decided it was time to give it a go.
The first thing that struck me was the size of the front element of the 180/2.8 lens, it’s huge! My largest filters are 77mm but this lens requires 86mm filters. The camera is very nice to use, especially with a prism instead of a waist level finder which makes it easier to balance the big lens. The only camera I have that is similar in size and design is a Pentax 6×7 but two immediate differences struck me about the Pentacon Six TL – it’s a 6×6 format camera so you use it in landscape orientation the whole time, also the mirror in it is a lot quieter than the Pentax 6×7 and doesn’t cause as much camera shake. One thing I didn’t realise about the prism is that the viewfinder is not 100%. I’ve got a lot more image in the frame on the film than I remember seeing through the lens. I’m not sure if this is down to the prism or whether you get the same with the waist level finder (which I don’t have).
So far I’ve enjoyed using this camera and lens combo and look forward to seeing more results from it.
[Tech info:] Pentacon Six TL, Carl Zeiss Jena 180/2.8, Kodak Tri-X (expired 2002) developed in Kodak HC110 1+47 for 8 mins.
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.
