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Camera test: Contax G1

Wednesday, October 7th, 2015

These shots were made during my lunch break yesterday, all from the same roll of film that I used to test a Contax G1 camera I recently bought. The weather has been very wet the past two days but fortunately there was a break in the rain just long enough for me to shoot this roll. In a few of the shots I was also testing an external flash (TLA 200) that I got with the camera body. It’s very simple to use as it only has two modes, manual and TTL. I left it on TTL. The light from it seems nice and balanced and it’s small enough to keep in the camera case without noticing it. One thing I did notice is the AF doesn’t seem to lock on very well if you try to focus on something that is low contrast or backlit. Some of the shots on the roll were slightly out of focus. So far I’ve been enjoying using the G1 as a point and shoot camera.

[Tech info:] Contax G1, 45/2 Carl Zeiss lens, Ilford FP4 film (expired) developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 9mins. Pakon scans.

 

Oxford: Endeavour 3, episode 4 – part 2

Tuesday, September 29th, 2015

This was going to be a bumper post but I’ve decided to split the selections from this roll across two different posts because of the number of images. Please be aware there may be the odd spoiler in these shots, I can’t say because I don’t know anything about the storyline and I just photographed some of what I saw on the street. What I can tell you is this episode looks like it’s going to be exciting! Lots more images to come from this episode which was a lot of fun to photograph.

[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton, Eastman Double X motion picture film developed in Kodak D76 1+1.

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: St Giles’ Fair 2015 – part 1

Tuesday, September 15th, 2015

St Giles’ Fair rolled into town last week and this is the first of what will probably be quite a few blog posts of pictures shot over the three days (including setting up). This year I only used black & white film for a change. It was nice to see some familiar faces again and as usual there was lots going on and plenty to photograph. I missed the fair last year so I was crossing my fingers for nice weather this time which we were fortunate to have. In the second shot down you can see Tommy Noyce who has been visiting St Giles’ Fair since he was 6 years old. He is now 73. The well known galloping horses carousel has been in his family for three generations and takes five trucks to transport. Sadly it no longer comes to St Giles’ Fair. The last frame below was made on the way back to my office during my lunch time visit to the fair – two of the tailors from Clements & Church on Little Clarendon Street.

[Tech info:] Fuji 6×9, Neopan Acros 100 developed in Rodinal 1+50 for 14 mins.

Oxford: Cowley Road Carnival, 2015

Monday, August 24th, 2015

I did some photography at this years’ Cowley Road Carnival and here’s a small selection. The weather was a bit of a mixed bag, combine that with more people than you can ever imagine on the Cowley Road and you can see why photography was rather difficult this year. Still, I did enjoy the atmosphere and look forward to going again next year.

[Tech info:] Konica Hexar AF, Fuij Reala 100 film, developed in Rollei Digibase C41 kit, Pakon scans.

Oxford: Endeavour 3, episode 4 – part 1

Thursday, August 20th, 2015

The Endeavour crew rolled up into town to start filming the fourth and final episode of series three and here are some pictures from when I came across them on the first day of what was to be an exciting six day shoot. I don’t often use colour film when I photograph Endeavour filming but on this occasion it’s what I had loaded from when I was photographing Cowley Road Carnival the previous weekend. This type of film, Fuji Reala 100, is sadly no longer made but I managed to buy a batch of expired rolls from a company that used it to photograph school portrait and group shots before they switched to digital. It’s one of my favourite films that I bring out on special occasions. Lots more pictures to come from this episode.

[Tech info:] Konica Hexar AF, Fuji Reala 100 film, developed in Rollei Digibase C41 kit, Pakon scans.

Oxford: Endeavour 3, episode 3 – part 5

Sunday, August 9th, 2015

When some of the crew headed down river from the Cherwell Boathouse to film punting scenes the rest of the crew stayed on shore and had some very rare down time. It was nice to see crew members relaxing – something I don’t see very often. It was a perfect day to go punting and I can’t wait to see how the final scenes turned out. There are various places in Oxford where you can hire punts but my personal favourite is the Cherwell boathouse because the stretch of river that they’re on is the nicest to punt along and often the least busy.

[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton, Eastman Double X motion picture film, developed in Kodak D76 1+1.

 

 

Oxford: Endeavour 3, episode 3 – part 4

Wednesday, August 5th, 2015

Here’s the final batch of pictures from the University Parks shoot on Endeavour 3. These shots span two different days but I decided to post them together to keep things organised by location. I’ve become a huge fan of Eastman Double X motion picture film recently which is why I’ve been posting so many shots that have been made with it and there are still lots more to come. Anyone thinking of trying it I suggest you develop it in Kodak D76 1+1 dilution. Previously I was using Kodak Xtol developer which did a nice job but you don’t get the same tonal range that you get with D76.

[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton, Eastman Double X motion picture film, developed in Kodak D76 1+1, Pakon scans.

Oxford: Endeavour 3, episode 3 – part 3

Monday, July 27th, 2015

Continuing on from my previous post, here are some images from a second roll of film I shot in Oxford’s University Parks during filming of the third Endeavour episode from series 3. The weather at the beginning of the afternoon was bright and sunny but later it started to cloud over and the light level began to drop a fair bit. After the supporting actors arrived in their 1960’s Police uniform I was a little concerned that all of the black fabric of their outfits might fill in but the Eastman Double X film I used handled everything with ease. This film stock is fast becoming a real favourite of mine and I’ve finally found a developer that brings the best out of it – Kodak D76.

[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton, Eastman Double X motion picture film, developed in Kodak D76 1+1.

 

 

 

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Endeavour slate

 

Dakota Blue Richards

 

 

 

Sound crew

 

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Oxford: Endeavour 3, episode 3 – part 2

Thursday, July 16th, 2015

Some more behind the scenes photography from the third episode of series three of Endeavour. A house in North Oxford was the first location and then there were scenes by the river in University Parks. The crew did well to keep the production moving in University Parks because it was quite busy there with not only people walking into shot but also punters on the river that had to be held back as well. I really enjoyed the park location and have lots more images to post from there.

[Tech info]: Leica M2, Voigtlander Nokton 50/1.5, Eastman Double X motion picture film, developed in Kodak D76 1+1, Pakon scans.










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.