Waterbird is a short film directed by Alex Darby which was being filmed in Oxford last week. Alex invited me along to shoot some behind-the-scenes stills during a night shoot in the Westgate car park. Unfortunately I couldn’t stay for very much of it but I did manage to shoot a roll of film of some of the cast and crew. More to follow.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66, 80/2.8 Zeiss Planar, Kodak Tri-X @ ISO800, processed in Kodak HC110 for 9 mins.
These shots are from a few weeks ago from possibly one of my shortest photo shoots ever – start to finish I think we spent around 15 minutes. They were all made handheld on 5×4 large format film and I really like how these have turned out. The camera is from the 1960’s and was originally designed to shoot on Polaroid film that came on a roll. It was never designed to shoot 5×4 film so the viewfinder is not 100% accurate for what will be on the film and that’s something I’m still trying to get used to which is why the top of the frame is cropped so tightly in a few of these shots. This summer I plan to do more large format film photography than I have before and I think my modified Polaroid 110B will be getting quite a bit of use.
[Tech info:] Polaroid 110B land camera (modified by Holga Mods), Ilford HP5 5×4, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 5mins.
Here are a few Fujiroids from my first photo shoot with Cos which was a lot of fun. The sky was overcast the entire time but that made for nice and consistent lighting without any harsh shadows to contend with. We shot plenty of film but those shots will follow at a later time once they’ve been processed. These shots are from the bleached negs which are a lot sharper than the prints and have more colour saturation too. I see there is a slight light leak from the ageing bellows so I’ll have to repair that but for a camera that is over 50 years old it still delivers.
[Tech info:] Polaroid 110B converted to use Fuji instant pack film. FP-100C (expired).
These shots were all made with a Polaroid 110B Land Camera that has been modified to shoot 5×4 large format film, handheld. It can also shoot a whole host of other formats thanks to the Graflok back and I plan to do a separate post on this camera at some point. The conversion has been beautifully done by Randy of Holgamods.com and it was worth every day of the 3 months I had to wait.
[Tech info:] Polaroid 110B, Ilford HP5 film processed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 6mins.
Eric rowed for Keble College in 1955.
The 107th Oxford vs Cambridge Varsity 2014 Boxing match took place at the Town Hall in Oxford, here are some of my shots from the celebrations at the end when Oxford received the winners trophy. It was a great night and a total contrast to the town v gown match that I photographed previously. Well done guys!
[Tech info:] Nikon F100, 17-35/2.8, Ilford XP2 (expired). Developed at ASDA, Swindon.
Here are some images that I made back in autumn 2012 that I thought I had already posted but after checking back I realise that I hadn’t. Last week I bumped into the guy in the top left shot and after he told me that he hadn’t seen his shot yet it prompted me to check. He looked a little different but I still managed to recognise him and he remembered me making this picture during my lunch break which is nice considering it was over a year and a half ago. Some of these shots were made during my lunch hour photo walks and a couple are from a day trip to London. Same camera, different rolls of film.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66, 80/2.8 Zeiss Planar. Fuji Velvia 100 and Kodak Ektachrome 100G films. Processed in a Tetanol E6 kit.
I’ve always enjoyed photographing May Morning in Oxford because there’s always so much going on with plenty of interesting characters around and this year was no exception. Despite some drizzle early on it would take more than that to dampen the spirits of the people that had either woken up early or had been partying right through the night. There were some familiar faces among the Morris Men, people that I remember seeing over the years and this year I managed to make some nice portraits of them on Broad Street. I did quite a lot of photography this year so there will more shots to follow.
[Tech info:] Bronica ETRSi, 75/2.8, loaded with Fuji Pro 400H (expired). Dev & scanned by Ag Photo lab.
One of the highlights in the Oxford University calendar for me is Summer Eights, also known as Eights Week and I’ve enjoyed photographing the event for many years. Out of all my visits so far the most memorable was when I first saw The Syndicate there in 1991 so I decided to dust off some of the shots in my archive to share them because Eights Week is next week. I haven’t been able to find out very much about The Syndicate so if you know anything about them please leave a comment. I saw them performing their co-ordinated dance routine two years ago and they’re still dressing in their matching outfits with the same front design. The back text reads ‘we have the strength to slip you a length’. I wonder what these guys are doing now.
[Tech info:] Nikon FM2, Ilford FP4.
Chelsea Clinton received her doctorate degree last Saturday in a ceremony at The Sheldonian Theatre. Bill and Hillary were also there along with Chelsea’s husband and they all looked extremely proud when I saw them exit the Sheldonian and be photographed for their family group shot while a mass of students (who had also just graduated) looked on. I managed to photograph them as they casually walked through Radcliffe Square on their way back to University College on the High Street. It all happened so quickly and I did my best to maintain focus on my Rolleiflex twin-lens camera while walking backwards and trying not to trip over. They were surrounded by secret service agents that insisted that I stayed back which added another element of difficulty because I had to keep an eye out for when they were about to step in front of my camera. A group of paparazzi were quite a way off behind me concentrating on Chelsea and her husband who were walking off ahead of Bill and Hillary. I only had seven frames left on the roll in my Rolleiflex so I had to make every frame count and I’m very pleased with my shots.
Back in the summer of 2012 Bill visited Oxford to give a presentation at a conference in town. I didn’t know this and while I was on my lunch hour photo walk I came across one of his secret service agents standing outside Blackwell’s bookshop on Broad Street. I noticed him from across the street but I didn’t realise he was an actual secret service agent until I got closer and noticed the white coiled wire connected to an ear piece. We had a brief conversation and he was nice enough to allow me to make a quick portrait (below). At that point I didn’t know that Bill Clinton was inside Blackwell’s and I only found out when I got back to my office and one of my work colleague’s told me because a friend of his was working at Blackwell’s and Bill in there. Later that evening I went to the Malmaison hotel to photograph an event and when I got there I noticed lots of vehicles with blacked out windows parked in the front. When I left the hotel after I had finished my photography, standing at the door was the same secret service agent that I had photographed at lunch time. We had a nice chat and I explained a bit about this blog and my passion for film photography and just as I was about to leave he handed me a secret service pin badge which I thought was a very kind of him. I didn’t ask his name but whoever he is I hope he gets to see the portrait I made of him two years ago.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex 2.8F, 80mm Zeiss Planar, loaded with Fuji Acros 100, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 5:30.
Secret service agent: Rolleiflex SL66, 80/2.8 Zeiss Planar, Fuji Acros 100, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 5:30.
Some shots from my Zenit which was loaded with film from Poundland. I wanted to see how the film handled very contrasty light, I also wanted to see how bad the light leak could get when using the camera in full sun. While this film certainly isn’t on par with Kodak Portra it can certainly deliver some nice results. Jason and Hugo were accommodating as ever.
[Tech info:] Zenit TTL, 58/2 Helios, loaded with Agfa Vista 200 (Poundland). Developed and scanned at ASDA, Swindon.
Here are some shots from a rehearsal for The Mikado that I attended a few months ago at New College thanks to the show’s director, Tim Coleman. I had hoped to photograph at the dress rehearsal as well but unfortunately the timings didn’t quite work out. I used this occasion to test out some film that I’ve been struggling with to find a look that I like. The film is Ilford Delta 3200 which is designed for low light photography but finding a developer that produces results that I am very happy with has proven tricky (not least because the film expired 7 years ago and has lost some of its sensitivity) but I think I’ve finally cracked it with a developer named Rodinal. Ironically Rodinal is renowned for increasing grain which is usually the last thing you want with fast film but I like these results and will continue to test with this combination.
[Tech info:] Bronica ETRSi, 75/2.8, loaded with Ilford Delta 3200 rated at ISO 800, processed in Rodinal 1+25 for 7 mins.
Some behind the scenes shots while series 8 of Lewis was being filmed on Broad Street, Oxford last month. It wasn’t easy for the crew to film on a main street during lunch time and they certainly drew a crowd of curious onlookers. I particularly liked how they had transformed the empty Blackwell’s music shop on the corner of Turl Street into a coffee shop called Fix. The shot in the bottom left is of the props guy’s moving in some of the furniture.
[Tech info:] Zenit TTL, 58/2 Helios lens, loaded with Agfa Vista 200 (Poundland) film, processed and scanned by ASDA in Swindon. (Thanks Simon).
