The last few portraits I made at the Oxford Beard Festival 2022. Thank you to everyone that stood very still for me. I’m pleased with how the portraits turned out.
[Tech info:] Sinar P 10×8, Dallmeyer 3A lens, f8 3D printed Waterhouse stop. Fomapan 100 (expired 2017) ISO 50, Kodak HC110 1+63 10mins.
More portraits from the Oxford Beard Festival 2022. Part 1 is here. I’ve noticed that the depth of field differs in some of my beard festival portraits and thinking about it now I’ve got a feeling it’s because I tilted the camera forward or back depending on the height of the person I was photographing. In hindsight I should have kept the back of the camera vertical and raised the lens or the centre column on the tripod. Something to remember next time.
[Tech info:] Sinar P 10×8, Dallmeyer 3A lens, f8 3D printed Waterhouse stop. Fomapan 100 (expired 2017) ISO 50, Kodak HC110 1+63 10mins.
The first and only time I photographed the Oxford Beard Festival was in 2015 – you can see those pictures here. Ever since then I have been thinking about and this year I finally managed to make it there again. This time I wanted to use a 10×8 large format camera but the slight hiccup being the weight of my kit was far too much for me to carry on my back and the venue for the event was a pub on the river without any access by car. I decided the only way to do it was to transport my kit in a borrowed wheelbarrow and it worked like a charm albeit leaving my arms feeling 3 inches longer by the end of it.
[Tech info:] Sinar P 10×8, Dallmeyer 3A lens, f8 3D printed Waterhouse stop. Fomapan 100 (expired 2017) ISO 50, Kodak HC110 1+31 6mins.
After being on a bit of a roll with my large format street portraits I decided to take my Speed Graphic out with a lens I’ve been meaning to use for a while – 165mm f2.7 Zeiss Tessar. I repurposed the lens from a folding camera which was well past its best with a perished shutter. Steve at Chroma Camera kindly designed and 3D printed a custom lens board for me. It’s a lot lighter than my Aero Ektar lens but gives a very different look. Depth of field is very shallow as you’d expect – most of these were shot around f4.5.
[Tech info:] Speed Graphic 5×4, 165mm f2.7 Tessar lens, Ilford HP5 (expired), developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 6mins.
Here are some street portraits from the first trips out with my Gowlandflex large format TLR camera on a Saturday and Sunday morning in Oxford. The camera is a beast and attracted a fair bit of attention. I enjoyed chatting with people and making their portraits – something I haven’t done for a couple of years.
The mirror calibration was completely wrong when I received this camera so I replaced the springs to lower the mirror by 2.5mm. This is the first time I’ve used it properly and it looks like I need to re-check the calibration because most of these shots are front focussed but overall I’m pleased with the results. A couple of the shots have some strange light leaks which might be from the film holder not being seated properly. Further investigation needed.
[Tech info:] Gowlandflex TLR, 180/4.5 Voigtlander Heliar lens, Ilford HP5 & Funi Across 100 film (expired), developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 6 mins.
A year ago this week Giffords Circus came to University Parks here in Oxford and I went along to photograph some of the performers behind the scenes as I have done the past few years. On the first day of their performance I take along photographs from the previous year to give to the returning performers. Sadly due to the COVID-19 global pandemic Giffords aren’t performing this year which is a real shame. Hopefully they’ll be back in 2021.
[Tech info:] Fuji GW690, Fuji 400H (expired), Noritsu scans.
Behind the scenes during filming of Endeavour 7 | FILM 3 in Merton college, Oxford at the end of October, 2019. These shots are from two different days that the crew spent in Merton College making good use of the lovely grounds and some of the rooms (second unit also filmed a brief scene on Merton Street). Fortunately we had nice weather the whole time, dry but very cold.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex 2.8F, Zeiss Planar, Fuji 400H (expired), Noritsu scans.
First test roll with a 40mm wide-angle lens I recently picked up for my Bronica SQ-A. I’ve had the lens for a while but I needed some dry weather during my lunch break to test it out. The lens is very wide and allows close focusing which I like. The interior shot of Worcester College chapel was an 8 second exposure which is the slowest shutter speed on the camera. I can see that being very useful in some situations. The roll of Ilford Pan F I used expired in 2007 so I rated it at ISO 25. Even though slow films are meant to lose sensitivity over time slower than faster emulsions Pan F tends to suffer quite badly for a film with a box speed of ISO 50. Not a problem on this occasion because I wanted to use the 40mm lens fairly wide open. I’m pleased with the results from this lens and it’s a keeper.
[Tech info:] Bronica SQ-A, 40mm Zenzanon lens, Ilford Pan F (expired), developed in XTOL 1+1.
These shots were from the final day of filming on Endeavour 7 | FILM 3 at the studio that has some of the interior sets. Along with Anton Lesser we have Steve (standby carpenter) and Grant (third assistant director). For some unknown reason there is a mottling on the film which I haven’t experienced before. I developed this roll exactly the same as hundreds of others previously so I can’t work out how this was caused during development. More shots to come after UK broadcast.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex 2.8F, Zeiss Planar, Ilford Delta 400 developed in Ilford DD-X 1+4.
I was recently asked to make a promo shot for a new band called Transmission From Nowhere to coincide with the release of their new CD. One of the band members is a fellow film photographer and suggested doing the shoot on the now illusive Fuji FP-3000B instant b&w film which I was more than happy to do. I’ve got a range of cameras that can use this film but I decided on my Mamiya RB67 because I have a sliding back for it that allows two different exposures next to each other on the same print which results in a diptych.
We used the whole pack of film for the shoot – a whopping 10 shots – and I can’t begin to tell you how much fun it was. All double exposures were done in camera. No batteries and no squinting at LED screens required.
[Tech info:] Mamiya RB67, 127mm lens, Fuji FP-3000B instant b&w film (expired).
Behind the scenes during filming of Endeavour 7 | FILM 3 in Merton College, Oxford. More pictures to follow after UK broadcast – no spoilers here.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex 2.8F, Zeiss Planar, Fuji 400H (expired), Noritsu scans.
Giffords Circus came to Oxford on their 2019 tour and I went along to do some photography as I have done in previous years. It’s always nice to see familiar faces there and some new ones too. For these shots I used a Fuji 6×9 rangefinder camera which has a 90/3.5 lens that is not interchangeable. It’s a hulk of a camera but I really like the large viewfinder and the 3:2 aspect ratio of the frame compared to 6×7. The 90mm isn’t really a portrait lens so I tend to go a little wider than just head and shoulders.
[Tech info:] Fuji GW690, Fuji 400H (expired) film, Noritsu scans.
