It’s been a while since I shot any Fujiroids with the Oxford Tailors at Clements & Church so I decided to stop by there during my lunch break today. This pack film is in date (expires in September 2014) which is unusual for me because I mostly use expired film. I also shot a few frames of slide film which will follow later in the summer when I mix up the E6 chemistry to process the batch of slide film I’ve been building up since last year.
[Tech info:] Polaroid 110B, Fuji FP-100C.
It’s hard to believe that it’s been a year already since Giffords Circus was in town especially as I remember it so well and it feels more recent than that. This year there are familiar faces that I saw last year and also some new people. I saw the show this afternoon and it was fantastic – very different from last year. If you haven’t been to see the show yet I highly recommend it. Here are some portraits I made back stage.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66, 80/2.8 Zeiss Planar, loaded with Fuji Acros 100, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31.
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).
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.
Some shots from a quick session I had with Iona a couple of weeks ago. I first shot with Iona during a promo shoot for the Christchurch Ball but as there was a specific theme for that shoot and quite a few other people involved so I didn’t have much time to shoot much film. The two Polaroids I shot of Iona were overexposed due to a sticky shutter in the lens so I was pleased that we were able to find time for this shoot. These shots are all from the same roll of 10 frames. I also shot a roll of slide film which I hope to develop later in the summer once I’ve built up a batch of rolls to develop at the same time.
[Tech info:] Pentax 6×7, 105/2.4, Kodak Tri-X [expired], processed in Kodak Xtol (stock).
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.
The Lewis crew were back in Oxford a few weeks ago filming series 8 of the popular tv show and here are some behind the scenes shots of some of the crew, starting with the producer Chris Burt who was nice enough to stop for a quick portrait despite having a bit of a cold that day. As with Endeavour this crew are a nice bunch who are always interesting to chat to.One of the most impressive transformations of a location I’ve seen was the University offices building that was transformed into Oxford Police Station for a scene outside. It really looked the part with very convincing looking signage outside that had some of the locals turning their heads as they walked past.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex 2.8F, Zeiss Planar, loaded with Fuji Pro 400H film (expired), processed by Ag Photo lab.
I haven’t used my Mamiya Universal press camera for a while so I decided to dust it off for a quick shoot with Imogen during my lunch break. No matter how hard I try I still don’t like rangefinder camera’s. I like to use wide aperture’s for shallow depth of field and having to focus in the middle of the frame and then recomposing is not helpful for maintaining critical focus. The thing I like about the Mamiya Universal is the versatility of being able to shoot so many different film formats and also full-frame Polaroids. These were all made with a 6×9 roll film back which gives you 8 frames on a roll of 120.
[Tech info:] Mamiya Universal, 100/2.8, 6×9 roll film back, Kodak Tri-X 400 (expired), processed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 7:30.
Behind the scenes photography during filming of the movie Testament of Youth that took place in Radcliffe Square, Oxford on 9th April 2014. In the first shot the Director of Photography for the movie is on the left. The movie is based on the memoirs of Vera Brittain and the lead role is played by Alicia Vikander who can be seen in a few of the shots below. Security was quite tight so there wasn’t a lot of opportunity to vary my position for photography and my Rolleiflex TLR has a fixed 80mm lens so that was another limiting factor but I’m pleased with how these shots turned out, all from the same roll of 12 frames.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex 2.8F, 80/2.8 Zeiss Planar, loaded with Kodak Tri-X 400 (expired), processed in Kodak HC110 1+31.
Despite the harsh lunch time sun today I managed to find somewhere with some nice light to make these portraits of Hugo and Jason, Oxford Tailor’s from Clements & Church. These guys are always dressed up looking smart and ready for a portrait.
[Tech info:] Polaroid 110B, Fuji FP-100C instant pack film.
Some test shots from a roll of Ilford FP4+ that expired 20 years ago (1994). I picked up a box of this film as part of a mixed lot of expired rolls and I’ve been waiting for some sunny weather to test it out. Spring seems to have finally sprung so this is the first test roll that I used on my lunch break photo walk around town in very sunny and contrasty light. The contrast of this film seems to have gone way down which is perfect for using on a very sunny day. I bumped up the contrast in post by an unusually high amount to achieve the results below. Overall I’m very surprised and pleased with the results.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66, 80/2.8 Zeiss Planar, loaded with Ilford FP4 (expired 1994), rated at ISO 100, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 12mins.
Last week a movie crew were in town filming a period drama called Testament of Youth which is based on the memoirs of Vera Brittain. It was wonderful to see a large scale production crew transform parts of Oxford to how it would have looked 100 years ago with the use of various props, old cars, horses, carriages, people dressed in period costumes and lots of grit to cover modern day tarmac and double yellow lines. There was a lot of interest from tourists and locals so there was plenty of security on hand to keep things under control with the use of barriers which made it difficult to move around for photography. While most people concentrated on photographing the main actors, I’m always drawn to photographing the crew, the unsung heroes who are usually the first ones to arrive on set in the morning and the last ones to leave at the end of the day.
Below you’ll find pictures of one of the lighting trucks, a 20K fresnel light waiting to be deployed, the Gaffer (Julian) with his ND filters at the ready, the lighting crew during their lunch break in the sun, Security guards (Neil and Duncan), stills photographer (Laurie) and old bicycles used as props in Radcliffe Square. It was very nice chatting with some of the crew members especially Julian and Laurie who have previously worked on some great projects.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66, 80/2.8 Zeiss Planar, loaded with Ilford FP4 (expired 1994), rated at ISO 100, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 12mins.
