Some images from a lunch hour photo walk back in early November. The film was expired Tri-X that I think was dated 2002 which explains the grain and base fogging. I quite like the dated look to these images, there will be more to come from the same roll.
[Tech info:] Bronica ETRSi, 75mm/f2.8 lens, loaded with expired (2002) Kodak Tri-X. Processed in Rodinal (1:100) for 1 hour.
Shop window, Turl St.
Footpath closed
Bicycle, St Giles.
These shots are from a recent photo shoot I had with Adam who you might recognise from some of my shots from the Oxford Fashion Week 2012 Haute Couture show. It was an opportunity for me to test out a new lens that had arrived that morning and also to see how a certain film/developer combination handled very flat overcast light. When I say very flat light I mean extremely dull hard to get inspired horrible light. After starting off in an open area (top and bottom left) we moved under some cover which was a lot better because it gave some light/shadow to work with. I think the shots made during the second half of the shoot are the best and overall I’m pleased with the 150mm lens. Adam was very easy to work with and hopefully we’ll shoot some more in the future in better light and weather.
[Tech info:] Bronica ETRSi, 150mm lens, Fuji Acros 100 film processed in Rodinal 1:100 for 1 hour (semi-stand).
You might recognise Kristina from some of my Oxford Fashion Week images because that’s where I first met her. I made these shots during a short photo shoot in my lunch break. The light was very flat on a cold overcast day. Kristina’s outfit certainly wouldn’t have been my first choice as being particularly photogenic but sometimes as a photographer you have to work with what you’re given. The light bouncing off of the white jumper was so bright compared to everything else in the scene but the film and processing has kept it under control nicely. I semi-stand developed this film which tends to retain highlight and shadow detail incredibly well.
[Tech info:] Pentax 67, 105mm/f2.4 lens, Kodak Tri-X film processed in Rodinal 1:100 for 1 hour (semi-stand).
Kristina
The first roll through a Mamiya 645 Super camera that I’m testing out and unfortunately quite a few frames have focus problems. I was rushing to shoot the whole roll in my lunch hour so that has to be factored in but I have never had so many badly focussed pictures, ever. Another test roll is required for me to make any final judgements, I’ll be more careful with that one!
[Tech info:] Mamiya 645 Super, 80/f2.8 lens, loaded with Fuji Acros 100 film, processed in Rodinal 1:100 (semi-stand) for 1 hour. (3 gentle agitations after 30mins).
My tests with semi-stand film development continue, this time I used a roll of Kodak Plus-X that expired in 2001. It came in a batch of random expired films that I bought a while ago and to be honest I wasn’t expecting great results but I was pleasantly surprised when I hung this roll up to dry. For this roll I used Rodinal because some of my research into stand development suggested it to be a good developer to reduce base fog of expired film, this information proved to be correct. The whole roll was shot during one lunch hour in some of the gloomiest weather/light you can imagine but you’d never know it from the images. These images are from the first half of the roll.
[Tech info:] Bronica ETRSi, 75mm/f2.8 lens, loaded with Kodak Plus-X (expired 2001), processed in Rodinal (1:100) for 1 hour with 3 gentle agitations after 30mins.
These images are from the first test roll through a medium format camera I came across recently. It’s a Bronica ETRSi (6×4.5 format) and so far I have really enjoyed using it thanks to its small compact size and light weight. The weather this week in Oxford has been incredibly grim and gloomy but I was so keen to try this camera out that I decided to shoot some test shots regardless and after seeing these shots I’m glad I did. More to come.
[Tech info:] Bronica ETRSi, 75mm/f2.8 EII lens, loaded with Kodak Tri-X 400, processed in Kodak HC110 (1:119) for 1 hour (20sec agitation after 30mins).
Richard the tailor, first frame on the Bronica.
Bike, Walton Street
Autumn leaves on car, Wellington square
Walton street
Construction worker, Little Clarendon Street
Construction worker, Little Clarendon street
Alex
Construction worker
Construction worker currently working on the big Walton Street project
Recently I’ve been doing a little research into semi-stand film developing and I finally felt ready to give it a try. First I needed a roll of film to process so I shot one during a lunch hour and headed over to the darkroom after work. The film expired in 2003 so I was half expecting a bit of a fail with this experiment but despite quite a heavy base fog on the film it seemed to scan quite nicely considering the age of the film.
[Tech info:] Mamiya M645 1000s, 80mm/f1.9 lens, Kodak Tri-X (expired 2003), processed in Kodak HC110 (dilution 1:119) for 1 hour with a few gentle agitations at the 30min stage. I used 6ml of HC110 syrup to make 720ml of working developer, this is what my research suggested.
