May, 2011

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London: street portraits

Monday, May 30th, 2011

Here are some street portraits I made during a recent day trip to London. These were from the same day as the ‘London calling’ set but I had to wait to receive the colour film from the lab, hence the delay. I must admit it’s very exciting to receive an envelope of negatives in the post from the lab because up until that point I’m never completely sure what might be on the film. Even after I get my first look as I hold the film strips up against the nearest source of light, I still don’t get to see the images properly until I start to scan them in. As the images appear on my screen for the first time I get the same buzz as when I used to watch a b&w print appear in the developer tray in my darkroom days, many years ago. Looking at an image on an LCD screen on the back of my digital cameras just doesn’t give me the same buzz. Convenient? Yes. Exciting? No.

Teen

Somewhere in Soho

A smartly dressed man on a London street

Smart dressed man

A man standing in a London park

Park life

Couple standing on a London street

This lady told me that she studied at Oxford. Small world!

Cyclist standing with his bike on a London street

Nice wheels

Man wearing suit, red tie and sunglasses

Sharp dressed man

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Modern Art: Oxford

Thursday, May 26th, 2011

It’s art, modern art. I really liked this piece  titled Clouds by artist Michael Sailstorfer. I cycled past it every day on my way home from work, constantly thinking about how I could use them as a cool looking backdrop for a portrait, how I would light the portrait and most importantly how could I pull it off with the minimum of equipment in the shortest amount of time without getting escorted off of the premises.

In the end my portrait shoot never quite came together because my chosen subject couldn’t make it on the days that worked best for me and then on the last day of the exhibition I came down with a cold and didn’t feel up to doing the shot justice so here you have some straight shots of the art. The person in the distance is a passer by stopping to admire the dark clouds over head.

[Tech info]: Mamiya RZ67, Fuji Acros 100 film through HC110 (dilution E) for 7 mins.

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Lunch hour session: around and about

Sunday, May 22nd, 2011

These shots are all from the same roll of film. I didn’t have enough street portraits for their own post so I’m presenting a bit of a mix with this selection. The shop window is a shop in Ship street which looks like its been frozen in time. Every time I pass it the display seems to have changed so I can’t help making another shot of it. The image of the man with the shaven head and beard makes me laugh when I see it because when I saw the man on the street I thought he looked a little intimidating (in a Hells Angels kind of way) and that’s exactly why I approached him because I saw it as a bit of a challenge. He turned out to be a really friendly and chatty guy who is friends with a work colleague of mine.

[Tech info]: TMAX 100 film processed in HC110 dilution B for 6mins. Pentax 67 with 110mm/2.4 lens.

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London calling: street portraits

Tuesday, May 17th, 2011

I’ve been debating for quite a while about whether to post non-Oxford related photography on this blog and I’ve decided that for now I will. This might change in the future.

Last weekend I spent Saturday in London, a trip that I decided to make the day before. Three photography exhibitions were showing for their last day so it was a case of snooze and lose. The galleries didn’t open until 11am so after visiting Silverprint to stock up on black&white film and chemical supplies I made my way to The Wapping Project gallery to see some work by Nick Knight and Peter Lindburgh. Out of the three exhibitions this was the most disappointing. Next it was Helmut Newton at The Hamilton’s Gallery and finally Bob Carlos Clarke at The Little Black Gallery (it was my first time seeing work by both of those photographers so that was a treat).

In the afternoon I met up with some photographers that I know through Flickr to do some street photography. We met at Covent Garden tube station and went to work from there. In a group of photographers that had hi-tech DSLR’s and wirelessly triggered flashes, I was the only one shooting with medium format film and available light. It was a fun few hours working on the busy streets with such a huge variety of people compared to Oxford and overall the people that I spoke to seemed friendly. There is something about the light in London that is very different to Oxford. Possibly it’s the tall buildings and the light bouncing around from so many windows, whatever it is it’s a joy work with on the streets. I’ve got some shots in colour on a different roll of film that will be posted at a later date once I’ve had the film processed.

[Tech info] All images made with a Pentax 6×7 and 110mm f2.4 lens on Fuji Acros 100 film. Processed in Kodak HC110 (dilution E 1:47) for 7mins.

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Street portraits: May morning

Sunday, May 1st, 2011

I attended May morning this year for the first time in probably well over 10 years and as I stood amongst the crowd on High street waiting to hear the Magdalen College choir sing, I tried to think of which things might have been different on my last visit. There certainly weren’t people photographing and filming with mobile phones, nor was there an abundance of DSLR’s around peoples’ necks.

There was a huge variety of people in the crowd and a perfect opportunity for some street portraits. This gallery is of people that caught my attention in the way they were dressed. I’ll post a separate gallery with images of the more traditional side of May morning which is Morris dancing and other goings on that I happened to come across.

[Tech info: all images were captured with a Nikon D700 and 85mm lens.]

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