May, 2012
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Friday, May 11th, 2012
This evening I spent a few hours in the darkroom making contact prints from some of my films. I’ve always loved contact sheets, there’s something about the small images that draw you in and I love the sharpness of them. I also like how looking at an entire roll of film on one sheet can help tell a story. It’s been a long time since I made any contact prints but this evening I enjoyed it so much that it’s something I’ll be trying to make time to do more of. If you’ve never been in a darkroom and seen how prints are made with nothing more than silver, light and some chemicals then you’re missing out. As I watched the images appear on the paper in the developer tray I had to remind myself of how I was making prints without the aid of a computer, scanner or printer. How amazing is that?
Low quality images courtesy of my iPod Touch.
Images from the Lincoln College Ball. I haven't scanned these in yet to post on this blog.
10x8 inch contact print. That's right, the negative is 10x8 inches in size.
Posted in Equipment, film, Oxford | No Responses »
Tags: black&white, film
Thursday, May 10th, 2012
Here’s the 6th batch of images from the Lincoln College Ball 2012. More to come.
[Tech info:] Nikon D700 with on camera flash (SB800) for some and ambient light only for others.
Guests at the Lincoln College Ball 2012.
Posted in Oxford, People, students | No Responses »
Tags: ball, black&white, D700, digital, lincoln, oxford, people, students
Thursday, May 10th, 2012
Here’s part 4 of my images from the Keble College Ball last weekend. I’m enjoying going through these images and remembering all of the different people I spoke to and photographed on the night. I had a lot of fun, as did the guests. More images to come.
[Tech info:] Nikon D700 with either a 35/f2, 100/f2.8 series E or a Zeiss 50/f1.4 lens. Those are the lenses I took with me and I changed them up throughout the evening.
Guests having fun.
Posted in Oxford, People, Portrait, students | No Responses »
Tags: ball, black&white, D700, digital, oxford, students
Wednesday, May 9th, 2012
The weather for the Lincoln Ball was less than ideal so the indoor venues were quite full of guests. I did my best to get into some space to photograph them as well as I could. With the lack of any useable ambient light I was using straight flash. These images have a kind of paparazzi look to them. I’m desperately trying to find some spare time to scan in the rest of the film I shot at the Lincoln Ball but I can’t manage it at the moment. Something to look forward to… 🙂
[Tech info:] Nikon D700 digital with a Zeiss ZF 50/f1.4 manual lens.
Lincoln Ball guests
Posted in Oxford, People, students | No Responses »
Tags: ball, black&white, D700, digital, lincoln, oxford, people, students
Wednesday, May 9th, 2012
Another batch of film shots from the Keble College Ball 2012. Here you can see some from inside the Sheesha tent that was put on by Mr Flavour. It seemed like a popular spot with a constant queue leading out from the entrance. Not surprising really since it was cosy and warm in there. I did a lot of my portrait photography right outside underneath the big light ball. Those light balls were amazing and gave off a beautiful quality of light. The previous two sets of images from the Keble Ball have been very popular, thank you to everyone that has sent me messages. Feel free to add me on Facebook or like my photography page there if you want to keep updated on new posts here. Lots more images to come. If you were at the Lincoln Ball don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about you, more from there coming soon.
[Tech info:] Mamiya C330f, 80/f2.8 lens loaded with Kodak Tri-X, rated at ISO1600 and processed in Kodak HC110 dilution B (1:31).
Guests have fun in the Shisha tent.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, students | No Responses »
Tags: 6x6, ball, black&white, c330, film, hc110, oxford, people, portraits, students
Tuesday, May 8th, 2012
Here we have the first batch of shots I made on film at the Keble College Ball 2012. I’ve been feverishly processing and scanning into the wee small hours this morning to get these posted here as soon as I could because I love how they look. All of these were made using the available light. I decided not to use flash on any of my film shots during the evening.
[Tech info:] Mamiya C330f and 80mm lens with Kodak Tri-X film rated at ISO 1600. Processed in Kodak HC110 (1:31) dilution b for 16:30 at 20c.
Long live film.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, students | 2 Responses »
Tags: 6x6, ball, black&white, c330, film, oxford, people, portraits, students, Tri-X
Monday, May 7th, 2012
The Keble College Ball was the biggest college ball that I’ve attended so far and I really enjoyed it. When I first heard that around 1,850 guests were expected it didn’t quite register in my mind what that would actually look like but when I saw the guests queuing up around the edge of the main quad at Keble waiting to come into the ball it was quite a sight. Fortunately it didn’t rain at all on the night but the temperature outside was quite chilly. It’s a shame we didn’t have more summery weather because I think the cold temperature forced a lot of people to stay in the warmth of the marquees or the college buildings which were difficult to photograph in because they were so packed. I saw so many people that I would like to photograph again with some of my old film cameras so if you’re in any of these pictures below and you’d like a test shoot together please get in touch.
This is the first batch of images from the ball. I have a lot of images to sort through but I’ll try to post new batches as soon as I can. Lots of the guests asked where they could see the pictures. I’ll post as many as I can here but I’ll put a gallery together of everything in case anyone wants to order prints. I still have lots more images from Lincoln to post so expect plenty of updates.
[Tech info:] Nikon D700 with Zeiss 50mm/f1.4 lens.
There were lots of photogenic guests in attendance.
Posted in Oxford, People, students | 1 Response »
Tags: ball, black&white, D700, keble, oxford, people, portraits, students
Friday, May 4th, 2012
Here’s the 4th batch of images from the Lincoln College Ball 2012. These were all shot on film and there are plenty more to come. One of the many things I love about using film is the fact that it takes time to create the images. Sometimes well over a week or more has passed between me processing the film and scanning it and in that time I’ve often forgotten what was on the film in the first place. Take some of these shots for example. It’s not quite 7 days since I shot these images but as I was sorting through them just now there are at least a few frames that I don’t remember making so coming across them is not only a surprise but also a treat. I was aiming to post new images every day this week but I’ve been feeling unwell the past couple of days, sorry about that. Lots more to come from the Lincoln Ball (both film and digital) and I’ll be photographing at the Keble Ball tomorrow night so there’s lots to look forward to from that too.
I’d love to photograph at the upcoming Oriel Ball so if anyone can hook me up with permission to photograph there it would be much appreciated!
Shots from the beginning of the evening before the rain started.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, students | 2 Responses »
Tags: 6x6, ball, black&white, c330, lincoln, oxford, people, portraits, rodinal, students, Tri-X
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012
Here’s the first batch of images that I shot on film at the Lincoln College Ball 2012.There’s a huge difference in the look of these images compared to the digital images in the previous two posts. Please feel free to leave a comment to tell me which ones you prefer. I decided to try out a camera and flash combination that I hadn’t ever tried before and because I was using an old school camera I dusted off an old school Metz flash to pair it with. This particular flash is almost 25 years old and it cost me a week and a half’s wages from my first job after I left school.
[Tech info:] Mamiya C330f and 80mm lens loaded with Kodak Tri-X film rated at ISO 1600, processed in Rodinal (1:50 dilution).
The evening started off with some of the guests having a sit down meal.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait, students | 1 Response »
Tags: 6x6, ball, black&white, c330, oxford, people, students, Tri-X
Tuesday, May 1st, 2012
Here’s the second instalment of images from the Lincoln College Ball 2012. A few tidbits of info – all of these images were made using the available light except for the second image down on the left for which I had to use the pop-up flash on my digital camera (which never gets much use) because the bar staff in the picture were completely backlit. The third image down on the right was made looking through a window. I’m not sure what was going on in that room but it looked like everyone was having a good time. I couldn’t get in because of the queues. The image in the bottom right hand corner was made while I was standing in pouring rain, umbrella in one hand, camera in the other. The light is coming from an outside miniature street lamp to the right.
This evening I processed some of the black & white film I shot at the ball and I’m excited to get around to scanning and posting those. So many images, so little time…
[Tech info:] Nikon D700 digital camera with Zeiss 50mm/f1.4 lens (wide open).
Even the rain couldn't dampen the spirits.
Posted in Oxford, People, students | No Responses »
Tags: ball, black&white, D700, digital, lincoln, oxford, people, portraits, students
