September, 2015

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Oxford: Endeavour 3, episode 4 – part 2

Tuesday, September 29th, 2015

This was going to be a bumper post but I’ve decided to split the selections from this roll across two different posts because of the number of images. Please be aware there may be the odd spoiler in these shots, I can’t say because I don’t know anything about the storyline and I just photographed some of what I saw on the street. What I can tell you is this episode looks like it’s going to be exciting! Lots more images to come from this episode which was a lot of fun to photograph.

[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton, Eastman Double X motion picture film developed in Kodak D76 1+1.

Oxford Beard Festival 2015

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2015

I must admit I’m not a huge fan of shaving and usually go a few weeks between shaves whenever possible. When I found out about the Oxford Beard Festival my first thought wasn’t about entering, it was to make portraits of some of the competitors in a formal portrait kind of way. It took me a while to decide on which camera to take and in the end I opted for my Graflex Super D which is a large format SLR allowing me to shoot 5×4 inch sheet film. For this event I packed 12 sheets of film and used one sheet on each person below so making mistakes wasn’t an option. After arriving at the venue (The James Street Tavern) I scoped out a place to set up that would be both out of the way and would also give me consistent lighting during the afternoon and managed to find a nice shady spot in the corner of the beer garden. It was a fun event and I enjoyed photographing such a variety of beards but this was more than just about beards, I could appreciate the thought that had also gone into the clothes and styling for a lot of these guys and that made for better pictures in the end. My thanks go out to all of these guys for being so patient and for sitting very still for me.

[Tech info:] Graflex Super D 5×4, Pentac 8inch f2.9 lens, Ilford HP5 film processed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 6 mins.

Behind the scenes shots of the camera I used and some of the sheet film hanging up to dry.

Oxford: Endeavour series 3, episode 4

Thursday, September 17th, 2015

These shots are from the first day of filming in Oxford for the fourth and final episode of Endeavour series three. As luck would have it, I had booked a day off work to develop colour film in the darkroom and while taking a break for lunch I managed to find the Endeavour crew who were finishing up a scene before also taking a break for lunch. After I had finished developing more films in the afternoon I returned to the set and managed to photograph one more scene before packing up for the day. The schedule suffered an unforeseen delay when a huge truck decided to reverse down St Johns Street (which was clearly too narrow with parked cars on both sides) right as the Endeavour crew had set up the camera and were about to rehearse the next scene. The crew moved all of their equipment out of the way and watched many failed attempts by the driver to turn the truck around a corner that was so tight you’d be lucky to get the truck around if it was half the size. Eventually the driver admitted defeat and parked the truck further down the street. It was while all of this was happening that I made the small group shot of some of the guys so now you know why they have the puzzled expressions.

[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voightlander Nokton 50/1.5, Agfa APX 100 film pushed 1 stop in Rodinal 1+50.

Oxford: Endeavour series 3 – night shoot

Wednesday, September 16th, 2015

It’s nice when you find shots on film months after the fact. These shots are from 16th May (easily identified thanks to a handy shot of the slate) when the Endeavour crew were filming late into the night in Oxford. Unfortunately for them it didn’t start to get dark until very late so their shoot didn’t end until 2am. I stayed around until close to midnight and  left when I felt I had the best of what I could get in the can. The nice part of this shoot was seeing Radcliffe Square lit up like never before. Those of you that know that part of town might notice something about the phone boxes.

[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander Nokton 50/1.5, Ilford HP5 film developed in Kodak D76 1+1. Pakon scans.

Oxford: St Giles’ Fair 2015 – part 1

Tuesday, September 15th, 2015

St Giles’ Fair rolled into town last week and this is the first of what will probably be quite a few blog posts of pictures shot over the three days (including setting up). This year I only used black & white film for a change. It was nice to see some familiar faces again and as usual there was lots going on and plenty to photograph. I missed the fair last year so I was crossing my fingers for nice weather this time which we were fortunate to have. In the second shot down you can see Tommy Noyce who has been visiting St Giles’ Fair since he was 6 years old. He is now 73. The well known galloping horses carousel has been in his family for three generations and takes five trucks to transport. Sadly it no longer comes to St Giles’ Fair. The last frame below was made on the way back to my office during my lunch time visit to the fair – two of the tailors from Clements & Church on Little Clarendon Street.

[Tech info:] Fuji 6×9, Neopan Acros 100 developed in Rodinal 1+50 for 14 mins.

Oxford: Endeavour 3, episode 2 – part 2

Friday, September 4th, 2015

Behind the scenes photography during filming of Endeavour series 3 episode 2. It’s not very often that I use colour film when photographing Endeavour filming but the previous day I had been photographing the summer eights rowing competition on the river and the roll was only half used from that. This particular camera has a quiet mode that you can switch to which makes the camera virtually silent – perfect for behind the scenes photography – so I had to take it with me despite it having colour film loaded.

[Tech info:] Konica Hexar AF, Fuji Superia 400 (expired), developed in Rollei Digibase C41 kit, Pakon scans.