The last few portraits I made at the Oxford Beard Festival 2022. Thank you to everyone that stood very still for me. I’m pleased with how the portraits turned out.
[Tech info:] Sinar P 10×8, Dallmeyer 3A lens, f8 3D printed Waterhouse stop. Fomapan 100 (expired 2017) ISO 50, Kodak HC110 1+63 10mins.
More portraits from the Oxford Beard Festival 2022. Part 1 is here. I’ve noticed that the depth of field differs in some of my beard festival portraits and thinking about it now I’ve got a feeling it’s because I tilted the camera forward or back depending on the height of the person I was photographing. In hindsight I should have kept the back of the camera vertical and raised the lens or the centre column on the tripod. Something to remember next time.
[Tech info:] Sinar P 10×8, Dallmeyer 3A lens, f8 3D printed Waterhouse stop. Fomapan 100 (expired 2017) ISO 50, Kodak HC110 1+63 10mins.
The first and only time I photographed the Oxford Beard Festival was in 2015 – you can see those pictures here. Ever since then I have been thinking about and this year I finally managed to make it there again. This time I wanted to use a 10×8 large format camera but the slight hiccup being the weight of my kit was far too much for me to carry on my back and the venue for the event was a pub on the river without any access by car. I decided the only way to do it was to transport my kit in a borrowed wheelbarrow and it worked like a charm albeit leaving my arms feeling 3 inches longer by the end of it.
[Tech info:] Sinar P 10×8, Dallmeyer 3A lens, f8 3D printed Waterhouse stop. Fomapan 100 (expired 2017) ISO 50, Kodak HC110 1+31 6mins.
The Intrepid 10×8 is the lightest 10×8 camera I own and after you add the weight of a lens, film holders, tripod, light meter, dark cloth, loupe and rucksack it’s on the limit of what I can comfortably cycle with. Here are the street portraits I made on my first trip into town with this kit. On the first shot I used a little front swing to bring both people into focus – the first time I’ve done this.
[Tech info:] Intrepid 10×8, 300mm f6.3 Komura lens, Fomapan 100 (expired), developed in HC110 1+63 for 10mins.
Here are some shots I made on 10×8 x-ray film recently. The shot from Catte Street with the Radcliffe Camera was actually made last summer but I only came across the film holder recently. That’s over 12 months that the latent image was sitting quietly on the film before it got developed. Speaking of developing, I used a bottle of developer that expired in 2014, it was sealed and the colour looked good so I thought I’d give it a try. If anything it seems to have tamed the contrast that is often found in x-ray films so I’m happy with that.
[Tech info:] Intrepid 10×8 camera, 300mm/f4.2 Plaubel Anticomar lens, Fuji Super HR-T x-ray film, developed in HC110 1+100 for 7 mins.
Radcliffe Camera image: 10×8 Tachihara, 210mm/f5.6 Nikon lens which just about covers 10×8. I applied some front rise on this shot.
For the longest time I have wanted to take my 10×8 camera into town to do some large format photography and recently I finally managed to do it on a Saturday morning. Even though I only took one lens – the smallest and lightest I have that is suitable for 10×8 photography – the combined weight of the camera, tripod and film holders is more than my back can comfortably handle so I have to drag the camera around with a foldable hand cart which works really well. I took with me both Ilford Delta 100 b&w film and Fuji Velvia 100F transparency film. Below are a couple of shots made with the Delta 100, I’ve processed the Velvia and the shots turned out very nicely but I haven’t scanned them yet. The group shot of the Zappi’s Cycling Club was very impromptu – I was photographing the Sheldonian Theatre on Broad Street when I was approached by one of the cyclists about photographing them with my big camera.
[Tech info:] 10×8 field camera, Nikon 210mm f5.6 lens, Delta 100 film (expired), developed in Ilford DD-X with a Jobo processor.
In the summer of 2012 I was starting to experiment with large format x-ray film and looking for willing volunteers to sit for a portrait so that I could test things out. One of my test portraits was of Oxford artist Rachel Owen who I knew also worked with film when we chatted at her Artweeks exhibition months earlier. Yesterday I was very sad to hear that Rachel died on Sunday 18th December from cancer. Pembroke College announced the news on their website.
[Tech info:] Wista 10×8, green sensitive x-ray film rated at ISO 50, processed in Rodinal 1:50 for 6 mins.
Rachel Owen, Artist (1968-2016)
A large format portrait made on 10×8 inch xray film. The making of pic below was made by Amanda from her viewpoint but you don’t get a sense of how large this camera is. I really enjoy making simple honest portraits like this with nothing fancy in terms of styling, lighting or location – just one light, subject and camera.
[Tech info:] Wista 10×8, Sinaron 300mm lens, green sensitive xray film, processed in Rodinal 1+50 for 6 mins.
Wista pic by Amanda | Xray film hanging up to dry
Here is a set of large format images that I made on 10×8 (green) x-ray film a couple of weeks ago on a stroll into town. I was glad to see the workmen on the steps of the Clarendon Building because I often see them there on my lunch photo walk and think to myself how nice it would be to make a group shot of them on 10×8 film. I took 8 sheets of film with me but only used 7.
[Tech info:] 10×8 Wista Field, 300mm Sinaron lens, CXS green latitude x-ray film (ISO50), processed in Rodinal 1+50 for 6mins.
Setting up (photo by Clive Jones)
So far all of the x-ray film that I have been using has been of the green variety which I think means it’s sensitive to a certain colour of light when used for medical x-rays. Recently I acquired some blue x-ray film from the FPP online store and here are some of my first test shots with it. These shots were all rated at ISO25 and I experimented with two different developers, Kodak HC110 and Rodinal. This film seems very sensitive to over agitation and I think the Rodinal seems to be better because of the higher dilution of 1+100 and longer development time of 10mins.
[Tech info:] Wista 10×8, 300mm Sinaron lens, Fuji Blue x-ray film, ISO25.
The view on the ground glass screen of the Wista. It’s upside down on the camera when I’m using it.
This is the second batch of portraits that I made back in April at the Meadow Lane skatepark. It was a great session and I made a total of eight portraits (that’s all the film I had with me). The first batch can be seen here. I really enjoy using 10×8 but unfortunately the camera and lens alone are a bit too heavy for me to safely cycle with on my back, not to mention the tripod and film holders I need to carry as well. This limits my usage and how far I can travel with it which is a shame because there are so many images I’d love to make with this size of film. I really like how these have turned out and I hope to make some more during the summer if time permits.
[Tech info:] Wista 10×8, 300mm Sinaron lens, green sensitive x-ray film, ISO50, processed in Rodinal 1+50 for 6mins.
Here are some portraits I made on large format 10×8 film yesterday as part of my ongoing personal project to document the users of the Oxford Wheels Project skatepark on Meadow Lane. We had a sunny morning with next to no breeze which is ideal conditions for dragging out a 10×8 camera. Fortunately it wasn’t too busy so I had space to set up and I managed to make 8 different portraits, my most successful session so far. I absolutely love shooting 10×8 and I can’t wait to shoot some transparency film at the skatepark. Below are the first batch from yesterday, I haven’t processed the others yet. These web sized images don’t do the originals any justice. The negatives are a sight to behold and the original high-resolution scans have so much detail in them it’s mind boggling.
[Tech info:] Wista 10×8, 300mm Sinaron lens, green sensitive x-ray film, ISO50, processed in Rodinal 1+50 for 6mins.
The 10x8 Wista camera I used.
