5×4
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Saturday, June 8th, 2013
This set of images is from a lunch hour photo shoot I had with Sarah recently. At this time of year the midday sun is not very flattering for portraits so I have to work extra hard to find pockets of light where the quality is nice. Having a location where there are walls to bounce the light around can help and fortunately I have such a location not too far from my office. I previously posted some Fujiroids from this shoot but the colour of the light at this time of day is not very nice which is why I shot more black & white film.
Sarah was really great to work with and I’m very pleased with how these turned out, especially the large format shots on the bottom row.
[Tech info:] Top two rows: Pentax 6×7, 165mm and 135mm lenses, loaded with Kodak TMAX 400 (expired) film. Bottom row: Speed Graphic 5×4, Ektar 203mm and Dallmeyer 12 inch lenses on Ilford HP5 film. All processed in Kodak HC110 1+31.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Photo shoot, Portrait, students | No Responses »
Tags: 5x4, 6x7, black&white, film, hc110, HP5, oxford, pentax, portraits, sarah, speed graphic, students, summer
Friday, June 7th, 2013
For this photo shoot I only had three sheets of 5×4 large format film with me so I tried to use them wisely. The light inside Hertford college chapel was very nice and consistent which is just what I needed to minimise waiting around. I really like the interior of this chapel, especially the carved spindles in the last shot below. I did shoot some medium format film as well, those will follow at a later time.
[Tech info:] Speed Graphic 5×4, Pentac f2.9 lens, Ilford HP5 film developed in Kodak HC110 1+31.
Posted in film, Oxford, Photo shoot, Portrait, students | 1 Response »
Tags: 5x4, black&white, film, hc110, HP5, oxford, people, portraits, students, summer
Thursday, April 18th, 2013
Some shots from a photo shoot I had with Christy a few months back in January. These were towards the end of the shoot and the late afternoon light coming in through the windows of her room at college was beginning to fade quite quickly so we had to light the background in the left two shots with a desk lamp. Shooting with large format film is not a particularly fast process but Christy was extremely patient and I really like how these turned out.
[Tech info:] Speed Graphic 5×4 camera, Kodak Aero Ektar lens. I think the film was Ilford HP5 processed in HC110 (1+31) but I’m not 100% sure on that. Must keep notes!
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Tags: 5x4, aero, black&white, christy, film, oxford, people, portraits, students
Monday, April 15th, 2013
Here are some portraits I made at the new OWP (Oxford Wheels Project) skate park on Meadow Lane yesterday. This is a personal project to document some of the users of the park because I think it will be great to look back at these images many years from now. I’ve never owned a BMX and I could never balance on a skateboard to save my life so I never found myself visiting the old ramps which is a real shame. I wish I had thought about starting this project years ago because it would be interesting to see how the bikes and fashions have changed over time as well as the riders and skaters themselves.
[Tech info:] Speed Graphic 5×4 large format camera with a Kodak Aero Ektar lens on Ilford FP4, processed in Kodak HC110 (1+31) for 7mins.
Setup shot - photo by Alex Leech
Posted in Equipment, film, Oxford, People, Sport | 6 Responses »
Tags: 5x4, black&white, bmx, film, fp4, graflex, hc110, owp, oxford, people, portraits
Thursday, February 28th, 2013
One of my favourite cameras is my Graflex Super D which is a large format (5×4) SLR. The problem is I haven’t been able to use it very much this winter because the viewing screen inside it is quite dark so I need bright conditions to help me with focussing. The weather this winter has been overcast and cloudy most of the time which has been frustrating for me. This set of portraits were made on a rare sunny day last week during my lunch hour. There always seems to be more people around when the sun comes out.
[Tech info:] Graflex Super D, Carl Zeiss 18cm/f4.5 lens, Ilford HP5 film processed in Kodak HC110 for 5mins at 20C.
Christy & Helen, slightly out of focus. It's very difficult to focus when your subjects are backlit by the sun. I must remember not to do this.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Street portraits, students | 4 Responses »
Tags: 5x4, black&white, film, graflex, hc110, helen, HP5, oxford, people, portraits, students, super d, Tri-X
Sunday, February 17th, 2013
Here are some images from my first lunch hour photo shoot with Chloe on film. I first shot with Chloe on the Oriental-inspired fashion shoot for The Oxford Tab here. We lucked out with some nice weather and although the sun was in and out I did my best to make the most of it. I juggled two different cameras (medium and large format) and I really wish we had more time to shoot because there were so many more shots I wanted to try at this location but they’ll have to wait for another time. Chloe was great to work with and there will be more collaborations to come. The colour image below was made on Fuji FP100C instant pack film (similar to Polaroid).
[Tech info]: Mamiya M645 1000s with 80mm/f1.9 lens loaded with Acros 100 film, processed in Rodinal 1:50. Graflex 5×4 Super D (top & bottom right), 190mm/f5.6 lens loaded with Ilford HP5 processed in HC110 (1:31).
Posted in film, Oxford, Photo shoot, students | No Responses »
Tags: 5x4, 645, acros, black&white, film, fujiroid, HP5, oxford, portraits, rodinal, students, super d
Sunday, January 13th, 2013
Here are the film shots from my shoot with Georgina H. I found a new location to use that I think works really well in black & white. I think there will be some nice shadows to use on a sunnier day.
[Tech info:] I used two cameras, a Mamiya RZ67 with 110mm lens and a Speed Graphic 5×4 large format camera from the 1940’s. Films used were Tri-X (RZ) and HP5 (SG), processed in Kodak HC110 (dilution b).
Large format shots
Posted in film, Oxford, Photo shoot, Portrait, students | 1 Response »
Tags: 5x4, 6x7, black&white, film, georgina, hc110, HP5, oxford, students, Tri-X
Sunday, September 9th, 2012
Quite a few months ago I bought a box of 5×4 infrared sheet film and it’s been in my freezer ever since. I was waiting for summer to arrive with lots of sunshine and clear skies so that I could experiment with it. Partly due to the wettest summer on record I forgot about the infrared film until a few days ago. The weather this past week was unusually sunny and warm for September and that somehow reminded me that I had some infrared film in my freezer. I’m pleased to report that my initial tests were a success, you can see some of them below and there are lots more to come.
[Tech info:] Wista 5×4 with Schneider 90mm and 150mm lenses. Efke 820c infrared film processed in Rodinal 1:50 for 14mins (20c).
All in a row
View across Hinksey lakes
Over the bridge and far away...
Lock keepers cottage, Iffley lock
Setup shot
Posted in film, Oxford | No Responses »
Tags: 5x4, black&white, film, infrared, oxford, rodinal, wista
Wednesday, September 5th, 2012
Following on from yesterday’s post containing images made with my Graflex Super D large format SLR, here are some more images made with that camera during my lunch hour. The last two images were made on my way home on the same day as the others with the same camera. Technically they’re not lunch hour shots but they belong with this set.
[Tech info:] Graflex Super D 5×4 SLR camera, Ilford Delta 100 film (pushed 1 stop), processed in Ilford DD-X.
Richard the tailor on Little Clarendon Street
Street soldier human statue, Cornmarket Street
These two guys were painting and decorating inside a building being renovated on St Giles.
The bride and groom
Horse drawn carriage outside the church at a gypsy wedding
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Street portraits | No Responses »
Tags: 5x4, black&white, delta 100, film, graflex, oxford, people, portraits, super d
Tuesday, September 4th, 2012
It’s not often I get the chance to get into town at the weekends so when I had a little time recently I decided to take my Super D large format SLR camera out for a little air. As is often the case the street performers on Cornmarket Street were doing their thing and pulling in big crowds. The lens on the Super D is not particularly wide so I wasn’t about to capture much of the crowds but the performers themselves were great to photograph.
[Tech info:] Graflex Super D 5×4 SLR camera, Kodak Tri-X 320 film processed in Kodak HC110 (dilution b).
Fire juggler. It's hard to tell but this guy is holding a fireball behind his back in his left hand. After this he dropped it down his trousers!
Squeezing through a tennis racket
On my way to Port Meadow I passed these people that were guests at a wedding. The gentleman reminded me of Johnny Depp
Meg and her daughter. Meg is a photographer who spotted me with my Super D camera in the Divinity Schools quadrangle.
The grand finale of a street performance.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Street portraits | 2 Responses »
Tags: 5x4, black&white, graflex, hc110, oxford, people, super d, Tri-X, txp
Monday, September 3rd, 2012
You might recognise Peter from the punting photo shoot I did a couple of weeks ago. Having recently finished his masters degree he’s due to leave Oxford very soon to do a little travelling so we arranged to make some pictures before he leaves. For these images I used a large format camera from the 1940’s with a lens from World War II that was designed for the US military to do aerial photography at night. It’s renowned for its shallow depth of field that has a very unique signature. I don’t get to use this setup all that often partly because of the size of the lens and partly because it’s difficult to use it if the conditions are too bright but on this day it was perfectly cloudy with the sun trying to burn through. I took 6 sheets of film with me and all of them are here below.
[Tech info:] Speed Graphic camera with Kodak Aero Ektar lens on Ilford FP4+ processed in Rodinal (1:50).
On the steps.
Take it to the bridge
Distinctive bokeh
I think the gloves make this shot
Wider shot
No jacket required
Posted in film, Oxford, Photo shoot, Portrait, students | No Responses »
Tags: 5x4, aero, black&white, film, fp4, oxford, people, portraits, rodinal, speed graphic, students
Sunday, August 5th, 2012
For the longest time I’ve wanted to be able to do large format street photography but up until now I’ve always found it difficult because of the time required to set up a shot. Most of the people I stop to photograph on the street probably don’t want to have to stand still for a few minutes while I set up a shot so I’ve been searching for a camera that I can hand hold and operate quite fast. My hope was I had found such a camera in the Graflex Speed Graphic which was a favourite among press photographers as far back as the 1920’s but the rangefinder focusing and approximate framing guide never really worked very well for me so my search continued. Once I came across the Graflex Super D which was designed as a large format SLR it looked like my search was over. I’ve wanted one of these cameras for a long time and now I finally have one. It’s a big wooden box with a mirror inside that helps you with focussing and composition and the really nice thing is the image you’re looking at isn’t upside down, it’s just flipped horizontally. My Super D came from New York and dates from the late 1940’s to early 1950’s. It looks like it’s had plenty of use but it still works perfectly. These images were all made in the space of around an hour on my first time using it with 5×4 inch film.
[Tech info:] Graflex Super D camera, 190mm lens and Ilford HP5+ film processed in Ilford DD-X (1+4).
This young lady works at 'Objects of use' on Market street, a lovely shop that is well worth a visit.
I've photographed this fantastic bike a few times but this is the first time I've seen its owner. The girl he was speaking to, just out of frame on the right. said to me 'Oh, so you're the Simply Oxford guy that keeps taking those annoying pictures of pretentious people'. I can't see how my pictures would be annoying. What a strange thing to say.
Brooks saddle, Market street.
I thought I was composing this to be portrait orientation but I was working in a hurry and forgot to rotate the camera back. Ship Street.
Coffee break, Ship street.
This man is an old skool photographer that I bump into from time to time. We usually chat about whatever camera I happen to be carrying. Outside Carfax tower.
Here's a shot I made quite a while ago of the friendly staff at 'Objects of use' on Market street. I struggled a little with the low light.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Street portraits | 2 Responses »
Tags: 5x4, black&white, film, graflex, HP5, oxford, people, portraits, super d
