There was some flooding in Hinksey back in January and here are a few pictures from that time which I made during my lunch break. I had spotted the gravel mounds the previous week and was waiting for appropriate light and a dramatic sky to photograph them in.
[Tech info:] Pentax 645NII, 45-85mm lens, Ilford HP5 developed in Kodak HC110 1+31.
Here are some shots made during a foggy night in Oxford on Boxing Day last year, between 10pm and 12am. I chose to develop the film in 510 Pyro to see how well it held the highlights and I’m pleased to say it did exceptionally well as you can see from the pictures. The dynamic range between the street lights and the dark shadows in these night shots is huge but it didn’t seem to give 510 Pyro any problems. One of the last shots I calculated to be a 4 minute exposure with reciprocity but in hindsight I feel I miscalculated and overexposed the shot by at least 1.5 stops but the shot it still totally usable.
[Tech info:] Pentax 645N, 55/2.8, Ilford FP4, developed in 510 Pyro 1+100 for 11mins.
Here are some pictures from a recent walk around Jericho with a mate of mine. I wanted to test out a camera and it’s been quite a while since I walked around Jericho so it was nice to combine the two. This roll of FP4 film is part of the blotchy batch I have and rather than throw it away, I use it for testing.
[Tech info:] Mamiya 645 ProTL, 80/2.8N, Ilford FP4, developed in HC110 1+31.
During the evening of New Year’s Eve 2020 a thick fog descended on Oxford and it was the most atmospheric I’ve seen especially with the empty streets and shops and restaurants closed. Here are some pictures from that evening which I made on b&w film. I shot two rolls of colour but they haven’t been developed yet. I should’ve packed more film.
The roll expired in 2019 so I didn’t expect there to be any problems. Unfortunately there is a mottling on these images which has been caused by the film being in contact with the backing paper, something which I haven’t experienced with Ilford film before. Apparently this is a common problem.
[Tech info:] Pentax 645NII, 45-85mm, Ilford HP5 (expired), developed in Ilford Ilfosol 3 1+9 for 6min 30sec in a Jobo.
This set of pictures is part of an ongoing project to document the historic suburb of Jericho in Oxford which I have been doing on and off since 2013 mainly during my lunch break. It’s possible I have pictures from before 2013 but that’s the oldest date in my archive that I have tagged ‘Jericho’. Whenever I have a camera or film to test I often walk around Jericho and see what catches my eye, often photographing the same things in different light at different times of the year. The streets are usually very quiet which is why I don’t have many pictures of people. Quiet pictures of a quiet place.
A whole range of film formats is represented here from 35mm up to 5×4 large format. Hopefully soon I will be doing some 10×8 photography around Jericho but that won’t be during my lunch break!
These pictures were made with the following cameras: Bronica ETRSi, Rolleiflex 3.5 Automat, Bronica SQA, Pentax 645, Leica M6, Yashica Electro 35, Graflex Crown Graphic, Pentax P30N; and the following films: Ilford FP4, Kodak Plus-X, Eastman Double X, Fuji Acros 100, Kodak Tri-X.
It’s a few weeks to go until Summer Eights 2016 and I’ve just realised that I didn’t seem to post any shots from 2015 so here’s the start of some. I remember the weather on the final day was sunny and hot but the number of spectators seemed to be a little down on the previous year. More to come.
[Tech info:] Pentax 645N, 105/2.4 lens with 67-645 adapter, Fuji Reala 100 (expired) film.
Here are some images from a recent lunchtime photography session with Ella. I wanted to practice a little with this camera and lens combination because while I really like the results I get from them, I’m not happy with the shutter release on the camera and how far you need to press before it will activate the shutter. I have a power-winder for it that came as part of the kit but I haven’t tried it yet. Maybe it’s about time I did. Ella was very easy to work with and hopefully there will be more opportunities to do some photography together.
[Tech info:] Mamiya 645 Pro TL, 80/1.9 lens, Fuji Acros 100 (expired) film, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 5:30.
It was nice to see some familiar faces at this years’ Town vs Gown Boxing competition at the Oxford Union, especially some of the team from last year who had come to cheer on Oxford. Last year was my first time photographing this event and I had no idea what to expect when I arrived there. This year was very different because this time I had access all areas and I also had last years’ pictures to live up to (which can be seen here and here).
After much deliberation on which cameras and film to take with me I eventually decided that I wanted to make some portraits on medium format but the difficult part was choosing which medium format camera to take. In the end I went for my Mamiya 645 Pro TL because it’s the one that I own with the fastest lens and not only did I want a shallow depth of field but I also knew that the light levels inside the Oxford Union are fairly low. The 80/1.9 lens that I took with me is quite unforgiving when it comes to focussing it at anywhere near to wide open and the focussing screen that came in my camera (I’m not sure if it’s the standard stock screen) is very bright and clear which actually makes it more difficult to tell whether something is in focus or not so the sharpness in some of the shots below is lacking. The Mamiya 645 Pro TL is a nice camera to use but the thing I hate most about it is the shutter release travel feels like it goes on forever which can cause movement of the camera (in my experience) just before the shutter fires. I have a motor-drive for mine which came with the camera but I haven’t used it yet because once you’ve loaded the grip with AA batteries it adds quite a bit of weight to it as well as increasing the overall size.
[Tech info:] Mamiya 645 Pro TL, 80/1.9, Kodak Tri-X 400 @ ISO 1600, processed in Kodak HC110 (1+31) for 16mins.
These shots were made to test out a camera/lens combination I put together. The body is a Pentax 645N and the lens is a 105/2.4 designed for a Pentax 6×7 body but I’m using a lens adapter that allows this lens to be mounted on a smaller format body. I recruited the help of a friend for some of the testing (thanks Jean Pierre) and I experimented with different apertures to see how the depth of field looked, I also added in a portable LED light for some fill which worked out particularly well. The portrait in the top right hand corner is of Paul from Covered Arts, we went to school together many moons ago and it was nice to bump into him during his coffee break.
[Tech info:] Pentax 645N, 105/2.4 lens (attached with a 6×7 to 645 adapter), expired Ilford HP5 film, processed in Kodak D76 1+1 for 13mins.
Last Saturday was Worldwide Photo Walk Day (in case you didn’t know) and there was a walk organised in Oxford with the theme of film. I didn’t sign up so I wasn’t officially part of the group but I decided to go along to show some love for film and to make some pictures on a Saturday afternoon. It was a good opportunity to put a second roll through the Pentax 645N that I recently got but haven’t had much time to test out. The film I used came in a batch of expired films but there was no date on it. I suspect it’s quite old because the backing paper has left a mottled texture on the film – something I don’t actually mind here.
[Tech info:] Pentax 645N, 105/2.4 lens (attached with a 6×7 to 645 adapter), expired Ilford HP5 film, processed in Kodak D76 1+1 for 13mins.
Portraits of some of the cast from the Oxford University Dramatic Society production of Twelfth Night which played in the Old Schools Quadrangle, Bodleian Library. These were made five minutes before the audience were allowed in and I’m very grateful to the cast for giving up some of their warm up time. These costumes came from the Royal Shakespeare Company and were amazing when you were up close.
[Tech info:] Bronica ETRSi, 75/2.8, Fuji Pro 400H film, developed and scanned by Ag Photo lab.
Some film shots from a promo shoot I did for the Christ Church Commemoration Ball 2014 who’s theme was English Eccentrics. This was a really fun shoot to do but one of those times where I wished I had more time to shoot film. Thank you to everyone that gave up their time for this shoot and to the amazing Tori for putting it all together.
[Tech info:] Bronica ETRSi, 75/2.8, Fuji 400H (expired), processed and scanned by Ag Photo lab.
