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Friday, January 4th, 2013
A new year and I’ve yet to do any photography thanks to the gloomy weather we’ve been having. At least it gives me an opportunity to carry on working through my backlog from last year. Here are some film shots from my most recent shoot with Helen. I love the quality of the light in these and hope to do more. It’s completely different to shooting outside. For the first time I had a digital camera with me on this particular shoot for comparison and you can see some of those shots here. I also shot some colour film but I’m stock piling my colour film so that I can process more of it in one go with fresh chemicals so those will follow later in the year. It’s exciting to wait to see my images.
[Tech info:] Pentax 67, 105/2.4 lens loaded with Kodak TMAX 400 @ ISO1600 processed in Kodak HC110 (1+31) for 7:30.
Comparison of film and digital
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Photo shoot | 3 Responses »
Tags: 1600, 6x7, black&white, hc110, oxford, pentax, portraits, students, tmax
Friday, December 7th, 2012
Here are some shots of the cast from a student production of a play called Vagrant that was at the Burton Taylor theatre a couple of weeks ago. The writer/director Alex Darby contacted me to see if I wanted to do some photography of the cast before the performance started so I took the opportunity to test out pushing Kodak TMAX 400 film to ISO1600. I had previously had great results with this film while doing some backstage photography during Oxford Fashion Week but I knew the light in the theatre would be a lot more contrasty so it would be a good test. I’m pleased with the results I got here and the grain is amazingly fine apart from the shadows which is to be expected.
[Tech info:] Mamiya RZ67, 110mm/f2.8 lens, loaded with TMAX 400 (rated @ ISO1600). Processed in Kodak HC110 (1+31) for 7:30.
Posted in film, Oxford, Photo shoot, students | No Responses »
Tags: 6x7, backstage, black&white, film, hc110, oxford, portraits, RZ67, students, theatre
Saturday, December 1st, 2012
You might recognise Kristina from some of my Oxford Fashion Week images because that’s where I first met her. I made these shots during a short photo shoot in my lunch break. The light was very flat on a cold overcast day. Kristina’s outfit certainly wouldn’t have been my first choice as being particularly photogenic but sometimes as a photographer you have to work with what you’re given. The light bouncing off of the white jumper was so bright compared to everything else in the scene but the film and processing has kept it under control nicely. I semi-stand developed this film which tends to retain highlight and shadow detail incredibly well.
[Tech info:] Pentax 67, 105mm/f2.4 lens, Kodak Tri-X film processed in Rodinal 1:100 for 1 hour (semi-stand).
Kristina
Posted in film, Oxford, Photo shoot | 5 Responses »
Tags: 6x7, black&white, film, oxford, pentax, rodinal, semi-stand, Tri-X
Saturday, September 22nd, 2012
Some photo shoots can start off with with trying to plan every last detail, others have the room to breath and experiment to see what happens. This photo shoot falls in the latter. Helen sent me an image for inspiration and from there I decided I would only use black & white film and I took along four different cameras to experiment with (3 medium format and a 35mm). On the day Helen brought various outfits but I think it was a coincidence that we only ended up using black and white clothing. The images have a feeling of going from light to dark which was perfect as we raced against the fading sun. This is a story of a girl who’s man ‘did her wrong’. It was a fun shoot and I hope to do more of these.
[Tech info:] I used the following cameras, Pentax 67 with 105/f2.4 lens, Mamiya C330f with 80/f2.8 lens and a Mamiya M645 1000S with 80/f1.9 lens. Film used was Kodak Tri-X and Fuji Acros 100. All of these shots were processed in Rodinal 1:50 (Acros for 10:00, the Tri-X for 13:30).
Posted in film, Oxford, Photo shoot, Portrait | 1 Response »
Tags: 645, 6x6, 6x7, acros, black&white, c330, film, helen, pentax, portraits, rodinal, Tri-X
Tuesday, September 11th, 2012
Here are the second set of images I made at the Meadow Lane skate ramps on the last day before they were demolished to make way for a bigger and better concrete skatepark.
As of last week the ramps have been demolished and work has begun on the new design. After being tipped off about the demolition day I cycled over there after finishing work to make some shots of the demolition site but I got there a few minutes too late and the van full of builders drove past me as I cycled along Meadow Lane. Doh! There were no holes in the fence big enough to poke my lens through so unfortunately I don’t have any images of it but if you can imagine a big pile of plywood that’s what it looked like.
[Tech info:] Pentax 67, 105mm lens loaded with Fuji Acros 100 film, processed in Kodak HC110 (dilution b).
The next generation
In conversation
Onlookers
Captive audience
Original skater
Final shot
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait | No Responses »
Tags: 6x7, acros, black&white, bmx, film, hc110, meadow lane, owp, oxford, pentax, people, portraits, skateboarders, skatepark, summer
Thursday, September 6th, 2012
I had another photo shoot with Helen recently and here are some of the results. We went to University Parks but used a different area to our last shoot and thanks to some nice late after summer sunshine we had everything we needed to make some nice images. This was a really relaxed shoot just like our previous one and I think that comes through in the images. I’ve had more compliments from people on my shots of Helen than any others on this blog and I look forward to collaborating more in the future.
[Tech info:] Mamiya RZ67, 110mm and 150mm lenses, Fuji Acros 100 pushed one stop in HC110 (8 mins) dilution b.
First shot
Lounging
Near the river
Catchlights
Lotus
The sun was going down directly behind Helen so I'm amazed at how good this turned out.
Last shot
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Photo shoot, Portrait, students | No Responses »
Tags: 6x7, acros, black&white, film, hc110, oxford, portraits, RZ67, students, summer
Monday, September 3rd, 2012
On the last day of the current Meadow Lane ramps I went along to make some portraits of whoever was down there skating and riding for the last time before the ramps get demolished to make way for a brand new concrete skatepark. Along with lots of people I didn’t know there was a familiar and friendly face, BMX rider Alex Leech. Alex and I went to school together between the ages of 5 and 13. I hadn’t seen Alex is quite some years and it was so nice to bump into him and see that he was still riding a BMX, something he’s been doing since the 70’s. I’ve got some more portraits from the day but I haven’t finished the roll of film yet. I hope to document the building of the new skatepark as much as possible.
You can see my previous photography from the Meadow Lane ramps here.
[Tech info: Pentax 67 and 105mm lens, loaded with Fuji Acros 100, processed in Rodinal 1:50 for 13:30.
Alex Leech
Alex and family
Skateboarder
I had a great chat with this guy about photography.
I can't remember if this guy was skating
Waiting in line
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait | 3 Responses »
Tags: 6x7, acros, black&white, bmx, film, meadow lane, oxford, pentax, people, portraits, rodinal
Friday, August 31st, 2012
Some more images from my punting photo shoot on the river Cherwell here in Oxford. These shots were all made on film whereas the previous ones were all from Fuji instant pack film (similar to Polaroid). Part one is here. More to come from this photo shoot.
[Tech info:] Mamiya RZ67 with 110mm and 150mm lenses on Fuji Pro 400H film, processed and scanned by me.
I love how this image turned out. One of the first frames of the photo shoot.
Looking at the setting sun.
Despite this being underexposed I like how this has turned out. Note the heavy colour shift towards green.
We kept the punt turning to vary things up. Some shots have the sun to camera right, others to the left.
A lovely bit of rim lighting and lens flare.
Posted in film, People, Photo shoot, students | 1 Response »
Tags: 6x7, film, oxford, people, portraits, RZ67, students, summer
Thursday, August 23rd, 2012
Yesterday I had the most amazing photo shoot with a very creative and photogenic couple, Peter and Alexandra. They hired a punt and we all travelled slowly along the river Cherwell while the sun was setting. It was pretty much perfect and felt like I was in a movie. I first met Peter and Alexandra while I was photographing the Oxford Union Society summer ball back in May and I knew that I wanted to do a photo shoot with them but the idea of doing it on a punt was all Alexandra’s. This is a little taster of some of the images I made because I haven’t processed the film yet. These shots were made with Fuji instant pack film (the same as Polaroid) but for these I scanned the negative part after bleaching the black backing off. I can’t wait to see the film shots. Please note that none of these images have been retouched in any way, they are all straight scans. More to come.
[Tech info:] Mamiya RZ67 with 110mm and 150mm lenses. Fuji FP100C instant pack film.
First frame
We are all still in the punt for this shot. The Willow was overhanging the river. Zero Photoshop effects, this is a straight scan.
Looking at the setting sun.
Leaning back.
Posted in film, Oxford, Photo shoot, students | 6 Responses »
Tags: 110mm, 6x7, fp100c, fujiroid, oxford, people, photo shoot, portraits, punt, students, summer
Monday, August 20th, 2012
My first time out with the hulking great Super D large format SLR. I used a 6x7cm roll film holder to test it out before using 5x4inch sheet film. The tricky thing when using a roll film holder that is a smaller format than 5x4inches is there are no guide lines in the viewfinder to show you what will be in the frame so I had to use some guess work. As you can see, I wasn’t always successful. The roll film holder already had some Ilford HP5 film loaded in when I bought it but I didn’t know how expired it was. Overall I think the images turned out nicely.
[Tech info:] Graflex Super D camera with 6x7cm roll film holder loaded with Ilford HP5. Processed in Ilford DD-X (1+4 dilution).
Plugged in.
I've photographed this guy before.
These guys are a photogenic bunch. They're working in a building on St Giles.
I had a nice conversation with this gentleman about photography. My Super D caught his attention.
This man was handing out some christian leaflets. We had a great chat about film photography especially using slide film.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait | No Responses »
Tags: 6x7, black&white, film, graflex, HP5, people, portraits, summer, super d
Saturday, July 7th, 2012
During my second test shoot with Helen I was able to test out a number of different rolls of film. The shots below are all from the same roll (with this particular camera I only get 10 shots on a roll). This was towards the end of the shoot and we decided to change things up a bit by making use of a nearby tree. Helen showed her excellent climbing skills, barefoot! It was tricky to find a comfortable spot in such a cramped space but I think Helen did a great job. The film I used here is Kodak BW CN which is sadly no longer made. I bought some expired rolls from a photographer who was having a clear out. The advantage was that you could have the film processed at any regular photo lab because it requires colour film chemistry even though it’s a black & white film. This is only the second roll I’ve used of my batch and I really like it so far.
[Tech info:] Pentax 6×7, Kodak BW CN (expired 2009). Processed and scanned by me.
Branching out.
Backlit.
Lean back.
Perched on the edge.
Eye contact.
Looking at the horizon.
Last frame.
Posted in film, Oxford, Photo shoot, Portrait, students | No Responses »
Tags: 6x7, black&white, film, helen, oxford, pentax, people, portraits, students, summer
Sunday, April 15th, 2012
A little while ago I was contacted by Andrew McCormack, a student studying here at Oxford University. He said he’d decided to give acting a serious go and wondered if I would do an acting headshot for him. I had previously photographed him during the dress rehearsal for POSH at the Oxford Union and he really liked my shots from that. I really like making portraits so of course I said yes but I wanted to do it on film, no problem he said so we arranged to meet up at his college to do the photo shoot in the grounds. It was the end of the day and the sun was dropping in the sky so we had to rush a little before the whole of the college quad was covered in shadow from one of the buildings. I decided to use a medium format camera for the shots and as there are only 10 frames on a roll of film with that camera the shoot didn’t take very long at all.
Andrew was very pleased with the final shots and so am I. Hopefully they’ll play a part in helping him secure some great jobs in his future acting career. If there are any other aspiring thespians out there that require a headshot do please get in touch.
[Tech info:] Mamiya RZ67 camera with 150mm lens loaded with Kodak TRi-X film, processed in Kodak HC110 dilution b (1:31).
This was Andrew's final choice. We shot this in the shade against an off-white wall
Frame 10. After 9 shots I knew I had it in the bag so this was the last shot on the roll. A more pensive portrait.
Posted in film, Oxford, Portrait | No Responses »
Tags: 150mm, 6x7, black&white, hc110, oxford, portraits, RZ67, Tri-X
