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Oxford: Photo walk with Gerard

Sunday, December 16th, 2012

A friend of mine visited Oxford for a few days so we met up for a photo walk around town. Gerard asked if he could borrow one of my medium format film cameras to use on the walk so I decided to let him try out a Mamiya C330f twin lens reflex (TLR). Needless to say we attracted some attention and we even overheard someone referring to the TLR as a 3D camera!

I shot a roll of film through my SL66 and below is every single frame from the roll, all 12 of them. A few of the portraits of Gerard were made with an old 127mm Graflex lens from my Speed Graphic 5×4 camera with me free-lensing.

[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66, 80mm Zeiss lens, Kodak Tri-X film processed in Kodak HC110 (B).

Oxford: Lunch hour session

Monday, December 10th, 2012

Some images from a lunch hour photo walk back in early November. The film was expired Tri-X that I think was dated 2002 which explains the grain and base fogging. I quite like the dated look to these images, there will be more to come from the same roll.

[Tech info:] Bronica ETRSi, 75mm/f2.8 lens, loaded with expired (2002) Kodak Tri-X. Processed in Rodinal (1:100) for 1 hour.

Shop window, Turl St.

Footpath closed

Bicycle, St Giles.

Oxford: Vagrant [theatre production]

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.

Photo shoot: Georgina

Thursday, December 6th, 2012

These images are all from the same roll of film that I shot during a recent lunch break photo shoot I had with Georgina who I first met at the Haute Couture show during Oxford Fashion Week 2012. What’s not apparent here is the amazing colour palette we had in these shots. The light was perfect and after I finished this roll of black & white I shot some images in colour but that roll is still in my camera because I ran out of time to finish it. Georgina was very nice to work with – very relaxed and easy going – and I hope we can collaborate some more after the new University term starts in the new year.

[Tech info:] Bronica ETRSi with 150mm/f3.5 lens loaded with Fuji Acros 100, processed in Kodak HC110 (b) for 5:30.

Photo shoot: Adam

Tuesday, December 4th, 2012

These shots are from a recent photo shoot I had with Adam who you might recognise from some of my shots from the Oxford Fashion Week 2012 Haute Couture show. It was an opportunity for me to test out a new lens that had arrived that morning and also to see how a certain film/developer combination handled very flat overcast light. When I say very flat light I mean extremely dull hard to get inspired horrible light. After starting off in an open area (top and bottom left) we moved under some cover which was a lot better because it gave some light/shadow to work with. I think the shots made during the second half of the shoot are the best and overall I’m pleased with the 150mm lens. Adam was very easy to work with and hopefully we’ll shoot some more in the future in better light and weather.

[Tech info:] Bronica ETRSi, 150mm lens, Fuji Acros 100 film processed in Rodinal 1:100 for 1 hour (semi-stand).

Photo shoot: Kristina

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

Oxford: Backstage during Oxford Fashion Week 2012

Saturday, November 17th, 2012

These images span two shows, The Elysium Show (held at Oxford Town Hall) and The Haute Couture Show (held at the Ashmolean Museum). All of these images are from the same roll of film. There are only 15 frames on the roll so I had to exclude some here because I wanted to make a neat grid. I’ll post the others in a different post. This was the first time I had used Kodak TMAX 400 film in many years so this was somewhat a bit of a test to see how it would cope in low light being pushed 2 stops. I’m stunned at how fine the grain is and how smooth the tones are considering the harsh lighting conditions I was working in (overhead ceiling lights). The results look better than the Tri-X I shot at the same time.

[Tech info:] Bronica ETRSi with 75mm lens, loaded with Kodak TMAX 400 film, rated at ISO 1600. Processed in Kodak HC110 for 7.5mins.

Oxford: Lunch hour session

Wednesday, November 14th, 2012

To break up all of the images I have to post from Oxford Fashion Week we return to our regularly scheduled programming to bring you images of some people that I photographed during my lunch hour photo walks around Oxford city centre. These are mostly from the same day. You’ll notice some familiar faces in amongst this set. I’m very pleased with how these all turned out.

[Tech info:] Bronica ETRSi, 75mm and 50mm lenses. Fuji Acros 100 film stand developed in Rodinal 1:100 for 1 hour. Note the top left image was made on expired (2002) Tri-X. I meant to semi-stand and agitate at the 30min mark but I was processing some other film at the same time and forgot.

Oxford: OFW 2012, Haute Couture show, Ashmolean Museum

Sunday, November 11th, 2012

Here are the Fujiroids (aka Polaroids) that I shot last night, back stage at the Haute Couture show which was held in the Ashmolean Museum as the finale to Oxford Fashion Week 2012. When I think back at all of the amazing dresses and stunning models that were at the show I can’t help feel a little frustrated that this is all I managed to come away with in terms of instant pack film shots. The schedule was so tight compared to last year there wasn’t enough time allowed for photography – something that surprises me considering the benefit to everyone (designers, models, photographer and OFW). I did my best with the time and limited space I had to work in and came away with a set of images that I am pleased with but it’s the ones that got away that are hard to forget. I shot with a range of cameras, digital, colour and black & white film so there are plenty of more shots to come. Something I love about Fujiroids is that they are unique one of a kind gems. You want limited edition? This is it! The scans here don’t do the original prints justice.

Thanks goes to the back stage crew that helped me and to the models for being patient while I juggled different cameras and lighting. The shot in the bottom right corner is of two of the OFW crew that helped me test my lighting setup.

Shots made back stage on FP100-C Fuji instant pack film

Haute Couture show, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. OFW2012.

Oxford: Mamiya Universal

Wednesday, November 7th, 2012

Recently I’ve been using quite a bit of Fuji instant pack film (similar to Polaroid) and while my go to camera is usually my Mamiya RB67 with the sliding Polaroid back that allows me to photograph diptych’s I’ve been missing the ability to shoot full-frame with a single image filling the print on a camera with manual controls. Enter the Mamiya Universal press camera. It’s certainly not going to win any prizes in a beauty contest but it is fun to use and delivers nice results. I’m still getting to grips with it, below are some shots I made on a walk near Hinksey lakes last weekend. The temperature outside was quite cold which resulted in some streaky/uneven development of the pack film. I’ll try to remember to take my cold clip with me next time.

[Tech info:] Mamiya Universal press camera, 100mm/f3.5 lens, loaded with Fuji FP100-c instant pack film.

Oxford: Lunch hour session

Thursday, November 1st, 2012

The first roll through a Mamiya 645 Super camera that I’m testing out and unfortunately quite a few frames have focus problems. I was rushing to shoot the whole roll in my lunch hour so that has to be factored in but I have never had so many badly focussed pictures, ever. Another test roll is required for me to make any final judgements, I’ll be more careful with that one!

[Tech info:] Mamiya 645 Super, 80/f2.8 lens, loaded with Fuji Acros 100 film, processed in Rodinal 1:100 (semi-stand) for 1 hour. (3 gentle agitations after 30mins).

 

Experiments: Freelensing

Monday, October 29th, 2012

These shots are my first attempts at experimenting with freelensing which is when you hold a lens in front of a camera without it being physically attached to the camera. The beauty of this is being able to freely move the lens around and create tilt/shift effects that you’d never be able to achieve if the lens was attached to the camera body. The images here were created 100% in camera on film, I haven’t applied any fake filters. Have you ever wondered where ideas for the looks you get in apps such as Instagram come from? These were the last three frames on the roll I happened to have in my camera at the time. Now that I’ve seen how good these shots have turned out I’m keen to try this technique on some portraits. Any volunteers?

[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66 with an old Carl Zeiss lens that I transplanted from a 6×9 folding camera, Fuji Pro 400H film home processed by me.

Radcliffle Camera railings

Radcliffe Camera entrance

Side of Bodleian Library