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Oxford Union: Liv Tyler Q&A

Wednesday, January 10th, 2018

Liv Tyler came to the Oxford Union for a Q&A event and I went along to do some documentary photography. It was nice to hear Liv talk about her career and her route from modelling into acting. You can watch a video of the event here.

When it came to developing this roll of film I decided to try a different developer from my usual tried a tested Kodak HC110 because Liv was dressed all in black and I didn’t want to risk the fabric from blocking up. For this roll I used Kodak XTOL developer which is good for maintaining shadow detail when pushing films and I am very pleased with the results here.

[Tech info:] Leica M6, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 1600, developed in Kodak XTOL 1+1. Pakon scans.

Oxford Union: Toby Jones Q&A

Tuesday, December 12th, 2017

British actor Toby Jones came to the Oxford Union for a Q&A event and I went along to do some documentary photography. This was the second occasion I had photographed Toby – the first time was during filming of The man who knew infinity which had some scenes filmed in Oxford although the story mostly takes place in Cambridge. The Q&A session was very interesting and although I’ve never watched The Detectorists, after hearing Toby talk about it I’ve now started to watch it on Netflix and so far it’s proved to be very entertaining.

[Tech info:] Leica M6, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 1600, developed in Kodak XTOL 1+1. Pakon scans.

Oxford Union: Baz Luhrmann Q&A – part 2

Monday, December 4th, 2017

Whenever I photograph Q&A events at the Oxford Union I try to use both 35mm and medium format film cameras for a bit of variety. These shots were made with my Rolleiflex TLR during Baz Luhrmann’s visit to the Oxford Union. I had the opportunity to make a quick portrait of Baz before the start of the event and quickly positioned him next to a floor standing lamp that was in the Gladstone room where the drinks reception had taken place. I only had time to shoot one frame but sometimes that’s all you need.

[Tech info:] Rolleiflex 2.8F Zeiss Planar, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 1600, developed in Kodak HC110 1+15.

Oxford Union: Monica Lewinsky Q&A

Thursday, November 30th, 2017

Monica Lewinsky visited the Oxford Union to speak about harassment and bullying especially online via social media and I went along to do some documentary photography. It turned out to be a difficult event to photograph because Monica was uncomfortable with cameras of any sort so I did what I could to be respectful and discreet. As a result I ended up with less than a full roll of 35mm shots and nothing from my Rolleiflex but I’m pleased with what I did manage to record. There were no video cameras present.

[Tech info:] Leica M6, 40/1.4 Voigtlander Nokton, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 1600, developed in Kodak XTOL stock. Pakon scans.

Oxford Union: Sir Ian McKellen Q&A – part 2

Tuesday, November 28th, 2017

These pictures were made with my medium format Rolleiflex camera during Sir Ian McKellen’s visit to the Oxford Union for a Q&A event. Whenever possible I try to photograph the Oxford Union events I attend with both 35mm and medium format film but the 35mm pictures always get posted to this blog first because they are faster to scan.

[Tech info:] Rolleiflex 2.8F Zeiss Planar, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 1600 developed in Kodak HC110 1+15 (using the ISO 3200 dev time).

Oxford Union: Baz Luhrmann Q&A

Saturday, November 25th, 2017

Baz Luhrmann came to the Oxford Union for a Q&A event and I went along to do some photography. Most of the conversation centred around his movies and it was clear to see his passion for directing. He mentioned that he’s currently working on a project but no other information was given.

[Tech info:] Leica M6, 40/1.4 Voigtlander Nokton, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 1600, developed in Kodak HC110 1+15, Pakon scans.

Oxford Union: Sir Ian McKellen Q&A

Sunday, November 19th, 2017

There has been an impressive list of guests at the Oxford Union so far this term and a big highlight for me was when Sir Ian McKellen visited last week. His last visit to the Oxford Union was in 2015 which was before I started to photograph some of the guests there so I was pleased to see him listed on the term card for this month. The debating chamber looked completely full from where I was sitting and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was still a queue out on the street. It was a great event which started with Sir Ian McKellen giving a talk as he walked around the debating chamber as if it was a stage and then afterwards there was a Q&A session. So far this has been the most challenging of all the speaking events I’ve photographed at the Oxford Union because I’m not used to tracking focus as the guest speaker walks around. Fortunately there was a video crew with their additional lights which helped a lot with the exposure.

[Tech info:] Leica M6, 40/1.4 Voigtlander Nokton, Ilford HP5 film @ ISO 1600, developed in Kodak HC110 1+15 for 10 mins. Pakon scans.

Oxford Union: Jimmy Page Q&A

Monday, October 30th, 2017

Legendary guitarist and Led Zeppelin founder Jimmy Page came to the Oxford Union for a Q&A event and I went along to do some documentary photography. I must admit to not knowing very much at all about Jimmy Page but it was very interesting to hear him speak about his music career and how he started by teaching himself to play the guitar. It was obvious how passionate he is about music and how being in a band with equally passionate and talented musicians was a perfect recipe for creating so many rock anthems. This Q&A event was video recorded so keep an eye on the Oxford Union YouTube page, I highly recommend it.

[Tech info:] Leica M6, 40/1.4 Voigtlander Nokton, Ilford HP5 at ISO 1600, developed in Kodak HC110 1+15 for the 3200 development time, Pakon scans.

Oxford Union: J. J. Abrams Q&A

Sunday, October 22nd, 2017

J. J. Abrams came to the Oxford Union for a Q&A event and I went along to do some documentary photography. In March last year I photographed Mark Hamill sitting in the same chair while on a break from filming Episode VIII so it was nice to hear J. J. Abrams talk a little – but not much – about Episode IX. Conversation mostly centred around Star Wars but tv shows that he had created and worked on did get mentioned – I highly recommend ALIAS if you’ve never watched it. There were no video cameras at the event so unfortunately this won’t be appearing on the Oxford Union YouTube channel. Without help from the lights that the video crew use the light level in the debating chamber is quite low for photography which is why I had to push my film to ISO 3200 which isn’t a problem for Ilford HP5.

[Tech info:] Leica M6, 40/1.4 Voigtlander Nokton, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 3200, developed in Kodak HC110 1+15. Pakon scans.

Oxford Union: Howard Shore – part 1

Thursday, October 19th, 2017

Music composer Howard Shore came to the Oxford Union for a Q&A event and I went along to do some documentary photography. He has composed the scores for over 80 films but appears to be most well known for his work on the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies. I’ve been a fan of his film scores for many years and was hoping there would be some discussion on his collaborations with David Fincher – one of my favourite directors – but the Lord of the Rings movies was the main topic of conversation on this occasion. The projector screen you can see in some of the pictures was used to play some movie clips to talk about which was a great idea.

This was my first event at the Oxford Union since the summer break and with a new term there is a new President – Chris Zabilowicz. There’s an impressive line up of guest speakers planned for this term and lots to look forward to.

[Tech info:] Leica M6, Voigtlander 40/1.4, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 1600, developed in HC110 1+15 using the time for 3200 to give an extra boost to the negs. Pakon scans.

Oxford Union: Ricky Gervais – part 1

Tuesday, October 10th, 2017

Ricky Gervais came to the Oxford Union for a Q&A session with Michael Li – the president at the time – and I went along to do some photography to document the event. You can see the video here and I recommend it.

[Tech info:] Leica M6, 40/1.4 Voigtlander Nokton, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 1600, developed in Kodak HC-110 1+31, Pakon scans.

Oxford: Endeavour 5, episode 4 – part 2

Friday, August 11th, 2017

Behind the scenes photography during the filming of Endeavour series 5 episode 4 in Oxford. There was interesting looking equipment being used in this setup but I’m afraid I don’t know the correct technical name for the large ARRI crane. I’ve picked out the most spoiler-free shots, others will follow after the episode has been broadcast some time in 2018. Most exciting for me was the sight of old cameras being used!

[Tech info:] Leica M6, 40/1.4 Voigtlander Nokton, Ilford HP5 developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 5 mins. Pakon scans.