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Oxford Union: Jeremy Irons – part 1

Monday, May 22nd, 2017

Jeremy Irons came to the Oxford Union for a Q&A session with current president Michael Li and I did some photography at the event. Unfortunately the event wasn’t filmed for the YouTube channel but I can tell you it was a lot of fun to listen to Jeremy share insights about his career on stage and in movies. I did struggle slightly with the lower than usual light levels because the video crew set up two lights whenever they’re filming but I dropped down to a slower shutter speed to compensate and lucky for me Jeremy doesn’t move too much when he speaks. I’m very pleased with these results and Ilford HP5 is a firm favourite of mine when I need a b&w film for low light photography.

[Tech info:] Leica M6, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 3200, developed in Kodak HC110 1+15. Pakon scans.

Oxford Union: David Haye – part 1

Sunday, May 14th, 2017

David Haye came to the Oxford Union for a chat and I went along to do some photography. I enjoyed the event, David is a good speaker and easy to listen to and I found his knowledge of boxing history very impressive. If you’re interested in boxing I highly recommend watching the video from this event when it goes up on the Oxford Union YouTube channel.

[Tech info:] Leica M6, Voigtlander 50/1.5 Nokton Classic, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 3200, developed in Kodak HC110 1+31. Pakon scans.

Oxford Union: John Cleese – part 1

Sunday, April 23rd, 2017

John Cleese came to the Oxford Union to give a talk and I went along to do some photography. I found the talk very interesting with plenty of humour thrown in for good measure. The Union was absolutely packed to the rafters which is something I haven’t seen since Stephen Hawking visited. This event was the first time I got to use my Voigtlander 75/1.8 Heliar lens in low light, I bought it mainly to photograph the Oxford Union events with because I wanted more reach than the 50mm I was using and I have to say I am very pleased with how it performed.

[Tech info:] Leica M6, Voigtlander 75/1.8 Heliar, Kodak TMAX 400 @ ISO 3200, developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 10mins, Pakon scans.

Oxford: Town v Gown Boxing, 2017 – part 1

Tuesday, February 14th, 2017

Lots of images to share in this post. All from the same roll of film shot at the Town v Gown 2017 boxing event which was held in the debating chamber at the Oxford Union Society. As in previous years I tried to document both the behind-the-scenes goings on as well as some of the actual boxing in the ring which wasn’t easy because of the distance between the two buildings where both of these things were happening. I wanted to travel light so I only took two lenses with me for my Leica M2 – a 40/1.4 and a 50/1.5 but I ended up using the 40/1.4 for the whole evening.

[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 40/1.4, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 3200, developed in HC110 1+31. Pakon scans.

Oxford Union: Sir Michael Gambon Q&A

Sunday, December 25th, 2016

Here are some pictures from the Q&A session with Sir Michael Gambon at the Oxford Union. It was a very entertaining talk and I highly recommend viewing the video which can be found here.

[Tech info:] Nikon F100, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 3200, developed in Ilford DDX 1+4, Pakon scans.

Oxford Union: George Takei

Saturday, October 8th, 2016

George Takei came to speak at the Oxford Union and I was asked to photograph the event. Although he’s probably best known for his role as Hikaru Sulu in the original Star Trek television series and movies, George has had a very varied and successful acting career. I highly recommend watching the video of his talk when it’s posted to the Oxford Union YouTube channel.

Oxford Union: Jerry Springer

Thursday, June 30th, 2016

Jerry Springer came to the Oxford Union to talk about US politics and the presidential race. It was a fascinating talk and Jerry is a fount of knowledge on the subject.

[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5, Ilford HP5 @ ISO 3200 developed in Ilford DD-X 1+4 for 20mins. Pakon scans.

 

Oxford Union: George Foreman Q&A – part 1

Thursday, June 9th, 2016

The Olympic gold medalist and two-time world heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman came to the Oxford Union and I did some photography at the event. As the event started at 5pm the sun was starting to dip just enough to light up the interior of the library where the event took place so I didn’t have to push the film too much and I really like how these turned out.

[Tech info:] Nikon F100, Kodak TMAX 400 @ ISO1600, developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 11 mins. Pakon scans.

Oxford Union: Mary Berry Q&A – part 2

Tuesday, March 29th, 2016

These shots from the Mary Berry Q&A session at the Oxford Union were made on a different roll of film from the previous set and I wanted to post these as a comparison. The previous set were made with Ilford HP5 and these were made with Ilford Delta 400, both were pushed two stops to ISO1600. After the Q&A there was a book signing session where the light level was extremely low but the Delta film handled it very well thanks to my fast Voigtlander lenses.

[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 35/1.2 and 50/1.5 lenses, Ilford Delta 400 at ISO1600, developed in Ilford DD-X. Pakon scans.

 

Oxford Union: Mary Berry Q&A

Monday, March 14th, 2016

A couple of pictures from the recent Mary Berry Q&A at the Oxford Union. Apparently the most watched tv show of 2015 was the final of The Great British Bake Off but I must confess that I don’t watch a lot of tv and I’ve never seen the show. This was probably a good thing because going into this event I had zero preconceptions of what Mary Berry would be like and I’m happy to say that I found her very down to earth and also quite funny.

[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 35/1.2, 50/1.5 Nokton, Iford HP5 @ ISO 1600 developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 11mins 45secs. Pakon scans.

Oxford Union: Mark Hamill Q&A

Monday, March 7th, 2016

Mark Hamill came to the Oxford Union last week for a Q&A session and I was fortunate to have permission to do some photography (thanks Stuart). Not only is Mark extremely funny but he’s also very talented at doing different voices and impersonations of people as he shared stories and anecdotes that only he can tell. The hour went by far too quickly but I’m sure this is a talk that everyone present in the room will remember for a long, long time to come. Video from the event can be viewed on the Oxford Union YouTube channel here.

I shot one roll of medium format film in my Rolleiflex 2.8F TLR but haven’t scanned those yet.

[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 50/1.5 and 35/1.2 Nokton lenses. Ilford HP5 @ ISO 1600. Developed in HC110 1+31 for 11mins 45secs.

Oxford: Town vs Gown Boxing 2015 – part 1

Friday, February 6th, 2015

This is the first set of my images from the Oxford University Amateur Boxing Club (OUABC) Town vs Gown 2015 competition which was held at the Oxford Union two nights ago. Last year was my first time photographing this event and it’s hard to believe that twelve months have already gone by. I was very pleased with my images last year but I decided to change things up a bit this year in terms of cameras and film choice instead of just repeating the same thing. First up we have some shots made with my Leica M2 but I also took a medium format camera with me and a 35mm point and shoot so those will follow soon. The film I used for the images below (Fuji Neopan 1600) is sadly no longer made by Fuji and the roll I used came in a mixed bag of film I bought from a press photographer a couple of years ago. The film is expired but I have no idea by how much so it was a bit risky using it but that’s also what makes things exciting when you have no idea how or if the shots are going to turn out. When it came to developing this film I had to seek some advice from a friend of mine who’s more experienced than I when it comes to using this film (thanks Jean Pierre) and I’m pleased to say I really like the results. All of these were made using available light, in fact I didn’t take a flash with me and the only camera I had that did have a flash was the point and shoot compact.

Many thanks to Isra Hale for the invite and to the boxers for their patience both before and after their bouts in the ring. I look forward to next year when not only will we have another Town vs Gown but also the Oxford vs Cambridge Varsity will be back in Oxford.

[Tech info:] Leica M2, Voigtlander 35/1.2, Fuji Neopan 1600 (rated ISO 1600), developed in Kodak HC110 (1+31) for 8mins. Pakon scans.

oxford town vs gown boxing 2015