portrait

...now browsing by tag

 
5x4 6x6 6x7 35mm 645 acros backstage ball black&white c41 c330 d76 double x endeavour film filming fm2 fp4 fuji fujiroid graflex hc110 HP5 ilford iso1600 kodak leica m2 m6 nikon oxford oxford union pakon pentax people portraits rb67 rodinal rolleiflex SL66 students summer Tri-X voigtlander xtol
 

Oxford: Graflex Super D with 200/2.5 Hektor lens

Saturday, February 1st, 2025

Here are street portraits from my first outing with this camera and lens combo in Oxford. It attracted a fair bit of attention and I enjoyed chatting with people about it, I also had some patient volunteers to help me with my testing. The Hektor lens is from a projector and doesn’t have any aperture control. This means the depth of field is wafer thin and exposure can only be controlled by shutter speed which is limited on my Super D. If those limitations weren’t enough, the furthest focus distance is approximately 1.5m because the lens has to be quite far forward for the rear element to clear the mirror. I enjoy portrait photography so this is not a problem.

It seems the more limitations I have, the more enjoyment I get out of photography.

[Tech info:] Graflex Super D 5×4, 200/2.5 Hektor lens, Fomapan 400 @ ISO 200, Developed in Adox XT-3 stock.

Super D Hektor 20250125_Hektor_Foma400_001_web 20250125_Hektor_Foma400_002_web 20250125_Hektor_Foma400_003_web 20250125_Hektor_Foma400_004_web 20250125_Hektor_Foma400_005_web 20250125_Hektor_Foma400_006_web

Posted in Equipment, film, Oxford, People, Portrait, Street portraits | No Responses »
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Oxford: glass dry plate portrait

Friday, March 1st, 2024

Here is my first portrait on dry glass plate. I found a box of old Ilford FP4 glass dry plates at home and have no idea when I bought them. The box doesn’t have an expiry date on it. As luck would have it they’re the correct size  (2.5 x 3.5 inches) to fit the Mamiya Press plate holders I’ve got but so far have been unable to make use of. This portrait of another fellow photographer during his visit to Oxford was made last weekend in Radcliffe Square. I don’t know him but I enjoyed chatting about photography with him as I set up the shot. I’m very pleased with this result (it has a vintage feel to it) and look forward to making more portraits with the remaining glass plates. The emulsion is very fragile when wet and you can see it lifted along the right hand side.

[Tech info:] Mamiya Press Super 23, 100/2.8 lens (at f4), FP4 glass dry plate exposed at ISO 10, developed in Rodinal 1+25. (Thanks to Nicholas Middleton for his inspiration and blog posts full of info about using old glass plates).

20240224_MUnivPress_23_100-2.8_FP4_Rodinal_1-25_web

Posted in Equipment, Oxford, Portrait | No Responses »
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Oxford: Intrepid 10×8 street portraits – part 1

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2022

The Intrepid 10×8 is the lightest 10×8 camera I own and after you add the weight of a lens, film holders, tripod, light meter, dark cloth, loupe and rucksack it’s on the limit of what I can comfortably cycle with. Here are the street portraits I made on my first trip into town with this kit. On the first shot I used a little front swing to bring both people into focus – the first time I’ve done this.

[Tech info:] Intrepid 10×8, 300mm f6.3 Komura lens, Fomapan 100 (expired), developed in HC110 1+63 for 10mins.

20220819_Intrepid_Broad-St_300mm_Komura_Fomapan100_HC110_001_web 20220819_Intrepid_Broad-St_300mm_Komura_Fomapan100_HC110_002_web 20220819_Intrepid_Broad-St_300mm_Komura_Fomapan100_HC110_003_web

Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait, Street portraits | 2 Responses »
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Oxford: Graflex Super D street portraits – part 1

Monday, August 22nd, 2022

After the focus issues I was having with my Gowlandflex I decided to take my Graflex Super D into town after work to use it for some more large format portraits. The benefit is I’m able to cycle with the Super D in a rucksack, my Gowlandflex is too large to fit into any rucksack I currently own. The lens I used was designed for aerial photography during WWII and is uncoated which gives a low contrast almost dreamy look which I like.
[Tech info:] Graflex Super D, 8 inch Pentac lens, Ilford HP5 (expired), developed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 6 mins.

20220815_Broad-Street_Oxford_SuperD_Pentac_HP5_HC110B_05_web 20220815_Nicola_Rad-Sq_SuperD_Pentac_HP5_HC110_06_web 20220815_Broad-Street_Oxford_SuperD_Pentac_Acros_HC110B_02_web 20220815_Broad-Street_Oxford_SuperD_Pentac_HP5_HC110B_08_web 20220815_Broad-Street_Oxford_SuperD_Pentac_HP5_HC110B_04_web 20220815_Broad-Street_Oxford_SuperD_Pentac_HP5_HC110B_07_webSuperD

Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait, Street portraits | No Responses »
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Portrait: Rachel Owen, Artist

Wednesday, December 21st, 2016

In the summer of 2012 I was starting to experiment with large format x-ray film and looking for willing volunteers to sit for a portrait so that I could test things out. One of my test portraits was of Oxford artist Rachel Owen who I knew also worked with film when we chatted at her Artweeks exhibition months earlier. Yesterday I was very sad to hear that Rachel died on Sunday 18th December from cancer. Pembroke College announced the news on their website.

[Tech info:] Wista 10×8, green sensitive x-ray film rated at ISO 50, processed in Rodinal 1:50 for 6 mins.

Rachel Owen, Artist (1968-2016).

Rachel Owen, Artist (1968-2016)

Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait | No Responses »
Tags: , , , , , ,