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Oxford: Lunch hour session

Sunday, October 21st, 2012

Some photography from earlier in the summer, made during my lunch hour photo walk around Oxford city centre. I planned to post these soon after processing them but they got a bit lost in the shuffle of my mountain of films to scan so I apologise for the delay. We had a bit of a wet summer as I recall and one of my favourite places to go when it’s raining is the University museum of natural history on Parks Road (the bottom four images). Not only does the building have an incredible interior but it’s packed with amazing things too. Well worth a visit.

[Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66, 80mm Zeiss planar lens with Fuji Acros 100 film, processed in Rodinal 1:50.

Oxford: St Giles’ Fair part 2

Sunday, October 14th, 2012

More images that I made during St Giles’ Fair at the beginning of September. This is the contents of an entire roll of medium format film, 12 frames, none deleted.  [Tech info:] Rolleiflex SL66, 80/f2.8 lens, loaded with Fuji Acros 100 film, processed in Rodinal 1:50.

Travel: Barcelona around and about part 2

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012

Here’s another set of images I made in Barcelona last week. Before I went I was really looking forward to shooting some street portraits but I found the language barrier to be a hurdle although I was able to overcome it sometimes with hand signals. Other times I had no problems because people spoke english but overall I didn’t feel the right energy on the street to approach people. The vibe I was feeling was people seem more guarded than I’m used to Oxford or London. My theory is that people are so used to being approached by others on the street trying to sell them things or asking for money etc that they automatically ignore anyone approaching them. It’s a shame because I saw so many people I wanted to photograph but alas it was not to be.

[Tech info:] Mamiya C330f loaded with Kodak Tri-X film, processed in Rodinal (1:50) for 13:30.

Travel: Barcelona around and about part 1

Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012

Last week I made a short trip to Barcelona. I was previously there in 2010 almost exactly two years ago to the day. On that trip I only took a digital camera and brought back so many shots I still haven’t managed to find the time (or the will) to go through them all for processing. On this trip I decided to only take film cameras. Needless to say I didn’t bring back anywhere near the same amount of shots. Here’s the first batch of images.

[Tech info:] Mamiya C330f loaded with Kodak Tri-X, processed in Rodinal (1:50) for 13:3o.

Photo shoot: Helen – from white to black

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).

Oxford: Adventures with infrared film

Sunday, September 9th, 2012

Quite a few months ago I bought a box of 5×4 infrared sheet film and it’s been in my freezer ever since. I was waiting for summer to arrive with lots of sunshine and clear skies so that I could experiment with it. Partly due to the wettest summer on record I forgot about the infrared film until a few days ago. The weather this past week was unusually sunny and warm for September and that somehow reminded me that I had some infrared film in my freezer. I’m pleased to report that my initial tests were a success, you can see some of them below and there are lots more to come.

[Tech info:] Wista 5×4 with Schneider 90mm and 150mm lenses. Efke 820c infrared film processed in Rodinal 1:50 for 14mins (20c).

All in a row

View across Hinksey lakes

Over the bridge and far away...

Lock keepers cottage, Iffley lock

Setup shot

 

Photo shoot: Peter

Monday, September 3rd, 2012

You might recognise Peter from the punting photo shoot I did a couple of weeks ago. Having recently finished his masters degree he’s due to leave Oxford very soon to do a little travelling so we arranged to make some pictures before he leaves. For these images I used a large format camera from the 1940’s with a lens from World War II that was designed for the US military to do aerial photography at night. It’s renowned for its shallow depth of field that has a very unique signature. I don’t get to use this setup all that often partly because of the size of the lens and partly because it’s difficult to use it if the conditions are too bright but on this day it was perfectly cloudy with the sun trying to burn through. I took 6 sheets of film with me and all of them are here below.

[Tech info:] Speed Graphic camera with Kodak Aero Ektar lens on Ilford FP4+ processed in Rodinal (1:50).

On the steps.

Take it to the bridge

Distinctive bokeh

I think the gloves make this shot

Wider shot

No jacket required

 

Oxford Wheels Project: The end of an era

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

 

Oxford: Lunch hour session

Sunday, August 19th, 2012

These images are from the second half of a roll I shot during my lunch hour photo walks a few weeks ago. The first half of the roll is here. I’ve got a bit of a backlog of images to scan and post but I’ll have more time in the coming weeks to catch up so if you haven’t seen your portrait yet don’t worry, it’s more than likely coming soon.

[Tech info:] Mamiya C330f and 105mm lens loaded with Fuji Acros 100 film, Processed in Rodinal 1:25.

Lock and load. There's not much some WD40 can't fix.

Coffee break on the Walton Street construction project.

This guy was a bit camera shy. I like his flat cap and rolled up jeans.

David, a fellow film photographer carrying a camera that I don't own. A real beast of a medium format.

Olympic photographer from Uruguay. He didn't speak any english but somehow I managed to communicate with him. I'm sure he was intrigued by my camera.

Scaffolding on the Walton Street construction project at the corner of Little Clarendon Street.

 

Oxford: Lunch hour session

Wednesday, August 8th, 2012

After months of rain we finally had a short lived spell of dry weather. These images are from the first half of a roll of film I shot recently during my lunch break. We are now back to wet/overcast weather. Is it summer yet?
I used this roll to experiment with a different developer that I usually use with this brand of film and so far I like the results. My developer of choice for Fuji Acros 100 film is Kodak HC110 but with this roll I used Rodinal at a dilution of 1+25.

[Tech info:] Mamiya C330f with 105mm lens loaded with Fuji Acros 100 film, processed in Rodinal 1+25.

This gentleman wasn't keen to be photographed but after we chatted a little about photography he seemed okay with it. I hope he agrees that it was worth stopping for.

This man called me over after he saw me photographing the building project on the corner of Walton street. We had a good chat. He's a local musician.

This girl was waiting for a friend outside Brasenose college. The friend turned up right before I made this shot. She's standing to camera right just out of frame.

High street. I like the arrows in this frame.

A Police speed trap on St Giles. I saw a few cars being pulled over for speeding. Easy money.

The building project on the corner of Walton Street and Little Clarendon Street is beginning to take shape.

 

 

Oxford: BMX riders

Monday, July 23rd, 2012

Some more images from my series documenting a local BMX ramp and the people that use it. The first images were made in the morning of my first visit there (Saturday), these were made in the afternoon and the following morning (Sunday).  I found that once the sun had moved around in the afternoon the light was a lot less contrasty and perfect for the group shot of the BMX riders. The group shot was not pre-arranged, the riders had arrived while I was setting up for the shot of the two people sitting on the middle of the ramp. I think they were intrigued by the old skool camera I was using but they were naturally cautious when I asked if I could make a group shot of them. I knew the shot would be worthwhile and once I focused the image on the ground glass screen I was sure it would be. Fortunately I had a sheet of Fuji Veliva Transparency film with me so I was able to make a colour image as well but I’ll try to process that later in the summer. The film is quite expired so there’s no knowing how it will turn out.

The shot of the two BMX riders almost didn’t happen. The rider on the right is Pipe Williams, I photographed him on Polaroid earlier in the summer during Eights Week and we’d loosely arranged to meet up at the ramp during the morning. Just when I thought he wasn’t going to show I started to pack my camera away and it was then that he arrived with another rider. I like how this shot has turned out and the sun went behind a cloud just at the right time to reduce the contrast. They’re both sponsored by Stolen BMX, a bike company.

[Tech info:] Wista 10×8 with Sinaron 300mm lens on green sensitive x-ray film, processed in Rodinal 1:50 for 6 mins.

BMX riders.

Pipe Williams (right) with friend.

I forgot to ask these two guys whether they're skateboarders or BMX riders.

This ramp is due to be torn down at the end of the summer and a new one built.

Middle of the ramp.

A behind the scenes shot of the camera I used.

 

Oxford: Skaters and riders

Sunday, July 22nd, 2012

There is a ramp near my house that is used by skateboarders and BMX riders. It’s been there a very long time. Originally there were two but the higher one slowly rotted away so it was torn down. This weekend I decided to make some portraits there of whoever I came across as a way of documenting the ramp and the people that use it. On my way over there I found out that the ramp is due to be demolished and a new one is going to be built in its place. I’m glad I found this out now rather than when it was too late. My old middle school is next door to where this ramp is so I can remember the time before the ramp was there. I can also remember a time before BMX was popular in the UK. It all started with the movie E.T.

[Tech info:] Wista 10×8 camera with Sinaron 300mm lens on green sensitive x-ray film (ISO 50), processed in Rodinal 1:50 for 6 mins.

Skateboarders. These guys were leaving just as I arrived. Thanks for stopping.

A photographic first? BMX action shot on 10x8.