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Portraits: Powerlifters part 2

Tuesday, March 13th, 2012

Here are the portraits of the Cambridge powerlifting team that I made at the Oxford v Cambridge Varsity 2012 competition. At least I think they’re all from Cambridge, I didn’t ask. The last portrait is a friend of the Oxford team who had come to help out and give some support.

[Tech info:] Mamiya RZ67 and 110mm lens with Fomapan 200 film, processed in Rodinal 1:50. The last portrait is on Fuji Acros 100 film.

 

Alex Katsis

Calvin

Chris White (the dark line down the middle seems to be a fault in the film emulsion.)

Wil Solano

Alp Notghi

Max Frenzel

Oliver Gam

Portrait 8 (Oxford)

Portraits: Taekwon-do Varsity 2012

Tuesday, March 6th, 2012

Shortly before I photographed the Oxford Powerlifting team I caught the start of the Taekwon-do in the Oxford v Cambridge 2012 Varsity competition. I didn’t have much time so I only managed to photograph three members of the Oxford team, the other two portraits below are of spectators. I made these portraits off to the side of where the fighting was taking place and unfortunately I couldn’t find a clear section of wall to use as a background.

[Tech info:] Mamiya RZ67 and 110mm lens with Fuji Acros 100 film, processed in Kodak HC110 (dilution b) 1:31.

Fighter #1

Fighter #2

Fighter #3

Joram helping me test my lighting

A cool looking spectator that I thought would make a good portrait.

Portraits: Powerlifters part 1

Monday, March 5th, 2012

When I went to see the powerlifting during the Oxford V Cambridge Varsity competition my main intention was to make portraits of some of the guys. There was something about the light and ambience of the building where the competition was being held that made me think of old vintage photographs of wrestlers and strongmen. The walls looked like black boards that I remember from school and there was a nice pattern made by chalk dust all over. As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to use it as a background for my portraits. Fortunately I was able to set up my camera in a corner that was out of the way of the guys as they warmed up before the competition.

I made portraits of both sides, Oxford and Cambridge but I feel it’s only right to post some of the Oxford portraits first, not least because the first three guys below all won. I’m really pleased with how all of my powerlifting images turned out and I’m hoping to carry on with some documentary style photography during future training sessions if I can get permission.

[Tech info:] First two portraits were on Fuji Acros 100 film, processed in Kodak HC110 B (1:31), last two portraits were on Fomapan 200 processed in Rodinal 1:50. My camera was a Mamiya RZ67 with 110mm lens.

powerlifter portrait

Jamie van Reijendam

powerlifter portrait

Richard Stebbing

powerlifter portrait

Geoffrey Lynn

powerlifter portrait

Alex Robinson

Sport: Powerlifting, Oxford v Cambridge Varsity

Thursday, March 1st, 2012

The majority of my photography last Sunday during the Oxford V Cambridge Varsity competition was done during the Powerlifting. I started off by doing portraits of some of the competitors (which I will post soon) in the warm up area. Right next door was where the actual lifting was taking place. It was a great atmosphere with clouds of chalk dust everywhere and black walls which reminded me of black boards from school. The light level was low for photography (too low I thought) but the quality of the light looked really nice and I thought it was worth giving it a shot.

For these shots I used a roll of Kodak Tri-X that I rated at ISO 1600. I thought the light level was so low that I didn’t bother with taking a light reading. I simply set the shutter speed to the lowest I thought I could hand hold steady (1/60) and kept the lens wide open (f4.5). If I had known that the images were going to turn out this well I would have shot a lot more.

[Tech info:] Mamiya RZ67 and 50mm lens loaded with Kodak Tri-X rated at ISO 1600. Processed in Kodak HC110 (dilution b, 1:31) for 17mins at 20C.

a man powerlifting

It's a shame I cut this guy's feet off but I was standing directly behind and over the judge so I couldn't get a better angle.

a powerlifter lifting a lot of weight

With all of the health and safety rules and regulations these days it's amazing that this guy doesn't have to wear steel toe protectors!

Taking the strain.

bench pressing weights

Bench pressing.

 

Sport: Judo, Oxford

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

Last weekend I visited the University  sports centre on Iffley Road during the Oxford v Cambridge Varsity sports competition. My intention wasn’t to make action shots of sport it was to find people to make portraits of. Not being a particularly sporty person myself, I found it very interesting to be among so many people that were. As I write this the Varsity competition is not over yet, it’s spread across different weekends with some other events to follow in the summer. I did quite a lot of photography during my visit and I’ll post the images in batches as I make my way through the scanning.

My thanks go to Simon Griffin from the sports centre for being so accommodating and  supportive of my photography and also to everyone that made time to stand in front of my camera.

[Tech info:] Mamiya RZ67 and 110mm lens loaded with Kodak Tri-X film, processed in Kodak HC110 (dilution b, 1:31) for 7mins 30secs.

These guys were not part of the Varisty competition but as I walked past the room they were practicing in and saw the diffused light I knew I'd be able to make some great images. Fortunately these guys were very friendly and didn't mind me interrupting their practice session.

two judo fighters

These two guys are also photographers which made it easier for me to get my shots. At first they were a little surprised when I barged in on their practice session and announced that I wanted to photograph them but after they saw the size of the camera around my neck they knew I was serious.

These was the last shot on my roll and shot outside quite a while after the first couple above. Imagine having a face off with this guy.

Lunch hour session: Oxford

Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

Here are two portraits I made on the end of the roll of the Cabaret portraits in the previous post. Both on the  same day during my lunch break.

[Tech info:] Mamiya RZ67 with 110mm/f2.8 lens, on Kodak Tri-X 400 film rated @ ISO1600, processed in Kodak HC110 (1:31) for 17mins.

a big issue seller

Kevin, a Big Issue seller I pass almost every day on my way back to work. I'll be giving him a print of this.

Catte Street looking towards The Bridge of Sighs

Backstage: Cabaret, Oxford part 2

Monday, February 20th, 2012

These are the portraits I made of the cast and crew of Cabaret back stage at the O’Reilly Theatre, Keble College. Curtain up was probably around 20mins away so I was very rushed and also very cramped for space. These were done in a corridor at the bottom of the rear stair well, the bright lights facing the camera are lights on the wall. I thought they might look good as a background but they’ve turned out being brighter than I would have liked. I left my spot meter at home so I was unable to make very accurate exposure calculations. Overall I think these turned out well with all things considered. Thank you to everyone below that made time to be photographed.

I’m interested in doing more backstage photography on film so if you’re involved in a project or performance please get in touch.

[Tech info:] Mamiya RZ67 with 110mm lens loaded with Kodak Tri-X film rated at ISO1600. Processed in Kodak HC110 (dilution B, 1:31) for 17mins at 20c.

Cast member

I did a rough retouching job in Photoshop to erase the bright lights in the background of this image and I think it works better without them.

Cast member

Choreographer (right) and assistant choreographer

Cast member

 

Test shoot: Kimberly

Monday, January 9th, 2012

With the joy of shooting on film comes the ability to have lots of different combinations of cameras, lenses, films and developers to choose from. When trying something out for the first time I often like to do a test shoot where I get to experiment a little and a model in return gets some experience and some unique images for their portfolio. These images are from a lunch break test shoot I did with Kimberly around Oxford. A great thing about shooting on film is that you don’t spend time between shots staring at a tiny LCD screen on the back of the camera inspecting a histogram to see if the exposure was correct or trying to decide on whether you like the shot you just made. With film there’s more of a flow instead of start stop, start stop. In total I think we spent 20mins for this shoot. These are just a few shots from the roll.

[Tech info:] Mamiya RZ67 with 110/2.8 lens loaded with Fuji Neopan 400 film which is a black & white film that needs processing through C41 colour negative chemistry. Processed and scanned by me.

Coffee shop window.

Turl Street.

Radcliffe Square.

Double exposure test on Fuji instant pack film (FP-3000B).

Oxford: Street portraits

Sunday, August 28th, 2011

Regular visitors to this blog will have noticed a huge difference in the design and layout. This is because I received so many comments about how difficult the old design was to navigate.

Here are the first images from a new lens (110mm/2.8) I got for my Mamiya RZ67.

Celebrating the end of exams

I'm always attracted to cool looking sunglasses. You can see me on the left.

Fellow photographer and work colleague, Martin. He used to be the lead singer and guitarist in one of Oxford's biggest bands in the 80's, TARGA. Not a lot of people know that.

Ice-cream seller, Radcliffe square.

Artist

Street style, Broad street, Oxford.

Oxford: Street portraits

Monday, August 22nd, 2011

I love Oxford in the summer, especially the warm evening light when the sun starts to drop and there are nice long shadows everywhere. It’s been quite a while since I had the time to do street photography in the evenings so I’m pleased I have some free time at the moment to make the most of the summer evenings and light.

These images are from one of the first rolls of colour negative film that I developed myself. I’ve been putting it off until now because I thought it would be more difficult than it was.

[Tech info:] All of these images are from the same roll of Kodak Portra 400 film inside a Mamiya RZ67 camera with a 110/2.8 lens.

russian students

Two Russian students on the steps of the Clarendon Building, Broad Street, Oxford.

I really like this young lady’s vintage look, especially the fur coat. There’s a movie star quality about her. I had seen her during some of my lunch hour sessions but she always seemed to be on the other side of the road or in a hurry. Hopefully I can photograph her again.
A photographer holding a Yashica twin lens reflex camera

Another fellow film photographer whom I met during a Flickr meet up in University Parks.

This was part of a test shoot with Mayumi who I've photographed before. I wanted to test out a new lens and film.

A man wearing a trilby hat

On my way home one evening I passed this gentleman on Cornmarket street, I really liked how smartly dressed he was. I never go along Cornmarket street during my street photography sessions because of the shops the line both sides of the street and the sheer volume of people you find along there that makes it impossible to photograph anyone. At this time of the evening it was much emptier. I'm pleased with how the background doesn't show the shops very clearly.

Modern Art: Oxford

Thursday, May 26th, 2011