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Friday, June 12th, 2015
The great Oxford tradition of trashing is here again so it’s time for me to continue posting some of my shots from last year (summer 2014). Recently I’ve been enjoying the idea of not rushing to post images as soon as I can but instead to hold them back for a while and let them mature in my archive. I have no idea where the students in this set of images are now but I’d like to hope that seeing these a year after the event would bring back some happy memories for them of celebration and relief.
[Tech info:] Nikon F100, Kodak Hawkeye film, processed in a Rollei Digibase C41 kit. Pakon scans.
Posted in film, Oxford, students | No Responses »
Tags: f100, film, hawkeye, kodak, nikon, oxford, students, trashing
Monday, March 23rd, 2015
Some photography from the final day of Torpids 2015 in Oxford. This year I only managed to make it to the final day but the weather was fantastic and there was a great turn out of spectators who came to enjoy some racing on the river. I used the sunny weather as a perfect opportunity to test out some special motion picture film I bought recently. This batch of film is surplus stock left over from the new Star Wars (Episode VII) movie that I purchased. It’s daylight balanced and has a film speed of ISO 50 so the sunny weather was perfect. I’m impressed with the lack of contrast in what was at times extremely contrasty light and the control of highlights is very nice too. With spring in the air and blossom starting to make an appearance I hope to be able to use more of this film through the spring and into summer.
[Tech info:] Minolta Hi-Matic 7, Kodak Vision 3 50D motion picture film, ISO 50, developed with a Rollei Digibase C41 kit. Pakon scans.
Posted in film, Oxford, Sport, students | No Responses »
Tags: 50d, film, hi-matic, minolta, oxford, pakon, rowing, students, torpids, vision 3
Saturday, February 28th, 2015
Here are some images from a recent lunchtime photography session with Ella. I wanted to practice a little with this camera and lens combination because while I really like the results I get from them, I’m not happy with the shutter release on the camera and how far you need to press before it will activate the shutter. I have a power-winder for it that came as part of the kit but I haven’t tried it yet. Maybe it’s about time I did. Ella was very easy to work with and hopefully there will be more opportunities to do some photography together.
[Tech info:] Mamiya 645 Pro TL, 80/1.9 lens, Fuji Acros 100 (expired) film, processed in Kodak HC110 1+31 for 5:30.
Posted in film, Oxford, Photo shoot, Portrait, students | No Responses »
Tags: 645, acros, black&white, ella, film, hc110, oxford, portraits, students
Wednesday, February 25th, 2015
Some of the results from my large format lunchtime session with Alice using a 1940’s press camera. For this session I wanted to test out some Fomapan 100 film that I’ve had laying around for over a year and recently discovered. So far so good. I like these results. I’m hoping to do more large format photography in my lunch break because I really enjoy composing my shots on a large ground glass screen – often times upside down – and also having a limited amount of shots as well as the slower pace compared to other kinds of photography.
[Tech info:] Graflex Super D 5×4, Pentac 8inch f2.9 (bottom left), Kodak Ektar 190/5.6 lens, Fomapan 100 (expired), processed in Kodak HC110 1+31.
Film hanging up to dry
Posted in film, Oxford, Photo shoot, Portrait, students | 2 Responses »
Tags: 5x4, alice, black&white, fomapan, graflex, hc110, oxford, students, super d
Thursday, February 19th, 2015
Here are two Fujiroids that I made at the end of my lunch break photography session with Xinlan yesterday. The sunlight was bouncing off the side of a white building which is one of my favourite kinds of light to photograph portraits in. Prior to these I finished a roll of Fuji Acros 100 in my Mamiya RZ67 and some of those shots will follow soon.
[Tech info:] Polaroid Land Camera 180, Fuji FP-100C instant pack film (expired).
Posted in film, Oxford, Photo shoot, Portrait, students | No Responses »
Tags: film, fujiroid, oxford, portraits, students, xinlan
Tuesday, February 17th, 2015
These two shots were made during my lunch break today on Fuji FP-100C instant pack film (just like Polaroid) and are as they came out of the camera. The shot on the right was accidentally over-exposed but I decided to post it here as a comparison because I quite like it. To me it looks like expired Polaroid. Usually I under-expose Fuji pack film because I like to bleach the neg which gives 2 extra stops of detail in the shadows but as there wasn’t much detail in the shadows on this shot I decided not to under-expose. I also used some b&w film on this shoot and those shots will follow at a later time after I’ve developed them.
[Tech info:] Graflex Super D 5×4 camera, Pentac f2.9 lens (from WWII), Fuji FP-100C (expired) instant pack film
Posted in film, Oxford, Photo shoot, Portrait | No Responses »
Tags: alice, film, fp100c, fujiroid, graflex, pentac, people, portraits, students, super d
Sunday, February 8th, 2015
It was nice to see some familiar faces at this years’ Town vs Gown Boxing competition at the Oxford Union, especially some of the team from last year who had come to cheer on Oxford. Last year was my first time photographing this event and I had no idea what to expect when I arrived there. This year was very different because this time I had access all areas and I also had last years’ pictures to live up to (which can be seen here and here).
After much deliberation on which cameras and film to take with me I eventually decided that I wanted to make some portraits on medium format but the difficult part was choosing which medium format camera to take. In the end I went for my Mamiya 645 Pro TL because it’s the one that I own with the fastest lens and not only did I want a shallow depth of field but I also knew that the light levels inside the Oxford Union are fairly low. The 80/1.9 lens that I took with me is quite unforgiving when it comes to focussing it at anywhere near to wide open and the focussing screen that came in my camera (I’m not sure if it’s the standard stock screen) is very bright and clear which actually makes it more difficult to tell whether something is in focus or not so the sharpness in some of the shots below is lacking. The Mamiya 645 Pro TL is a nice camera to use but the thing I hate most about it is the shutter release travel feels like it goes on forever which can cause movement of the camera (in my experience) just before the shutter fires. I have a motor-drive for mine which came with the camera but I haven’t used it yet because once you’ve loaded the grip with AA batteries it adds quite a bit of weight to it as well as increasing the overall size.
[Tech info:] Mamiya 645 Pro TL, 80/1.9, Kodak Tri-X 400 @ ISO 1600, processed in Kodak HC110 (1+31) for 16mins.
Posted in Behind the scenes, Oxford, Sport, students | No Responses »
Tags: 645, backstage, black&white, boxing, film, hc110, mamiya, oxford, portraits, protl, students, Tri-X
Saturday, February 7th, 2015
Last weekend I photographed lots of beautiful vintage kimono’s for ITO to use in their online store. Each kimono is a one of a kind and it was hard to believe from the amazing condition that most of them are from the 1920’s. For the final images I used a digital camera but as is usually my way I took along some film as well. The shoot went really smoothly but we had a lot of kimono’s to photograph so there wasn’t much time to do a lot of film photography but I did manage to make these two shots with a Polaroid camera. The shot on the left was made with just the window light, the shot on the right was a mix of window light and a Nikon speedlight through a white umbrella which I balanced to look natural. Many thanks to Catriona for organising everything and for keeping the shoot running smoothly.
[Tech info:] Polaroid 190 Land Camera, Fuji FP-100C instant pack film (bleached neg).
Posted in Fashion, film, Oxford, Photo shoot, students | No Responses »
Tags: film, fp100c, fujiroid, kimono, oxford, polaroid 190, students
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.
Posted in Behind the scenes, film, Oxford, Sport, students | No Responses »
Tags: 1600, black&white, boxing, film, hc110, leica, m2, neopan, oxford, oxford union, students, voigtlander
Wednesday, January 28th, 2015
Here are some medium format shots I made during my recent lunch time session with Tori. I previously posted a couple of Fujiroid bleached neg shots here. The format for these shots was 6×9 which is one of my favourite medium format aspect ratios but I only have one camera that was designed to use that format and these shots reminded me that I don’t use it enough. You get 8 shots of 6×9 on a 120 size roll so it’s not a format for the trigger happy. For this shoot I decided to use fresh film stock for a change and while I can’t see a huge difference compared to some of my expired film shots I do think that the contrast was handled better on the contrasty back lit shots. We were a bit rushed in this session because I wanted to use medium format, 35mm and Fuji pack film all within 25mins which is not easy when you’ve got lots of people moving around during lunch time and you have to keep stopping to wait for a clear background but Tori was very patient despite the cold weather and we got everything done in time.
[Tech info:] Mamiya Universal, 100/2.8, Kodak Tri-X 400, processed in Kodak Xtol 1+1.
Posted in film, Oxford, Photo shoot, Portrait, students | No Responses »
Tags: 6x9, black&white, film, mamiya universal, oxford, people, students, tori, Tri-X, xtol
Monday, January 19th, 2015
Today was a glorious sunny winters day here in Oxford and I made good use of it by doing some photography with Tori during my lunch break. I had three different film cameras with me today and here are two shots from the Polaroid Land Camera I took (the b&w shots are drying in the darkroom overnight so they’ll follow at a later time). There’s something really nice about winter sunshine and how it can make colours pop, it can also be very harsh and contrasty so it’s a nice challenge to look at how the light is falling on your subject and how the smallest of movements can mean the difference between nice and not so nice. Tori was incredibly easy to photograph and I hope we can do some more photography with different cameras and film. There is zero retouching on these two images, no Photoshop fakery, no filters, no plugins, just straight scans from the film.
These two shots were made on Fuji FP100-C instant pack film that expired 9 years ago. When you store it carefully and pay attention to how you expose it it’s capable of creating some fantastic results. I tend to underexpose it by a stop which results in a darker print but a nice negative that can be recovered with bleaching the black carbon layer off. The negatives are much sharper than the prints and you also get 2 stops of more detail in the shadows compared to the print.
[Tech info:] Polaroid Land Camera 190, Fuji FP100-C (expired), recovered neg.
Posted in film, Oxford, Photo shoot, Portrait, Street portraits, students | 2 Responses »
Tags: film, fp100c, fujiroid, oxford, polaroid, polaroid 190, portraits, students, tori
Thursday, January 15th, 2015
Spilt is a short film written and directed by Alvin Yu and I was asked if I’d like to do some portrait photography while they were filming in Oxford a couple of weeks ago. Due to timing conflicts I was only able to make it to set on their final day of filming after it had gotten dark outside so I made these portraits indoors with the available light (a bulb hanging from the ceiling in the hallway). The crew were setting up for a shot so I had to work quickly, one frame on each person, no re-takes and no second shot. What you see here is the entire roll of film, uncropped. Apologies to any crew members that I didn’t manage to include, hopefully I’ll get you on another project.
[Tech info:] Rolleiflex 2.8F, Zeiss Planar 80mm, Kodak Tri-X 400 rated at ISO 1600, processed in Kodak Xtol 1+1.
Posted in film, Oxford, People, Portrait, students | No Responses »
Tags: 6x6, backstage, black&white, film, filming, oxford, people, portraits, rolleiflex, spilt, students, Tri-X, xtol
