Hasselblad portrait - 503 CWD on film

Recently my good friend and photographer Simon asked if I could take a portrait of him. I said "sure, come over to the house and we'll do it".

"Lets do it on my Hasselblad using film" replied Simon.

So that weekend Simon turned up at my house with his Hasselblad kit and a film back with 6 exposures remaining.

Whilst familiar with the newer digital Hasselblad I've not used the Hasselblad 500 series of bodies; winding on the film after each exposure, something once so familiar felt so alien after 10 yrs of digital.

We set up the lighting, balancing natural light with my Neewer studio strobes and, with Topsy sitting in using a digital back fired off some exposures to check the lighting.

Hasselblad 503CWD, Carl Zeiss 150mm f/4 Sonnar CFi 1/125s f/8 photo by Simon Hill

 Satisfied with the lighting we put the film back on the 'blad loaded with Ilford FP4 and I fired off the 6 exposures. 
The film was processed by Ilford Labs then Simon scanned the negatives on a Fuji Frontier SP 3000 Pro. 
Post production was in Ps and Silver EFX Pro

Hasselblad 503CWD, Carl Zeiss 150mm f/4 Sonnar CFi 1/125s f/8 photo by stereodesign

I really enjoyed the afternoon using the 503 and I think the result speaks for itself, however I've no desire to go back to film, I much prefer digital.

iPhone 6 HDR

This Lovely old Kawasaki 900 was taken at Squires Cafe in Sherburn in Elmet on my iPhone 6 in HDR mode.

I'm really impressed with the quality.

iPhone 6 camera in HDR mode

Artist Jake Attree in his Dean Clough studio

We called in on Jake today at his studio in Dean Clough in Halifax.

He was working on a Northumbria seascape and the Bronte country landscapes.

I had my Fuji X-Pro1 with me so took a few images of Jake in front of these works in progress.

I don't normally do colour portraits for personal photos but for an artist with such a superb eye for colour I felt this was the correct treatment for them.

Very little processing done in Lr just a touch of Exposure and Clarity.

Fuji X-Pro1, Fujinon XF 35mm f1.4

Fuji X-Pro1, Fujinon XF 35mm f1.4

Fuji X-Pro1, Fujinon XF 56mm f1.2

Lippy Ladies Motorcycle club - project started

Last weekend I was up in Nidderdale for the first shoot of the Lippy Ladies Motorcycle Club project.

This is a personal project to shoot environmental portraits of members of the Lippy Ladies Motorcycle Club.

First to volunteer was Sarah. I met with Sarah and fellow Lippy Lady Helen a few days before the shoot to discuss ideas. From this meeting it was evident that biking to Sarah was a form of freedom, a means to get away to the countryside and forget the trappings of modern life. Sarah said her ideal location would be in Scotland with a Loch and the Highlands as a backdrop. This wasn't going to be possible so she suggested a location in Nidderdale in the Yorkshire Dales.

Fortunately the weather was good for the weekend planned for the shoot and we met up just after 7am on Sunday morning on location, Sarah had ridden her Triumph there and brought her tent to set up camp.

We found a suitable place just off a track and got to work. Over the next 2 hours we took over 400 images.

I processed some of the best images in Lr using my preset.
I used my Canon 5D2 with Canon 20mm f2.8, 24-70mm f2.8, 70-200mm f4, and 85mm f1.8 lenses.

Nidderdale - Canon 5D2

I was up in Nidderdale last weekend to start Lippy Ladies project (more in a later post) and took a few scenics with the 5D2.

Processed in Lr as usual.

London - Fuji X-Pro1

I popped down to London recently to meet my brother who was over from the U.S. on business.

Unfortunately the day was rather wet so we were not really able to get the cameras out and do any serious photography.

I did manage to get a few images though.

All shot using X-Pro1 and Fujinon 18-55mm XF.

Environmental portrait - Canon 5D2

I was up in the Lakes District recently to shoot some video for a project in Fewston. While I was there I took the opportunity to shoot some environmental portraits of Phil Bradley an artisan basket weaver.

It was a wet overcast day and Phil's workshop is lit by a small window so I shot at ISO3200 f2.8 with my Canon 24-70 L.

Phil's website