Kingsdown Lowdown is the name of a new project that I’m putting together. My aim is to have an exhibition later this year to present this work.

The idea behind the project is to document some of the great talent involved in the Bristol music scene. This project won’t be just about musicians though. I also want to concentrate on the unsung heroes and heroines of the scene like the promoters, venue owners and the technical people who help put on shows and record the music that we listen to and buy. I’ve also lined up a couple of the great instrument makers we have in the city, one of whom has been based right in the heart of Kingsdown for some time.

All photographs in the project will be shot in the Kingsdown area of Bristol. Kingsdown is a favourite part of the city for me because I’ve always liked the feel of the place and I even lived there for a short time in the early days of my residency in the city. The area is also significant for me in that it was in the Kingsdown Vaults in 2012 that I first began documenting the live Bristol music scene that I know through my photography.

The Kingsdown Lowdown project is being shot on film using a large format 4x5 camera made by Intrepid Cameras in the UK (see pic). It’s the first time I’ve ever used a large format field camera and its an interesting choice in some ways because you would normally see these being used to shoot landscapes or in a studio portrait setting. I like working with people and I like being outdoors and finding interesting locations so that’s that.

I love the large negatives this camera produces. The quality of the image and the depth and tone is really special. You need to look at one with a lupe on a lightbox to really see what I mean.

I’m shooting mainly on Fomapan black and white film stock and I’m processing all the negatives myself using the fantastic facilities at St Pauls Darkrooms in Bristol. I’ll be selecting favourite images from each of the shoots to hand print also at the same premises. Printing has already started and the portfolio box has had its first additions recently.

An exhibition is in the early stages of planning for later in the year and an issue of Trickbox will be published to accompany the exhibition.

It’s been a lot of fun so far in putting this together. The people I’ve worked with have been so supportive of the idea and have been extremely patient with me while I get up to speed with the camera. The beauty of this type of photography to me is the need to slow the process down, concentrate on what I’m doing and take my time. It’s a far cry from live music photography where I’m having to be alert all the time and quick to respond to what’s happening in front of me. It makes a nice change to slow the pace down and have a chat.

To date I’ve photographed:

Mike Crawford
Holly Carter
Philo Sinnett
Emma Holbrook
Jules Landau
Lewis Creaven
Cecile Cailleau
Patrick Farrell

……… and there’s plenty more to come over the summer.

Get in touch if you want to be part of this project and I’ll give you more information. Those people who have contacted me recently will be getting booked in shortly.

A couple of weeks ago at the Photography show in Birmingham, I picked up my first large format film camera. The camera is a 4x5 field camera made by Intrepid Cameras in Brighton, a young company born from a kickstarter campaign. The company manufactures 8x10 cameras as well as the 4x5 that I purchased. I bought the red one as opposed to the black one as this camera is a fun machine.

I put the camera to use for the first time recently. The whole process from loading the film into individual film holders in a light-tight dark bag to taking hold of the final negatives takes time but it’s so worth it in the end.

It’s a fully manual camera of course, with interchangeable lenses. There is no light meter and so one has to figure out the correct exposure using a handheld light meter. The shutter is tripped with a cable release. The image through the lens is projected upside down onto the ground glass on the rear of the camera. Focus is manual and a Lupe is necessary to nail the focus perfectly, as well as a shroud to keep the ambient light out and aid focussing.

For my first attempt, I asked a couple of musician friends of mine to pose for me. Philo and Mike have been part of the musical fabric of Bristol for some time as well as playing in various bands around the city. They were only too happy to help me get started. Thanks gents.

I chose a location that I love to shoot in. It’s an area close to the centre of Bristol called Kingsdown. Kingsdown is an old, relatively affluent area of Bristol. It has lots of character and I like shooting there.

I loaded a total of 8 sheets of film and 6 of the resulting images were a success, albeit one of them is a double exposure because I forgot to switch the film holder around. The remaining negatives were unusable for various reasons.

I used Fomapan 400 as my choice of film. I’ve never used it before so I didn’t know what to expect from it. I have to say that I really like the mid contrast tones it produces. The amount of depth and the tonal range in large format is phenomenal and the Intrepid camera coupled with a Schneider Symmar-S lens is a winning combination in my book.

Overall I was really happy to have such a success in my first foray into large format. Concentration is key and also because the image is presented upside down on the ground glass, you have to pay careful attention to composition. The second picture of Mike is an example where I could have improved composition by not cropping in camera at the lower leg. Patient subjects are a necessity as there are so many things to think about, especially when starting out

These images are part of a new personal project called The Kingsdown Lowdown. I’ve invited more of the Bristol great and good to pose for me in Kingsdown over the next few months, so we’ll see how it works out.

Please keep tuning in…..