Plate

Portraits · film · by appointment

Plate

A portrait in low light, the sitter looking away from the camera.

One roll, thirty-six frames, and you get all of them

I shoot portraits on film because it makes both of us slower. There are thirty-six frames in a sitting and no screen to look at, so the hour is spent talking rather than checking.

You get every frame, scanned, including the ones where you blinked. Six of them come back properly worked on, and you choose which six.

How a sitting works

What it costs

One person, one roll£180

Two people, two rolls£260

Extra roll, same sitting£45

Extra worked frame£18

At your place, within ten milesno charge

Prices include the film, the developing and the scanning. There is no package above this one and there is no discount below it.

A portrait against a plain wall, daylight from one side.

Set one — at the window

Everything in this set is one light: whatever was coming through the nearest window at the time. Nothing was added and nothing was moved.

A portrait lit from one side, in black and white. A sitter turned three-quarters to the camera. A portrait in daylight against a soft background.

Eleven sittings, one winter, all within four streets of the studio.

Set two — at work

People are easier to photograph while their hands are busy. These were all made where the sitter works, in the hour before they started.

A portrait standing against a painted wall. A sitter holding a camera, looking into the lens. A portrait outdoors on a grey day.

Made on location, always before opening and never during.

Set three — outside

The set I like least in summer and most in November. Flat light, no shadows to fight, and everybody stands differently in the cold.

A figure outdoors with the landscape behind them. A sitter seated against a plain background. A portrait outdoors in late afternoon light.

All shot between two and half past three, which in November is all the light there is.

Before you book

How long it takes
An hour for the sitting and about three weeks for the scans, because the film goes to a lab in another city and comes back by post.
What to wear
Whatever you actually wear. Every sitting where somebody bought something new for it has been the harder of the two.
Where
The studio is one room with one window. I will come to you within ten miles at no extra cost, and beyond that it is 45p a mile.
Paying
Half on booking, half when the scans go out. Bank transfer; there is no card machine and there is not going to be one.
If you hate them
It happens, about once a year. We shoot it again, once, at no charge, and if you hate those too I will refund the second half and we will shake hands.
Where they end up
Nowhere, unless you say so in writing. Nothing on this page was published without the sitter reading the line above first.