'Are we so different?'

Between showing Tivoli the so-far tiling in the house and us going to visit the uncle in his Home, we dropped into a tiny exhibition in the Museum of Oxford that I've been keen not to miss: portraits taken by Kazem Hakimi of his chip-shop customers alongside portraits taken by Henry Underhill of his friends and family - he was a grocer with a shop on the high street in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Henry Underhill was meticulous in a way that modern photographers don't have to be in noting his aperture, shutter speed and whether he was over- or under-exposing the film. I was particularly impressed by what appeared to be a candid picture of a group of picnicking friends in a field - the shutter speed was 25 seconds and the picture was sharp. Kazem Hakimi gets permission for all his portraits but that's nothing like the collaboration between photographer and photographed that Henry Underhill had to have.

Kazem Hakimi and museum staff decided which portraits to exhibit alongside each other based on perceived similarities. I especially liked the self-assurance of the pair at the top of this picture and the posture of the pair at the bottom.

See extra for two more pairs.