Moody Fuji 400H | Editorial Photographer

Originally I was intending on going into detail on creating the look of these photos, because let’s face it, the general consensus on Fuji 400H is that it’s all about those pastel hues; those light and airy tones…that shooting Fuji 400H guarantees those things because of the belief that that’s the look of 400H. It’s a myth. But I don’t want to go into that here; I just want to say a little about the location and the mood and let the photos speak for themselves.

If you’re anything like me, there are some places you’ve always had in mind to explore. The places you stare at as you pass by at speed in the car and you wonder, “is there a way to get there, or is it private/fenced off/inaccessible on foot?” For some time now there has been just such a place, and it’s literally only 15 minutes by car from home. It’s by a fairly fast road through the Peak District and I don’t think I have ever seen anyone on this land…generally I think everyone passing by is headed to the popular parts of the Peak District and doesn’t really see this area that I have had my eye on as anything worth closer inspection. After all, it’s a fairy featureless area; a large expanse of fairly flat heath-land, but the more I’ve driven by at particular times the more I’ve thought about driving there one day with the specific intention of finding out if there is a space to park and a way over a fence. I’d also been noticing that due to the geography of the surrounding land, in particular light there was some quite special atmosphere to be captured.

So this weekend we did what I’ve been thinking about doing for some time, and we drove up there, found a place to pull over in the car, and then we walked until we came to an opening in the fence that allowed us to get through to where I’ve been wanting to go. The light was already fading very fast when I loaded my first roll, and the light was pretty much perfect for what I was wanting to achieve – a moodier, more muted look than the look most commonly associated with Fuji 400H. By the time I had shot a couple of rolls it was too dark for 400H so I switched to Delta 3200 rated at 1600, and I subsequently decided to push this one stop in the lab. So here is the collection of photos I took. The colour is all Fuji 400H and the b&w is Ilford Delta 3200 rated at 1600 and pushed one stop. Everything was shot through my Pentax 67ii. Thank you to Erica for being my beautiful model despite the cold. Dev/Scan UK Film Lab.