I've been in the professional photographic industry all my working life, having started as a trainee photojournalist on a daily provincial newspaper in Yorkshire back in 1979. My current film camera: the trusty Nikon FM2.
Back then we used Koni Omega 6x7 cameras with Ilford HP5 film. Each photographer was expected to do around 6 jobs a day, so time was always short! It was very much a DIY operation; quick neg dev (HC110) and fix, as little wash time as we could get away with, then into the film drying cabinet.
I remember the condenser enlargers gave exceptionally sharp results on the Ilford glossy paper from the medium format negs and we didn't mess about with test strips... just full sheets of paper... yes there was a lot of waste sometimes! Much dodging and burning went on with most shots to help correct poor exposures in often difficult shooting conditions.
As I left the newspaper in 1984 they moved to 35mm exclusively and then colour neg some time later. I shared darkrooms with some fantastic photographers, including the great John Giles, now PA's top shooter. I still think he must have fixed it to be the only photographer on the final bend at York races when Lester Piggott fell in the early 80s.
After gaining my NCTJ pass, I left the paper and set up my own GP photo studio in York. We'd process and print our own black and white and print up 10x8 in colour on a Maxiprint machine (before they went bust).
I closed the studio after 15 years to concentrate on publishing, editing and marketing in the photo industry. I set up Photo Art magazine, published and edited Master Photographer magazine (for the MPA) and more recently was News Editor on BJP. Our company, WPS Media, actively helps Fujfilm Professional to market film in the UK and beyond. We set up and run
www.choose-film.com and also
www.fujilab.co.uk, which is home to the Fujifilm Pro Online Shop.
My goal: to help keep 'real film' photography going for as long as possible!
I'll be happy to try and answer questions on Fuji's films, especially in relation to availability, discontinuation, etc.