The Myth of Press Photography Glamour

It’s a funny old world; one where perception and reality are so often worlds apart. Take press photography, for instance. Imagine the reader, binging such films as The Bang Bang Club, Blow-Up, and Minamata. By now, they’d believe life in this universe is a dangerous, exhilarating, and glamorous cocktail—an intoxicating combination of dodging bullets, bouncers, and annoying PR types, meanwhile romping through the Colorama alongside models juggling Leicas. As flash, bang, wallop, one (conveniently) always seems to be at the right place, at the right time, to take that photograph.

Now, I hate to burst such laughable bubbles of misconception, however enviable, and whilst I’ve had my share of excitement and some danger, the nearest I’ve come to Blow-Up is working alongside the brilliant Janet Street-Porter (who is in the film) when she was my Editor at the Independent on Sunday. Quite frankly, life as a photographer is not nearly as exciting as you might care to conceive. Well, that is unless you have a masochistic imagination that conjures up thoughts of jogging to avoid losing the light, getting soaking wet, and suffering both backache and boredom.

The Reality: Passion, Pressure, and Limited Creativity

No, here in the real world, working as Chief Photographer and Picture Editor on the newspaper City A.M. is a complex personal dichotomy, comprising in equal measures: love and hate, passion and apathy, monotony and variety. A stressful mix of all of my own making, making the most out of what can often feel like a chronic lack of time and resources; and above all, the most morale-sapping of creative evils—the lack of potential for creativity.

Imagine being commanded to bake a splendid cake. However, to further spice things up, your vindictive taskmaster restricts you to the value brand aisle for ingredients. And believe me, that is a challenge in itself. The last thing you need is more strain worrying whether your oven is baking at the proper temperature and the accuracy of its timer. Now, that baking analogy is simply a way of saying that a camera is just a tool. And photographers, just like artisan bakers, rely on those tools doing exactly what they expect, exactly when they expect it.

First Impressions: Switching to the Fujifilm X-H2S

All of which hyperbole brings us neatly to the Fujifilm X-H2S. Now, I’ve only recently moved over to Fuji from what feels like a lifetime of shooting on Canon, so much so that whilst there is a Fuji in the bag, I’ve still got a Canon in the brain. By that, I mean so much of what a photographer does when using his equipment becomes instinctive. At times, it seemed like actions were running in the background of my brain with tasks completed with little thought, seemingly on muscle memory alone—we are not at that stage with Fuji yet, but with time it will come.

Today, I have to think about my actions. Think about how to use the camera, and believe me, with the X-H2S, there is a lot to think about. Basically, this is a computer with a lens. This also means this is a camera where it helps to read the instructions. Now, this is not a technical review but simply my thoughts on using it in the real world on real jobs. So, here any sensible reviewer would tell you how they took a few hours out to read and digest its mammoth manual. Which is exactly what I don’t do. Instead, after only using the camera for an hour or so, and against my better judgment, I must dash out and shoot a front page.

On the Frontline: Shooting Under Pressure

Now, it’s hard to describe the intense and intoxicating fusion of emotions on being tasked to shoot a front page—fear mixed with anxiety; a soupçon of self-doubt, a smidgeon of hysteria, and a huge dose of obsession—as a focused tunnel vision closes in—I must get the picture at all costs. In this case, it’s the iconic symbol of a City institution, something that Andy Silvester, the charming editor at City A.M., had decided on just a short while previously in afternoon conference. So off I shoot, fueled by an adrenaline rush so potent it’s akin to bungee jumping—and like bungee jumping, all I can do is trust the kit and myself.

Unfortunately for me, it’s now getting dark, so as fast as my quinquagenarian legs will carry my kit and me, we head off in the direction of Simpson’s Tavern, a veritable City institution that had been forced to close by its landlord. To you, this may only be a lowly piece of pub signage, not worthy of the effort, but to me, this is a mission—one I have been tasked to fulfill and, like a photographer in the Mounties, I must get the shot.

Overcoming Challenges: Low Light and Long Lenses

A short while later, I arrive at my destination, out of breath but full of enthusiasm and hope—only to have a little of both diminished by circumstances. Sadly, at the preferred angle there is a nasty highlight on the sign, and it’s darker than I’d imagined. This means I am going to have to shoot on a long lens in low light. Not the optimum combination. So, I’m going to have to up the ISO—yet being of a certain vintage, with misconceptions formed using early digital cameras, this means shooting at 1000 ISO, something well outside my film sensitivity comfort zone.

Once again, spurred on by the necessity to get the image and the irrational desire to put a new piece of equipment through its paces, curiosity gets the better of me, and so out comes the XF150-600mm F5.6-8 R LM OIS WR I also have on loan.

Now, the XF150-600mm is not the fastest lens in the bag, but needs must, and I must get rid of that nasty highlight on the sign. Time to run back and frame up. Instinctively, I know from the sound of the shutter (set to mechanical) that I’m shooting way too slow to be successful. I check the back of the camera and zoom right into the image only to be surprised by what I see. Soon, I realise I’d underestimated just how mind-bogglingly effective Fuji’s OIS image stabilization system proves to be.

Amazed by Technology: Image Stabilization and Low Light Performance

Quite frankly, when I was at art college in the 1980s studying photography, had the future me beamed back from 2022 and said that in less than forty years not only would we have digital cameras but it would be possible to hand-hold at 1/13th of a second on a zoom lens set at 300mm and shoot a usable front page, I’d have laughed at me. Mind you, I’d have done the same if I’d told myself to buy shares in Apple.

However, all the time I’d been worrying about the low light and the low shutter speeds, I’d forgotten that I don’t yet really know how to use the Fujifilm X-H2S. Once again, I needn’t have been so anxious as I’ve more than enough background knowledge with the Fuji universe to work things through, and so the camera performs faultlessly as intuitively I get a grip on the settings and get the shot.

If you’ve never shot under such pressure and to such deadlines, I don’t expect you to understand. So if, to you, this is only a snap of a dreary pub sign—I get it. To me, it’s a little more complex; the gauntlet was thrown, I accepted the challenge, and I was victorious. No matter the subject, and as you see, it’s not always glamorous or exciting, the fear, the anxiety, and the rush after another successful ride on the photographic roller coaster are always the same.

Getting Comfortable: Learning the Camera and Its Features

Following my hurried, perhaps foolhardy introduction to the Fujifilm X-H2S, I have a little downtime and decide to get to know the camera better at a more sensible pace. Firstly, I was a little worried over the size of the body; wagering for me that it was a little on the small side (the unit supplied did not have the Fujifilm X-H2S Vertical Battery Grip (VBG-XH) that I normally use) and equipped with only one battery I fretted that the camera would not be up to a full day’s shooting.

On both points such assumptions proved unfounded, and whilst the body is surprisingly compact given how much technology is packed into so little space, it sits nicely in my hand—the integral sculpted handgrip is a nice touch. A comfortable extension to my body, it feels natural and precise, and given how long I can be carrying the thing, it’s refreshingly lightweight and balanced. Again, considering how much technology has been crammed into so little space, I am dumbfounded as to how long that single battery lasted. Gone are the days of having to cram your pockets with batteries just to shoot half a job, and I’m not sure how, but one battery lasts the whole day. That’s a huge tick in the right box.

Weatherproof and Ready: Performance in the Elements

As I’ve now learnt to my considerable discomfort shooting every news photographer’s hardy annual—the weather picture—that the X-H2S body is weather sealed and capable of shooting in temperatures well below zero. Something, as a press photographer, it’s reassuring to ascertain and yet unpleasant to experience; when I shot the image of the seagull over London Bridge that ended up on page 2, both the camera and myself were thoroughly soaked.

However, throughout that morning and its ceaseless downpour, despite being drenched, the Fujifilm X-H2S functioned flawlessly—something I wish I could say of many cameras that professed such weatherproofing properties and then fell at the first fence at the first sign of drizzle. Again, that’s another huge tick in the box.

The Viewfinder, Burst, and Autofocus: Features That Impress

As I scrutinize the gargantuan and wonderfully sharp EVF screen that is the X-H2S’ claim to fame, I realise it has a vast field of view and, best of all, displays the full, 4K, 120fps video feed—something I certainly have not previously encountered on a press camera and something I will make use of. It makes composition and focusing straightforward even when you are trying to shoot fast-moving action in dark conditions.

Talking of low light, a new joy this camera brings is its new stacked sensor combined with X-Trans CMOS 5 HS technology and Fujifilm’s X Processor 5 that allows a jump in ISO from 51200 to 102400, and the X-H2S works with ISO settings that were only dreamed about previously. It makes shooting in almost zero light possible, which is a revelation for any press photographer shooting nighttime cityscapes and events.

I was also impressed by the burst shooting capabilities, as the camera can shoot at up to 40 frames per second using the electronic shutter, and with the mechanical shutter, still a heady 15 frames per second. This makes the X-H2S an excellent option for action, sports, or fast-moving news situations.

Of course, the built-in autofocus system with 117 AF points, combined with phase and contrast detection, was a joy to use. The camera locks on quickly and tracks subjects with remarkable precision—even in low light and at the telephoto end of the zoom.

Final Thoughts: A Camera for the Real World

All in all, my initial experiences with the Fujifilm X-H2S are overwhelmingly positive. It’s a camera built for professionals, pushing the boundaries of speed, precision, and low-light capability, wrapped in a compact, weather-sealed body that’s surprisingly lightweight.

I still have much to learn about it, but from what I’ve seen so far, it looks like Fuji has created a tool capable of meeting the demanding challenges of real-world press photography, as well as providing a platform for the creativity and storytelling that all photographers strive for.