Snow in, snow out
Ilford HP5+ 400, shot on Canon A-1 in Seoul, South Korea; scanned/developed at Filmlog Photo Lab in Seoul, South Korea
Much of the first half of 2025 involved a lot of solo photo-walking. Some when I was home for the holidays, and much of the rest of it being the latter half of my year teaching English Lit in Seoul. And when I was walking 6 miles a day (1.5 to and from school, with various short bursts on foot in other places) with nothing but my camera in tow, I needed to put it to good use. Someone had to see what I was seeing.
The other part is that I simply had too much good black and white film to not put to use. Seoul is a colorful and vibrant city- but it also is made up of interesting and alien (to me) designs. And in the deep of a cold and (mostly) dry winter, black and white film is what I needed to use. That’s where Ilford’s HP5 400-speed film came in.
From the website:
Its wide exposure latitude makes it a great choice for beginners, those returning to film as well as the more experienced professional users.
Wide exposure latitude, in film parlance, is talking about being good at all kinds of light situations- day and night, cloudy and sunny. It works well across the whole spectrum. Which is great when you have a ton of it and also time and space in which to take photos.
Ilford HP5+ 400, shot on Canon A-1 in Seoul, South Korea; scanned/developed at Filmlog Photo Lab in Seoul, South Korea
Which of course, in the very strange winter of 2025, I had plenty of! I had found myself growing to like the absolute bitter cold of Seoul- even enjoying walking the 1.5 miles to work every day while having my big Sony wireless headphones as earmuffs. This also led me to two important discoveries- the second of which I’ll mention here. (The first of which will come about in a different post I’ll write later.*)
And the second discovery? Snow on Ilford’s HP5, with Seoul as a backdrop, rules.
Ilford HP5+ 400, shot on Canon A-1 in Seoul, South Korea; scanned/developed at Filmlog Photo Lab in Seoul, South Korea
Aaron, isn’t this supposed to be a blog about photography that also features, y’know, people?
Yes, of course. But I also wanted to opine.
Why do photos of snowy hillsides without people speak to me so much? I think because it represents an ideal that snow has always represented to me. And others, of course, I do not claim this as an original thought.
Ilford HP5+ 400, shot on Canon A-1 in Seoul, South Korea; scanned/developed at Filmlog Photo Lab in Seoul, South Korea
Snow is at its most virtuous when it is untouched. It reminds us of the beauty of nature unmarred by human meddling. How quickly these images leave, when then touched by the path of feet, cars, and children making snowmen. It felt right to use my favorite (and most malleable) film stock to keep those images for as long as I could.
Ilford HP5+ 400, shot on Canon A-1 in Seoul, South Korea; scanned/developed at Filmlog Photo Lab in Seoul, South Korea
Besides. How can you not want to do what you can to freeze images and moments like this into place? To add- having snow blanket the ground makes it FAR easier to meter appropriately, even if your camera has an internal light meter (like mine did). It helps both street photography and composition. Not to mention my soul (which, at the time, was feeling battered) got to heal a little bit.
Ilford HP5+ 400, shot on Canon A-1 in Seoul, South Korea; scanned/developed at Filmlog Photo Lab in Seoul, South Korea
Like all good things? Life started to get in the way. Seoul is, of course, a major metropolitan city. And even in the suburb of Seoul I lived in, people had to live their lives. Go to school/work, socialize. Drive. (Growing up in the PNW, walking to work in multiple inches of snow was a wild activity.) And when tire tracks started to appear, I knew that this brief snowstorm (in the wilds of February) was not going to last much longer in my world.
Ilford HP5+ 400, shot on Canon A-1 in Seoul, South Korea; scanned/developed at Filmlog Photo Lab in Seoul, South Korea
Editor’s note: I do not remember, at all, what it was that made that strange mesh pattern on this image.
Ilford HP5+ 400, shot on Canon A-1 in Seoul, South Korea; scanned/developed at Filmlog Photo Lab in Seoul, South Korea
“And just like that, it was gone.”
Ilford HP5+ 400, shot on Canon A-1 in Seoul, South Korea; scanned/developed at Filmlog Photo Lab in Seoul, South Korea
Wrapping-up thoughts:
I’m glad I no longer do this, but I am working on getting over being angry at myself for not keeping almost any of the black and white negatives from my time in Seoul. There are MANY photos that I still have scans of that I would give anything to be able to make fine art prints of.
Speaking of fine art prints…
if you are reading this before May 3rd, come to my booth at the next Tacoma Sunday Market! Sunday, May 3rd. I’ll be there as whatever this ‘business’ entity I am is called. And if you’re reading it after May 3rd, I’ll certainly be posting about more markets.
February of 2025 was a truly strange time in my life. It was lonely, it was sad, it was weird. But it also involved a lot of b/w street photography- some of which is HP5. Some… not so much. So pay attention if you want to see weirder/more atypical b/w stocks. And if you want to read/hear some more ‘long dark night of the soul’ stories.
That’s all for this week!