My favorite lens, which happens to be a lens that sometimes comes with your new 35mm camera is the 50mm. But was it always my favorite lens? HELL NO!
When I finally took my first photography course back in 1991 it was at Howard Community College in Columbia, MD. I just wanted to see what it was about, and maybe have them help me understand a little bit more about photography. (I call that time my Jan Starr development year. Program director that helped me so much at HCC.)
I said one course, money is tight and I should be taking another class to finish up another program I started. Wasn't even thinking to check to see if I could use the credits towards that other program. I could, so a win/win.
Back then you were required to only shoot with a 50mm and your SLR (film days) to capture all the assignments. Tough to do when you are all excited and walking around like a baby wide eyed and full of Coca Cola.
But using the 50mm lens (it's the same view point, angle of the human eye) for a whole semester forced me into some good habits. The main one, get in close to observe people, places, and things. You can always memorize your camera settings, you can always walk up and move it where you want to with people and things in some cases. But to observe, to see it as it is and capture it as you see it. Thats the key to what I call a real photographic moment.
Henri Cartier-Bresson once said in an interview with The Washington Post back in 1957:
Photography is not like painting. There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera.
That is the moment the photographer is creative. Oop! The Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever.
Over the now 26 years of practicing photography, and being the photographer I am today his phase rings true everytime I pick up a camera. Especially where animals are involved, yes including people. In the studio, or on location the subject the light and all the elements move into that perfect composition or moment you have to be ready. Not adjusting camera settings, not talking, your eyes have followed the action and you have anticipated this very composition/moment and then within a fraction of a second, it's gone. So, did you get it? That's the burning question in the photographer that has him running home at times to see.
The 50mm has trained my eye to see! Black and White film with limited shots taught me to be patience and to plan. And I soon realized it also taught me to record every aspect of the experience so I can repeat the setup. So even with a DSLR, try a 50mm and 24 shot max rule the next time you are shooting a subject. Don't do it just once, do it for three months minimum. You'll love the texture, color, and you'll notice it may open up your heart and soul by really seeing whats going on, by physically being that close.
So, don't always pickup the long lens. Zoom in with your feet so you can feel the action. Your images will be better, I promise.
