Gears gone wide!

Yes, I know the pun was bad!

For anyone who has known me for a long time, I was more of a “tele” kind of photographer. Being a portrait and introvert shooter, I was so used to the 85mm and longer focal length. My favorite lens of all time were the Batis 85 1.8 and the Tamron 70-180 f2.8. There are many reasons for that, less distortion, tighter composition (which means fewer elements to care about in my frame), minimalist look (since the pictures are mostly flat), and last but not least, longer distance between me and the subjects. I don’t have to worry about confronting the people I shoot, which is one of the most uncomfortable things in street photography, I guess.

When I finally took street photography seriously, I made peace with the 50mm. Yes, the nifty fifty. The focal length of the great Henri Cartier Bresson. It’s wider than what I normally shot with, but it’s still very easy. I have learnt to compose my shots more carefully, no more shooting random people with “creamy bokeh” on the street. F8 is my new mate since I want as much depth of field as possible without losing too much light or image quality. The distortion is still very well controlled, the images are sharp, the lens is tiny (thank you Sony FE 50 2.5) and the distance between me and the subjects are still far enough that I don’t “bruise the scene”. Now that I can include more scenery in my photos, I adapt with the “fishing” technique, which becomes my style as a street photographer.

The desire to master 28mm started to grow in me since I first met the Leica Q. Actually, I didn’t meet her, I saw her on Youtube, read about her on newspapers and forums, and saw her in my dream. I was not confident enough to go out with just that one focal length though. Until one day, I had to.

In summer 2023, I joined a film crew of 6. We went to the Middle provinces of the country to create a short clip about the sceneries and people living there. The project cost roughly $7000, lasted in 10 days, and here is the end result:

Everything was shot with the 24mm camera on the Xperia 1 mark V. The tele camera of the phone was almost useless, so in days we had to make our way with the main camera. For the first time in my career, 24mm became the focal length of choice. I learnt to move a lot, got used to estimating the distance holding a wide-angle lens, and framed my shots differently. All of a sudden, I found my shots include a lot more, from the surrounding of the subjects, the interactions between them, to unexpected characters or events which I could later review and select.

The trip helped me get over my fear of 24mm not being enough. When I got home, I purchased a Ricoh GRIII which was equipped with a 28mm-ish focal length, and boy oh boy how free I got since. I began to shoot differently. Shooting from the hip (or in my case, from the chest) becomes easier than ever. Before, with a 50mm lens, everything happening around me was too close. In most of my tries shooting blind, I ended up with too tightly cropped images, weird camera angle and out of focus subjects. Now with the 28mm, I can approach the subjects and they barely notice me (yes, the Ricoh is small). I can always shoot wide and crop in later. So now, besides the fishing technique, I have another trick in my sleeves.

Going wide also means I can go more compact and optimize all my gear. When I’m not planning to shoot serious street photography, I usually bring my Sony ZV1 with me. The camera doesn’t remember the last focal length used before powering off/ entering standby mode, but now I can turn it on and shoot away with the default 24mm. My phones, of course, have 26-ish mm focal lengths. My dream camera, Leica Q series, I’m coming for you soon.

This doesn’t mean I’m going to give up the 50mm anytime soon, since I’m most comfortable with it. But it’s a good idea to change the point of view every once in a while, to shake things up a little and experiment new things. If you are too familiar with a focal length and find yourself stuck in a rut, try going wider or longer for a while. That might help.

One more thing

The flash fiction

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