One Camera - Maybe More Than One Lens?

New Year, new challenges. If I’m honest, I feel as if my photography has been a bit stuck of late. It’s not that I’m unhappy with the results but just that it isn’t progressing as upwardly as I would like. You often imagine that progress is gradual but consistent state. I realise from the benefit or misfortune of being nearly 60, that life very rarely goes in an upwardly straight projection. My kit is absolutely perfect for my photography. I have a small collection of stellar lenses and two brilliant hybrid camera bodies so I do not excuse myself on account of not being ably equipped. I had my first exhibition last September which went very well. I launched my website around the same time and am fairly pleased with the look and function of it. I have asked others who are in both photography and the creative arts as to how I could structure my website to increase traffic and sales of prints. I now have an idea as to how I can do this.

I’m also pleased with how my photographs are turning out. I see a shift in style and mood with my recent work and like how this shows some progression. The title of the post is however related to the challenge that is popular with many photographers ; namely the ‘One Camera, One Lens’. The principle behind this is to focus the photographer on improving their composition skills by requiring them work the scene more. Having a fixed focal length can be seen as a hindrance by some. Conversely, having a single focal length makes the photographer look at the scene more critically and maybe focus aspects of it rather than trying include everything in it. One of my favourite You Tube channels is that of James Popsys. He talks in one of his videos about the best advice he was given when starting out in Photography. He was told by a very experienced landscape photographer, to think of a scene as a jigsaw. To not look at the entirety of the scene as a completed one but to decide whether the component parts of that scene work sufficiently well to produce a coherent image. Having a single focal length can enable the photographer to concentrate on maybe one or two elements by virtue of the self imposed restrictions placed upon them. I do sometimes think my images can be too busy, too many elements. The skill of an artist can often be what you leave out rather than include.

I do however have a problem with using just one lens. I see why it is a good exercise but I also see the merits of having two ways of approaching a scene by using two focal lengths. I have sufficient experience to know that using one lens in certain circumstances, can be a bit like cutting your nose off to spite your face. I have two excellent Leica/Panasonic collaboration prime lenses - a 25mm f1.4 and 15mm f1.7. These give you the full frame equivalent focal lengths of 50 and 30mm respectively. The wider lens allows more of the scene to be included whereas the longer focal length is a standard length. The wider lens enables the photographer to give more context to the subject even if the shot includes maybe too many elements. The skill in this case is to manage how you contain the number of elements while increasing the context. The longer focal length reduces the extent of the scene but enables the focus to be specific. 50mm is not an uncommon focal length for portrait work which does allow a little scene to appear. In truth, I like both focal lengths. I may only take out one of those lenses as part of a two or three lens kit. This doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy using the other but I make a determination as to what the particular assignment requires.

In short, I do think it a worthwhile challenge but I am not a sufficiently experienced professional photographer, to artificially restrict my workflow by choosing only one focal length. For instance, yesterday, every shot I took on my Panasonic GH5ii was with the 35-100mm f2.8 lens. They were either at 35 or 100. I chose that lens because the images I wanted required that flexibility. I was very happy with the results and enjoyed working the compositions using that one lens. If I had used just 25mm lens, I would not have been able to get the images I specifically wanted. One day when i’m rich and famous, I will spend a year shooting exclusively with my Leica rangefinder and the best 50mm Leica lens I can afford. I will justify it as a need to return to improving compositions skills. Until that day, I still need the options my excellent kit allow me!