What’s New?
I recently purchased a new Fujifilm XF35mm F2 lens to add to my kit. This lens is approximately a 50mm focal length equivalent on an APS-C camera, and provides a tighter perspective when compared to my 28mm and 35mm options.
With prime lenses like these you really have to use your feet to get the perspective that you’re looking for.
Here are my favourite pictures from the very first outing with the new lens.
I absolutely love the juxtaposition here as it looks as though the person in the foreground was actually on the street in 1969 and in the picture on the wall.
I love creating layers and depth by incorporating multiple people in a picture. What I like most about this picture is the guy on the tram platform staring into the sky, whilst the guy in the foreground (and others) are simply looking ahead of where they’re walking.
A young boy playing soccer on a very busy Sydney CBD street, now that is unique and something that you might typically only see in South American countries.
The compression of a 50mm focal length allows perspectives such as these. This picture was taken from the southern/city side of Circular Quay train station, against the tram platform, and looking through the opening toward the ship terminal and Sydney Harbour Bridge.
These people were approximately 150 metres from the ship.
An eye on Sly!
Despite the chaotic scene, most of the people here have enough space around them, allowing the picture to avoid being too messy and distracting. With a 50mm lens you have to take many steps backward before creating this shot.
Check out the father staring at me as I came down the escalator, obviously uneasy about me taking pictures! I bet that he is one of a zillion people who happily take pictures with their phones in public all the time, yet frown when someone does it with a proper camera?!
RANT over!
In this picture I allowed the 50mm focal length to compress the depth of the scene, whilst the two people in the foreground were inside the minimum zone focus range, therefore they were out of focus, allowing the eye to bounce from them and into the rest of the picture.
“With prime lenses like these you really have to use your feet to get the perspective that you’re looking for.”
Check out more of my street work in the website menu, click on the ‘urban street’ gallery. If you’re viewing the gallery on a laptop, Mac or PC, feel free to hover over the images to display the name that I have given each street image.
