35mm Prime Time

Photographed a public meeting to consider name changes for JEB Stuart High School in Falls Church, VA this weekend. JEB Stuart was a confederate general in the Civil War. Confederate names and symbols have become the center of a very useful discussion about civil rights, historical interpretation and how we value diversity. The audience had a wide range of suggestions, some of which were directly opposite one another and all of which were sincerely held. All photos were made with my handy-dandy little 35mm Prime Lens. Clearly its a limitation, but for some reason I love this lens anyway. It just has a certain look and very seldom lets me down.

Yesterday's Most Interesting Photo

Mathtew Rakola of APA-DC (a local group for pro photographers) made a presentation about the business side of Photography to the Northern Virginia Photographic Society which is a strong local camera club based in Northern Virginia.

35mm Project

Friends of mine make really great images with modern digital rangefinder cameras like the Sony RX1 or a Fuji X100T. They have a fixed focal length lens on either a full frame or a cropped sensor. I never really considered any of these the cameras - they are expensive and there is that little bit about not having interchangeable lenses. But - WOW -  are they getting gorgeous images! So my question to a few other friends was: "What is like to only have a 35mm focal length"?

To make a long story short, I got an answer to a different question: "What's so good about primes"?  Shallow depth of field, sharpness, compact size, etc. So I guess the only way to find out what its like to have only a fixed focal length is to put a prime lens on a camera and keep it there all the time.  ITS A GREAT IDEA! Here are some example photos. The subjects are all different -- the common theme is that "restrictive" 35mm lens choice.