See Differently

For almost 15 years the vast majority of my photography was taken with a 28mm lens and Ricoh being the dominant camera. When you use a single focal length for that long you begin to see with a 28mm view. You no longer need a viewfinder or lcd screen to frame a shot, it becomes second nature. The problem is you tend not to pay attention to things happening outside of that focal length. There's a saying that goes "If you want to see differently, change cameras". I've heard this for many years but never gave it any thought because I was happy with walking around with imaginary 28mm frame lines around everything. The problem is that street life today has become boring and predictable with not much more for me to see so I needed something to change. As I've said before, last year I was on the street with a Yashica Mat medium format camera and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. But without going into the whole story again the cost was just too much for an artist who makes about as much as someone who breaks big rocks into little rocks. What I decided to do was to take a small point and shoot camera with a mild zoom and see what the world looks like. I got my hands on a very small Fuji XQ2 camera with a zoom range of 25-100mm and once again begun to wander the streets. In the beginning it was difficult getting that 28mm frame out of my head and working slower but in a short while I realised more was being opened up to me. There are those out there that will argue using only a single focal length is the best method for street photography but they're usually so called purists who talk to damn much. Changing cameras has gotten me back on the street again and wondering what I could see with a zoom camera with even a wider range like 24-200mm. We'll see where this leads.