civilized ku # 2034-40 ~ all of a piece
Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at 11:31AM ;)
Tension ~ Baltimore, MD • click to embiggen
Deli ~ Brooklyn, NY • click to embiggen
5 Av ~ Brooklyn, NY • click to embiggen
Roly Poly / bus stop ~ Baltimore, MD • click to embiggen
Snowfall ~ Au Sable Forks, NY • click to embiggen
Jersey Casa ~ Merchantville, NJ • click to embiggenLittle did I know that, when Santa left me the Zuiko M 45mm f1.8 lens, he was leaving me the TOP Lens of the Year 2011 - a very subjective ranking, to be sure). However, it's certainly gratifying to know that my wanter is functioning at such a high level.
That said, after a short time and a little bit of use, I can state that I really like this lens. It looks nice, feels good (the focus ring), and it performs as expected. The "as expected" qualification comes from my experience using my old MF Nikkor 85mm f1.8 lens inasmuch as the Zuiko is the 4/3rd equivalent of that lens. POV wise, the 2 lenses are nearly identical so there are no surprises there.
However, there is an unexpected surprise which has arisen from my initial use of this new lens. As mentioned previously, I wanted this lens because I had a very vague notion of wanting to use it for making pictures of people. The only specificity, albeit also rather vague, connected to that vague notion was the idea of making portrait-type people pictures. And while that use mostly likely will come to be, I have yet to employ the lens in that picture making cause.
The manner in which I have come to use it - and herein is the surprise - was totally unexpected. As evidenced by the pictures in this entry, I have been making pictures with people therein which would mostly likely be labeled as street photography, although ...
... here's the interesting bit - none of the above urban/street pictures were incited by and consequently made because of the people pictured in them. In fact, the pictures came into being for precisely the same reason virtually all of my pictures do - my eye was attracted to and my sensibilities were pricked by relationships of color, shape, form, and light as randomly and serendipitously observed during my any-time out-and-about-ness. In every above case, my initial attraction was the buildings / facades - the people were, in a sense, just there.
That is not to say that I was not aware of the people but I was most definitely not looking/waiting for any particular relationships or activities thereof. When their position(s) within my frame, as dictated by the buildings / facades, looked "right", I made the picture*. I kept it as simple as that.
I didn't wait for the runner in the Deli picture although I really like his position in the final picture. The people in the Roly Poly picture were just waiting for a bus. While I did wait for the foreground figure in Tension picture to reach the corner, when I made the exposure, he just happened to turn his head toward another figure across the street who seemed to be lurking and looking back at him. And, the guy at the rear of the UPS truck in the 5 Av picture had just moved into the frame as I was about to make the picture.
In each of those pictures, the people add an element of life to what could have been more cool and detached views of the buildings/facades. I really like the results of including people in these scenes and I can certainly foresee a body of work (streetscapes? - making me the Streetscapist) along these lines.
That said, I'll still be looking for, as is my wont, relationships of color, shape, form, and light as found in street environments which are dominated by interesting buildings / facades. However, I will, from this day forward, be at least a little more attuned to the people therein. Which, in fact, might lead some to see the pictures about people pictures even though I would consider them to be people/place tableaux.
Could I have made these pictures without using the 45mm lens? Sure enough, but what I like about the lens is the slightly "compressed" perspective it produces. A look which brings the people and the buildings / facades into close visual proximity. The fact that I see (and feel) cities as "compressed" space is most definitely well served by the moderate tele "compressed" perspective of the Zuiko 45mm lens (90mm, 35mm equivalent).
The compressed look, to my eye and sensibilities, puts the people and the buildings/facades on the same 2D plane on the 2D surface of a print thereby emphasizing neither and creating a visually more "integrated" yet complex whole/tableau. I find that "integrated" look refreshing and rather different from the dominate wide-angle MO most often employed to make street photography pictures.
FYI, a picture making fact: I did not employ the motor-drive approach to picturing these scenes. The pictures posted in this entry are the result only 1 or 2 exposures made of each scene.
*One of my all-time favorite movie makers, Stanley Kubrick (an accomplished still picture maker), was known for creating an establishing shot and letting the action move about the scene rather than letting the camera move about the scene.
Reader Comments (2)
Before I even read a single word, I thought to myself "he's been using a longer lens!" It's refreshing, but that's not to say that I'm in anyway shape or form am tired of seeing your images.
Paragraph five contains what has been the single most important lesson I have learnt about picture making. It was also the hardest and least spoken about one too. For so many years, so many books informed me that I must extensively plan and pre-visualise to be a good photographer, but only when I taught and allowed myself to stop doing it did I manage to let my creativity flow. Your example is so important for some of us, especially as I would have always thought that it would be the least appropriate method for normal my "attention to detail, conservative and precise" personality!
Mark,
I like the pictures... the new 45mm lens looks really good.
Question: you have written in the past that you detest electronic viewfinders, so how do you compose images with the 45mm lens? Your clip-on optical finder is probably only good for 20 or 25mm (50mm equivalent). Are you using the rear panel? Someone described using the rear panel was like holding a baby with a wet diaper, and that has kinda stuck with me. Often not an ideal way to frame an image.