In my August online class with the BPSOP, and right before my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshop I conducted in Spain, I was asked what I take with me when I go out shooting. My reply is simple, I make it real easy for my poor tired little brain.
When I go out walking in some city with fellow photographers that are taking one of my workshops, I take two cameras. I have a Canon Mark III with a 17-40mm lens on it that I have over my shoulder, and I have a very small Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX7 with a 24-90mm lens that I have around my neck
That gives me a range from 17-90mm, and for the most part it’s all I need. When looking at my website, you never know what photo was shot with what camera. When asked, I tell people that it’s not the camera, it’s the ten inches behind it that really matters.
I’ve seen photographers carry a backpack that has a whole lot of lens in it. That’s great if you have the time to switch out a lens, but when you’re walking around ‘street shooting’ you would never have that kind of time. Your subject would be long gone or old and gray waiting for you to decide what to put on your camera.
If I’m going to be at a location that I have either scouted or thought about I might take a speciality lens besides my normal equipment. For example, I did a workshop in New York and we went to Coney island. I thought it would be ineresting to tak a 600mm lens and put it on a tripod. I stood in one location and with the camera free to move on the tripod, I scanned the boardwalk looking for interesting subjct matter; the point of this was to knock everything out of focus so the background would be a sea of muted color.
Btw, I have also put my 100mm macro on and shot portraits with it. I like to use the wrong lens for the right subject…or the wrong subject with the right lens…you just never know!!!!
Visit my new website at: www.joebaraban.com, and check out my workshop schedule at the the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime.
JoeB
