In the morning I was so tired I didn’t even want to go out. But sometimes all you need is to open the door and once you’re outside, the energy is restored and you’re ready for a new challenge. And that’s what happened today.
I wrote about Tevån on Monday, about how I need to find the keys to unlock the mystery of it, because it’s so difficult for me to shoot. Already when I wrote that, I had this idea in my mind that maybe I could use a telephoto lens instead of a wideangle. So today I went there with my Tamron superzoom, and it worked! What I needed was to stop searching for compositions that fit 16mm, and look for compositions that fit 60mm instead. It’s a bit ironic though, because I used to be a real detail picker even with my landscapes. I didn’t get my first wideangle until a few years ago and since then it’s become my first choice for landscapes, and it seems that I forgot that other focal lengths can be used. The point is, you need to use the right tool for the job instead of trying to form the job to fit the tool. Square peg through a round hole, and all that. Not that I’m dismissing the exercise of using just one fixed focal lens for a period of time, it can be a good learning experience. But in the end, you have a vision as a photographer and you need to use whatever focal length that you feel is the best to make that vision come to life.
Once I got over this hurdle of using 16mm, I actually felt quite liberated. When I look at the EXIF data of the pictures, I can see that the widest angle I used was 22mm (=35mm) and the longest was 141mm (=226mm, but I only used it with one shot).
So that was a lesson. I probably have too many lenses by now, but it should mean that I certainly have a lens for whatever job that I need to do. Using a superb lens like the Sony Zeiss 16-35/4 can give me beautifully sharp and contrasty pictures, but there are times when I should just switch the lens, and not get frustrated about not being able to take the picture I’m sure is there but just can’t see it through the viewfinder!
