A couple of weeks ago I described how I felt that even if you take the minimalist approach, sometimes a little is just not enough.
Since then I have been thinking a lot about what the problem was, and how to move on.
I think I have reached the conclusion that what I really want actually is some restrictions and I think it comes from a desire to kinda go back to the roots.
This might be a good place to mention that in no way am I a seasoned photographer with 25+ years of experience. Far from it.
And that isn’t really the point either.
By going back to the roots I mean returning to the time when I took pictures because I thought it was fun. Back when I didn’t spent all my times thinking about which gear to bring along and what to use it for.
In software development we have an acronym (developers LOVE acronyms) “K.I.S.S.”. It stands for “Keep It Simple, Stupid”. It is a way to remind yourself that even though you COULD make a fantastic software solution with all sorts of bells and whistles, sometimes it is better to just keep the solution simple.
This was actually the mindset I had recently, when going out to take pictures with only my two pancake lenses, the Canon 24mm f/2.8 and the Canon 40mm f/2.8. But perhaps two pancakes is still one too many?
Last year I mainly used my Sigma 30mm lens but since then I have added a 24mm lens, a 40mm lens and a 50mm lens.
Now I end up spending a lot of time switching between these lenses and I have lost that intuitive sense of knowing exactly how my framing will be, before taken the camera viewfinder to my eye.
But what to do?
I will have to take a decision as to what lens I will consider my “main” lens. The lens that fits my needs best. In a way I think this is my 24mm pancake that I have been using a lot recently, but my Sigma 30 is also quite special.
Yesterday a friend came by. He had just bought a Canon 18-135mm lens. To him that represented the perfect lens, as he were able to capture everything he wanted, without having to change lens.
That’s another way to look at it and in a way I do the same when I make a safe choice and puts on the Tamron 17-50mm zoom lens.
I think it is time to go back to that feeling of knowing my lens and its framing again. Perhaps I should try each of them exclusively for a while, to try and get a feeling of which lens suits me the best, before deciding on “The One.”
(This post was originally written i danish.)