Tuesday, October 1, 2013

1.8

Whenever I photograph the streets of Spokane, I always use this makeshift, beat up, piece of shit, 50mm f/1.8 I adapted  from an old Canon film camera to work on my dslr. Because of this, the focus ring jams quite often and I have to use a pair of pliers to get it unstuck. It does not have auto focus or image stabilization. I can't even change the aperture. It is always at f/1.8. And I love it. This lens is both constricting and freeing. It takes away my freedom to run about like a mad man pointing my camera at anything and everything, knowing that the auto focus will sort things out. It makes me take things more slowly. It frees my mind to inspect the elements within my frame and consider them thoroughly. I look through the view finder, adjust my focus, and wait, and wait, and then wait some more, and then wait just a little more for the right moment to press the shutter.