Inspiration & technique: Micah Albert & Marc Ducrest

I came across a post on Swipelife on Micah Albert, and though it was an interesting case of shooting rather intimately with a wide angle lens. It's quite used by journalists who are very close to the action and suddenly need to get the situation into context: you zoom out, capture a scene from a very embedded point of view. In focus surroundings and short distance create more empathy.

For the record: I find contrast is pushed to high, a bad trend running among digital users.

That demonstrates well how a camera with a prime 35mm lens can do it all if you are willing to move. It aslo shows that portraits are not necessarily made with a so called portrait lens and tons of bokeh. I'm a fan of the later, but I only tolerate it well done, i.e. medium format or very very nice 35mm lens and perfect original composition. Shooting wide open your SLR with a 135mm lens does not mean your are a great portrait photographer.

Anyway, back to my point: there's more than one way to tell a story and most amateurs are usually limited by redoing again and again what they did well once. Photography becomes interesting again when you force yourself into a position towards the subject, a lens, a distance that you are not used to.

My better half put that sticker on the oven that says "life begin outside of you comfort zone". Well so does your personal photographic evolution :) 

So dare to try wide angle lenses when you want to tell a lively story while being embedded in the situation !

Here is an other series by a amateur and traveller called Marc Ducrest. I asked him back in the days and if I remember correctly he was using a 28mm only:

Enjoy shooting :)