Prime lenses

[Gdad]

I don't buy into the argument that primes force creativity. If anything it seems that I have a shot in my head and the prime ends up pissing me off because it either prevents me from getting that exact shot or forces me into some awkward position to get it. They might force a bit more deliberation, but I think you've either got a creative composition in mind, or you don't. Then again, I'm reluctant to give credit to some damned inanimate object for an idea that I think I had, so maybe I just have a bit of an "adversarial" relationship with my lenses.

I guess I just don't approach going out to shoot pictures with too much in the way of preconceived shots I want to grab. Most of my inspiration comes from just looking through the viewfinder and seeing an opportunity. 90% of the time I tend to run around places with just one lens- because if I have two all I seem to see are shots that would work for the one not attached to the camera. If I have just one I focus my thinking around the tool at hand. And if that one happens to be a prime then all the better.

I happened to be standing in Jackson Square with a 180mm prime when this guy started playing the harmonica- if I could have zoomed out I probably would have...

I happened to be standing here in line with a 28mm prime- if I could have zoomed farther out or taken two steps back I probably would have...

I happened to be walking by here with a 16mm fisheye- if I could have zoomed in on the monorail I probably would have...

Everybody at Pixelmania was taking wide angle pictures of the tree at sunset- this time I was probably just too lazy to change my lens....

 

[WDWFigment]

I see your point (I worded that poorly--I didn't mean preconception so much as "photographic vision"), but I have a hard time buying that you're not creative or that those shots are a product of being forced into/pushed towards certain compositions because of the primes. Who is to say you wouldn't have come up with something equally awesome if you had taken the "alternate" shot.

To me, the deciding factor is the photographer, not the lens. You're awesome and you have good equipment. Give your equipment to a lesser photographer, and you will get lesser shots. Give you lesser equipment, and while the shots may be of lesser quality (if even that), they will drop by less of an amount than those of the lesser photographer with better equipment. Put another way, photographer>equipment. The mind (mind's eye, whatever) frames and creates the shot, not the camera.