THE MAGICAL NIFTY 50mm

When I first started with photography, as I’m sure a lot people did, I started with a 50mm lens. It was the Canon 50mm 1.4 to be exact and I still have it. Love that lens and I’d still recommend it to people if you were starting out. The Nifty fifty is a great lens because it covers most things, you can shoot a landscape with it, a portrait, some still life and even a bit of travel. It’s a great all rounder lens and I’ll always own one just for that reason.

But we’re moving into a time where we want to focus more on family and family photography and I’ve been looking at different systems and what works, but not only that but what feels right. Getting the right feeling lens is the best thing. It’s second nature when you look though the viewfinder. It’s how you see the world. We know a lot of photographers that shoot with 85mm and I love their work!! That beautiful depth that you get with those lenses is so so beautiful and every time I try one, I want to buy it instantly but know at the back of my mind that I won’t use it as much as other lenses. Maybe one day I’ll make it work and use that lens for everything and hope that it becomes second nature.

PRIME LENSES

We’ve always shot with prime lenses, Zoom lenses have always had their appeal especially when shooting Weddings, but I like to move around and get close to a subject and to be honest it’s one less thing to think about! We’ve always loved the idea of making it more simple with everything, so that you can focus on what you are actually photographing and almost set it and forget it. We love that moment of calm in photography and knowing that you’ve got a good shot. You kinda know that they are going to be happy with it even if you don’t see the image on the screen, you just know. We love to make it as simple as possible because well, we’ve got busy minds and there is so much information out there these days, it’s just nice to feel present with someone and have the joy of photography, really connect with them if they are 80 or 8. That being said it’s that we want a lens that we can forget about, one that we know is going to do the job.

THE STORYTELLER 35mm

That lens for me is the 35mm 1.4. When we had Canon cameras I think it was my most used lens, I once shot a whole wedding on one. And I know there isn’t much difference between 50 and 35 but for me it feels like there is, there is just so much more room for the story and it just looks a little more cinematic, which I love.

On a side note the Sony cameras have a 16x9 frame mode which a lot of movies are filmed in and I want to start shooting more portraits like that with that lens. And the Sony 35mm 1.4 has got to be the nicest 35 I’ve used, it’s beautiful background and nice and sharp but not overly sharp and gives nice bits of lens flare. For me this is the perfect family lens, it’s great at telling story’s and kids look amazing with this lens!

Do you have a favourite lens to photograph the family? Would love to know in the comments!