ode to the 35mm focal length
Man Fishes at Pacifica1
If you're a photographer, you know that you have a preferred focal length. Often times that preference is borne from the type of photography you gravitate towards: landscape, portrait, street, architecture, etc.
But what happens if you don't gravitate towards a type of photography?
Maroon Bells at Sunrise2
For most of my photography career, I've been a "landscape photographer" - I've enjoyed adventuring outdoors alone and looking for scenery in remote places; living in Colorado for a chunk of my life helped. This meant that the wider spectrum of focal lengths were more comfortable to me: 16mm - 28mm were my usuals.
But as I got more comfortable taking pictures of people too, I needed tighter more flattering focal lengths - wider angles tend to make people look weird. The "Nifty Fifty" (50mm) felt too claustrophobic for me and 85mm+ was strictly a portrait length: weddings, single-subject, or posed shots.
I like "people photos" with context - just getting photos of folks didn't feel right for me unless there was also stuff around them, what they were doing, or who they were around; it makes sense in my head.
Jeremiah and Alice's Wedding3
And so, you kind of end up somewhere in the middle: not too wide, not too tight: a lens that's versatile enough to be a landscape lens, group shot, single-subject, or whatever I'm doing that day.
35mm is right where I feel the most comfortable shooting. It helps that I think that it is aesthetically pleasing, too.
I'm sure there's some psychology to it too - maybe it's the most similar to our vision and it's easy to just not think and snap the image you want? Overall, it's a focal length that I'm drawn to.
As I continue my photography journey, I hope to find more unique ways to use this focal length but as a daily driver, it's hard to beat.
Here's to you, 35mm.
Redwoods at Muir Woods1
All credits for photos are self. Do not use without permission.