That felt weird

As I mentioned last time the auto focus of my 50mm lens has been playing up. I guess the time I dropped it might have something to do with that... It's still sharp and all that when I focus it manually or it drops lucky automatically, it just doesn't always nail focus on its own. So I bit the bullet and bought a replacement - funded by selling the last of my micro four thirds gear. Naturally enough I wanted to get to know it, which meant  a trip to the market town on a sunny morning, after a trip to the tackle shop.

Although this focal length is thought of as 'standard' for giving a 'normal' field of view all the months of using a 28mm for almost everything makes 50mm feel like a telephoto. Very odd! More than once I was tempted to swap to get back into my new found comfort zone, but I resisted. Markets, like country shows, are a staple of camera club character portraits. trying to find a different way in to making photographs there is problematic. I guess hanging around all day might help. Unsurprisingly I didn't make any fantastic pictures in the short time I had available before getting back to work. I've no idea what made me photograph the cuddly tigers!

I did have a reason for taking a picture of the stamp design bed linen. I liked the way the shutters imposed a grid over the colourful grid of stamp images. Maybe a bit too simple. It was also a good test for the lens's autofocusing ability. It passed.

I also made a couple of pictures which are vague homages to Walker Evans and Martin Parr. Every time I make a picture which has a buildings in it and telephone wires or lamp posts I think of Walker Evans's American Photographs. I liked the way the shadow blocked the foot of the frame and the picture isn't a traditional view of the church with a tower and a steeple. I should, perhaps, have taken a few more steps back though.

The link to Martin Parr is more tenuous. Just a door, a step ladder, and a man. Except the man in my picture isn't doing anything to add that surreal element in Parr's.

One positive to come from my walk around the town centre was the first photo taken deliberately for a new project/series about parking. As usual this doesn't have a clear direction just yet and may well fizzle out. It's another thing to keep a look out for when I'm wandering aimlessly around places though! Anyway, the lens focuses just fine, is sharp and contrasty enough and I like the colours. It'll do the job. One thing is for sure I prefer using fixed focal length lenses to zooms. They make you think a bit more about where to stand, and sometimes they force a composition on you that you might not have made with a zoom. One thing I have noticed that I do frequently is to move around lining things up before putting the camera to my eye. Many times I don't get that far if things won't align to my satisfaction. then there are other times when I literally make a snapshot that seems to work. It's a funny old game, photography.

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