I’ve noticed a little habit I have. I don’t know whether it’s good or bad. It has to do with getting used to something to the point of neglect of other things. Let me give you an example. I bought a jacket the other week. Since I bought it, I seem to be wearing it all the time. I’ve been neglecting my other jackets. Same goes for a new pair of jeans I got. I don’t know whether it’s because I can’t be bothered or because it’s the novelty of something new, but it’s happening.

How does this relate to my photography? Well, for the past few months and for all of the 5814 of images in my backlog to edit and process, I’ve only used one lens. My Nikon 50mm f1.4D has been stuck on my camera for the past I don’t know how long. I have other lenses, I’ve used those lenses, I like those lenses, but I haven’t been using those lenses. The 50mm is the cheapest and simplest lens I have. It’s not like it’s got some whizbang thingy the other lenses don’t have. However, the low light capabilities, the depth of field control, the light weight and the speed of the lens just seems to let me do more with less. It seems to produce the kind of images that I want to create as well.

Maybe it’s that nostalgic part of my DNA taking me back to my teenage years when I first started using my dad’s Nikon FE (which I still have) with the one 50mm lens it had and the photos I used to create back then. I don’t think it’s laziness since I lug the other lenses around with me on a shoot. They just never seem to make it out of the bag. I think it’s a habitual / comfort thing with a dash of nostalgia and creative aspiration thrown in.

There are two reasons why I think I need to change it around a bit and get out of this zone I seem to have gotten stuck in. One is for the sake of creativity provided by the different lenses and the other is based on the old saying, “if you don’t get it out and use it, you might lose it.” I believe if a piece of equipment whether it be a knife, a tool, a rifle, a camera or a lens isn’t used periodically, it will start to deteriorate and the last thing I want is for all that equipment to start to deteriorate in any way.

Hope you all have a great weekend (it’s Friday here in Australia so we get a head start).