I’ve decided to make an investment in the lenses for my camera. Initially, I thought I wanted a high-quality zoom lens, but after reading an article entitled The Forgotten Lens by Gary Voth, I changed my mind. I decided to buy a 35mm lens (equivalent to a 50mm lens on a film camera) and change my approach to photography. Instead of using a zoom lens, I’ll be zooming with my feet for a little while.

I bought a lens from a retiring professional off eBay, and took it out today to take some test shots. I’m really pleased with it — the image quality is great, really contrasty and with well-saturated colours; I love being able to shoot indoors without a flash; and the control of the depth-of-field is fantastic. I know every pro will tell you this ad nauseum, but it really is the quality of lenses that makes all the difference. Here are some of my very quick test shots, largely unretouched in Photoshop (autolevels, crop, image size is all I did to these)

One of the reasons I wanted the new 35mm lens is that it captures the world very much as the human eye sees it, making it a great “walk-around” lens. To that end, I thought I’d include pictures of “us as we are.”

Jerome, surgically attached to his Blackberry

Matthew, pulling faces as usual

Aude, on the telephone

Daisy, cleaning her arse