DON'T Play the "Size Game" in the streets

The infamous quote of "longer is better" does not apply to SP. We're talking about lenses here, btw. :P 

There are a few reasons as to why I think telephotos and SP would never mix. They're basically immiscible. Like oil and water; north and north. Some of these reasons are picked up from readings and discussions, others I just realized myself. But I'll just summarize them into three.

(1) Viewers quite feel detached and uninvolved in photos made with teles (the reaction might be subconscious to an untrained eye, but it's there. ). As streettogs we'd like to replicate the very atmosphere & mood of the situation we photographed, but delivering a photo which makes the viewer more of a spectator than a participant is not the best way to keep on track.

(2) Streettogs are not paparazzis/creeps/voyeurs/etc. There's this quote which basically nails the point down. "Creepiness is directly proportional to focal length". We're not on the streets to capture things from a distance. We are there to capture beauty, art, and moments as we experience them. In that way, our viewers will also feel the spontaneity and decisiveness of our photos. Hopefully. Well it's not that easy, really. But that's a point.

(3) Invisibility is an undeniable advantage in SP. And having a humongous cam and lens setup hanging around your neck simply fails to deliver that advantage. Telephotos draw too much attention. But too much attention is the least that we would want. We'd want to be as unobtrusive and as discreet as possible in shooting. In this way, we could capture the "rawness" of the scenes as they happen. 

So drop the long lenses and keep up with the primes. A 35mm on a full frame sensor or film cam is the ideal setup for SP. That is what the masters have been using since Henri Cartier-Bresson. 24mm on cropped sensors rounds up to almost 35mm on full frame, so they are just as good. If you have no primes on hand (like me!), kit lenses are fine. I just tape the zoom ring to a constant 24mm focal length and voila! instant prime lens! They just make me feel less intimidating and more discreet! Plus, the field of view of these lenses replicate a normal human field of vision. The point of attention of our eyes and some field periferal are included in, making a raw replication of what the photographer really saw. 

*More on the advantages of primes on next posts. Thanks for reading! And keep updated! ;)