This week’s Friday post falls on the Christmas Day. I was going to write a piece on the predominance of normal-to-wide angle lenses in street photography, almost to the exclusion of all else; how it is too restrictive and what you can do with a compact telephoto instead.

Essentially, you lie in wait instead of pushing the camera in people’s faces (as most street photographers have to do). To lie in wait is a good alternative strategy anyway, and many prominent street photographers do just that when they find a spot of choice, and when a human subject is needed to complete the image.

The shot above was taken using Fuji XC 50-230 @114mm, f/9, 1/30 sec handheld — not bad, given that it is critically sharp — the stabiliser does its job. The processing was with Capture One, which is brilliant, works a treat.

But it’s a holiday, not a time for analytics. In the Season’s spirit, here’s a short poem Pooh’s hum style 🙂

I wished this sequence to commence,
I had attached my long-F lens,
(the F here not a dirty word,
because it stands for Focus.)
I chose a narrow passageway,
a scruffy wall, a sky of grey;
I knew the scene would strike a cord,
I’d seen some other photos.

I waited long, my time was nigh:
a family was passing by;
a shot like this you can’t arrange
by compliment or chatter.
‘Twas neither afternoon, nor morn,
I did not know that she would turn —
but then she did. (This man is strange?..)
And I released the shutter.

Merry Christmas, wherever you are.