A while ago I went to the Monterey Aquarium and I took some photos with my Leica M6 and a 35mm Cron. I like the small package of that camera and the 35mm lens gives me enough focal length to work with.
Many people don’t like the idea of fixed lenses. They feel that they can’t change the perspective and that is why they prefer zooms. With fixed lenses I zoom as well. My legs are the zoom. I have to get closer to the object to zoom in and step back to zoom out.
This first photo is the ‘zoomed out’ version. I stepped back all the way to the end of the room to capture how people interact in an environment like the aquarium.
I found it interesting how people move around to get their “perspective” of the fish.
This image shows several stories within one shot. It talks about the graceful fish, the kid, the couple, the man with the camera, etc. Each person is interesting and each one behaves in a different way. The fish adds to it, but the main focus to me are the people.
In this second shot I walked all the way up and focused on one object.
Now the animal is the center point of that photo. People are just shadows. They provide context but they don’t distract from the fish.
Whatever tools I am using, I think about the story that I want to tell and find my perspective.