How One Thing Revolutionized My Photography
I’m Justin Mott and welcome to my home here in Hanoi, Vietnam. And if you’re new here, my channel is dedicated to all things photography from the perspective of a full-time working professional photographer. And today I want to share with you a pivotal moment in my journey as a freelance photo
Journalist working throughout Southeast Asia. In my first year of my career, I made a decision that not only transformed my style, but also significantly impacted my career as a photographer. Can you guess what that decision was? Was it shooting all my assignments with my eyes closed?
Was it shooting everything at 1.4, something I’m guilty of? Or maybe shooting everything exclusively on film? No, none of those things. But before I give you this secret, I want to remind you guys to check out my online
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Okay, here it is. The game changer for me was shedding my zoom lens and committing to shooting every single assignment no matter what the genre was with a fixed 35mm lens. Simple, but it worked. I packed away my zooms and I embraced the fixed lens movement.
Okay, it wasn’t a movement, but that sounded like I was part of something cool, which I wasn’t, but it was a movement for me. From capturing the vibrant streets of bustling cities on assignment to intimate moments of human connection on my personal projects, I relied solely on my trusty 35mm lens.
Now I’m not saying this approach will work for everyone or every genre, but if you’re like me, someone who craves a distinct style and willing to push boundaries and has the patience and discipline to make it work, I suggest, I highly suggest you give it a try. Why?
Well, by limiting myself to a fixed focal length, I learned to crop with my feet. I became more immersed in my surroundings, more fluid in my movements, and more creative in my compositions. While photography like any art, it’s all about finding what works for you. So it might not be a 35mm.
It might be a 28, a 50mm, or maybe you want to shoot everything with a 500. Experiment and discover your own visual language by trying, going out and trying it. For me, the 35mm was the perfect focal length that provided the versatility I needed for
Scene setters for my travel stories and the intimacy required for environmental portraits, something I did a lot of on my New York Times assignments. Now don’t get me wrong. I still use zooms occasionally, especially when shooting video or in fast paced environments,
But my 35mm almost 20 years later still remains my go-to lens for my personal and my assignment work. So that’s it. There you have it. I’m keeping it short. This is the shortest non-short video I think I’ve ever done. Try it out and let me know what works for you.
I’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments section below. Before we wrap up here, I’ll show you some of my favorite early days. So don’t judge me too harshly. My early days, 35mm shots on assignment that I did all for the New York Times.
Here’s some of my favorites with a little bit of music. And at the end, because I know you’re going to stay tuned to look at photographs, at the end, don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe. And again, don’t forget to check out my online store at Ask Mott by Just A Mott presets,
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Discover the one thing that revolutionized this New York Times photojournalist’s career and style. Learn from my experience and take your photography to the next level!
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20 Comments
I definitely relate! Since picking up the Summarit 35mm f/2.4 last summer it’s been practically glued to my M10-D. I sometimes wonder if I would like a Summilux, but honestly the tiny little 35 has been my favorite daily lens of recent years. Love you environmental portraits!
I took your suggestion to heart, and permanently epoxied my Summilux-M 28 mm to my M11 and APO-Summicron-M 35 to my M11 Monochrom. 😊
Kidding aside, your advice is solid.
Thank you for sharing. I find this subject fascinating. I guess everybody has an opinion using zoom or prime lens. Although I use zoom lens(24-70), I avoid zooming in or out, I use as if it's a prime lens (normally 50mm). I must confess I'm often tempted by shifting the focal length and do it. In recent years a lot of people start with a kit, reasonably priced body with a zoom lens. How would you think about it if I may ask. I guess you have some comments or opinions (pros vs cons) toward kits. Do you think a kit has a negative impact on beginner photographers ? What do you think about kit lenses compared to your experience ?
Absolutely agree with this! Started doing it at the beginning of last year and now it feels strange, and a bit uncomfortable, to use a zoom!
Beautiful and emotive photographs! 👍😍
I can't afford a good zoom so I just use the 60 to 28 kit lens, so used to using it now i don't want a zoom.
And good " LIGHTING "
Really enjoyed your images. Of course, there's a long tradition going back at least to Cartier-Bresson of using a fixed 35mm prime lens in photography. I used a Fujifilm X100S with its fixed 23mm (35mm-e) prime lens for travel photography during 2014-2016 and found it adequate for almost all purposes. Also liberating not to have to think about which focal length to use, as you describe. I think everyone who buys a Fujifilm X100 series camera thinks the same way. Also Ricoh GR and Leiica Q users, though those cameras have 28mm-e lenses. I still often go out with just the 23mm (35mm-e) f/2 prime lens on my newer X-T5 camera.
When I got my first camera in 1990 I could only afford one lens, a 35mm f2. I was in a situation where there was a lot of interesting things to photograph and I ended up with most of my best images to date. Over the last 20 years I’ve been somewhat lost in amongst multiple camera systems and too many lens choices, trying to recreate the magic of that first camera and lens.
Are you Team Prime or Team Zoom?
Nice photos! I think this is very good advice about choosing a primary focal length, to keep things simple, to cultivate a strong understanding of what the focal length will give one, — so that one can pre-visualize the shot — and relatedly to get one moving one's feet!
Agree Justin, fixed fl the way to go, I either use the 28 on my Q3 ( no choice I know 😂 ) or the 40 on my GR3 x , I used to use zooms on my Nikon Z and ended up flogging the lot and you know what ? I don’t miss zooms one bit , it’s surprising how you adapt.
Sorry forgot to say, love those images, my kind of photography😀
Always enjoy your shared expertise and experience. But I wonder if you speak Vietnamese? If so, how long did it take to learn? I can’t imagine living in another country and not knowing the language. Keep up the good, inspirational work!
Once again, thanks Justin. Always insightful. Always helpful. It worked for HCB, although his chosen optic was the 50mm, apparently.
Nice music at the end btw 👌
I agree that prime lenses tend to be higher quality and faster. But I'm struggling to decide between my 40mm prime and the versatility of my 28-50mm kit lens. The kit lens gives me the flexibility to switch between a wider 28mm view and a tighter 50mm view, which can be helpful in different situations. I am chrused…. which way to go 🙁
100%. Did the same thing on my last trip and the photographic gods reached down, blessed my 50mm, and said "LEVEL UP" very loudly. It got weird though as now I am obsessed with the different renderings of 50mm and my collection of 50s has frown.
The upside of a prime is mainly about problem solving. When you know your prime by heart, you know where to place yourself to get the framing you want before even looking through the viewfinder. With a zoom, you ask yourself where to be and how much you should zoom to get the shot. Two more questions, hence slower to react and to get what you really want. Takes a bit of time but really simplifies the parameters of a photo in the end.
One of my favorite exercises is to go out with a particular prime lens, which ever size I fee like using at the time, and shoot with it for a few weeks. This exercise really helps you learn the different nuances of each focal length, it helps you learn to anticipate what lens will work best in different situations, and you learn what focal length works best for you. In my case, 50mm is the one i like the best.
Oddly enough, when I shoot with primes, I feel like I have more freedom and I'm less restricted. Go figure.
Great stuff…..thanks for posting!