Last weekend I went out to visit a friend in Switzerland and I only took one lens with me – a manual focus lens.
I’m a massive advocate of shooting manual everything… iso, aperture, shutter speed and white balance. When I moved to shooting full manual, it transformed the way I see and shoot. Giving the camera as little to do as possible and taking over all creative decisions opened up my mind in a way I didn’t expect.
But focus, why on earth would you want to shoot manual focus when the most amazing autofocus technology exists? It’s ridiculous, right?
Well yeah, at weddings especially for documentary it would be tricky.
But when you’re practicing or just having fun with photography, I thought why not. So it’s the only lens I boldly packed for Switzerland. And I’ll tell you why it was a revelation.
I remember the first time I shot film. Film slows you right down and connects you with every shutter click in a way nothing else can.
Last weekend I found a very similar feeling shooting manual focus.
I could feel myself slowing down. I could hear myself actively thinking about exposure, depth of field and focus.
I felt like I was pre-visualising more because you sort of have to plan differently when you’re manually focusing.
It was truly refreshing and it brought the fun back into the act of making pictures, which is never a bad thing.
And the focus peaking is so good on mirrorless, that I didn’t miss much and even managed to capture a few birds in flight just by waiting for them to pass into where I knew was in focus!
I’m not saying you have to go out there and shoot manual focus. But why not try it? Cameras are so capable now of taking over as much as we want them to take over for us, that taking back control is creatively freeing – to me anyway.
Maybe I’m just a bit of a control freak!
But it doesn’t have to be manual focus. Anything that snaps you out of creative muscle memory could be a good thing.
Do you have a lens you don’t really use much. Next time you go out to take photos for fun, take just that lens.
Does your editing feel stale and boring to you? Next time you edit, don’t load up your import preset and just edit from scratch.
Do you find yourself avoiding certain kinds of light or whatever when shooting? Go and actively try and take photos in situations or conditions you would normally avoid.
It forces you out of your subconscious comfort zone and into your conscious creative mind.
And I find that when I’m creating consciously – even if the results aren’t what I was hoping for, I’m always delighted with them in some way.
Do I see myself switching to manual focus at weddings? No. But it’s made me want to get out and play with the camera more often again and that’s a pretty cool feeling.
Thanks for reading!
Adam
PS – I’ve had a few chats with people lately and there’s a lot of self doubt and imposter syndrome floating around. I feel it too and I want to reassure you that it’s a totally normal just-before-wedding-season feeling.
PPS – I’ve also been thinking a lot about ‘ghosting’ as it’s something else I’m hearing a lot about. Over the years I’ve learned to let it go and not worry too much. If I go into five watch shops looking for a watch, and I buy it from the 5th shop, I’m not going to go back to the other 4 shops to tell them. There are so many of us and we’re so easy to find now, it’s naive to think that couples aren’t shopping around. Maybe they pick someone else based on price, maybe on style or approach or sometimes maybe they liked someone else more than you… whatever the reason it’s just part of running a wedding photography business and something to come to terms with or spend your life grumpy and grumbling. The ones who ghost or don’t book weren’t right for you.
PPPS – I’ve had a few topic suggestions in recent weeks and I’ll get round to as many of them as I can. I’m also happy to answer questions one-to-one by email if you need advice.
PPPPS – Thanks for all the coffees so far, it really inspires me to keep writing: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/arjphoto
