The 50mm Calf Portrait

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Page 01KARJAKA'S Aonday usungs VoL. The 50mm Calf Portrait KARJAKA.COM

Page 02he Good Humor bar had been consumed. es. He was self taught as was I for the most part. I asked the 6oo gent, do you have a 5omm? He I'll show you. I approached the young woman and happily pulled one out of his bag of 5 various lens- chatted it up about art, and asked if I could take a Calf Portrait THE 50mm WRITTEN BY KARJAKA 1 We commiserated on that fact. and the fact that I'm Popsicle stick in hand. Conversation in t an adjunct professor at Parsons. I asked him why progress, and a young photographer sat next to Casey and me. We had just come out of guest critiquing final enough." presentations at Parsons School of Design and took If you've ever worked with me, or seen me in ac- a beat to observe the area. Sitting next to us, a young gent with one of those behemoth plastic Canon tion, I have no problem getting down on the ground lenses, you know...the ones that you see in any cor- and/or dirty to get the frame right. That's a hard pill ner electronics store here in NYC that can zoom for many to swallow especially on the streets of New across a football field, however fail to have actual good glass or relative sharpness in low light. He was s on the sidewalk to capture your portrait and hav- ing all of New York just pass you by taking the photograph of a young woman's calf tattoo from 15ft away. In your shot, behind you, over you, and my favorite, the absent minded Out of my own curiosity, I asked the gent what focal length that lens was. cellphone yoga wearing bystander His reply, 6oomm zoom 5.6. who lets their dog pee on your leg 6oomm. Not entirely surprised while you're on the ground getting I asked why the need for the 6oo the shot. Woof. in a park? The Canon gent happily Back to the 6oo. pulled out several printed portfoli- os of animals and people, using that lens from a long distance. He liked I knew I had a moment, similar to not interfere with the environ- to what I had grown up with, to open his world. Having given him a brief ment. But from my perspective pe- rusing this portfolio, something was description on how zoom lenses op- amiss. The framing was off, the eye erate ... in short a telephoto zoom lens uses multiple lenses to achieve was all over the place. desired focal lengths within one lens housing, and The 5omm lens. The Nifty Fifty. A prime lens. It thusly light must travel through said path and that was the lens I grew up with. The one my Father had affects the quality of the light. Yada Yada Yada. A sharpened my eye and composition with. Optically prime lens on the other hand, only has I lens for it's the closest lens to our own as humans. With all light to enter, so the light and sharpness is more brilliant and able to capture more detail and light the photographers I apprenticed/studied with, they had all said the same. Start with the 5omm. No zoom spectrum..., I suggested, but to certain extent im- lenses, no crazy wide, unless it was a 35mm but even plored to 6oo, “Take a month off from all of your ienses and only use the 5omm. Shoot everything then, learn your 5omm world. First lenses shape how we view things in our and anything with it. If you don't like what you're mind's eye. I eventually graduated to a Io5mm 2.5 viewing, just get closer or make a shift. After that for portraits. For years, those were the only lenses month, go back to your 6oo and you'll notice a dif- Make of that info as you will. digital Leica Mrop in my bag and said, better yet

Page 03photo of her calf. So there I was once again on the ground. My Father's voice in the back of my head telling me to get closer, get closer. Bystand- ers around me asking what kind of camera I was using, what I'm thinking, and me laying in dirt after not moments ago giving a small lecture on commercial imagery. I dusted myself off and showed 6oo, and compared to his long lensed calf portrait. With his 5omm in hand he followed my ex- ample and created his own shot asking for permission and getting relatively close to the ground with his 5o. Wecompared 5omm i and images swapped names and that was that. No insta- gram handles exchanged, or email addresses or phone numbers, just two strangers hun- gry to make a better photograph. We wished him well and were off. Casey shared the moment of me on the ground that she had captured with her phone. It was a common event for me, how- ever it never really occurred as to what I looked like in those moments. "You shifted his life forever", she said. “Maybe." I replied. As with all photos, time will tell. We walked a few blocks and reflected on that moment in deep thought on photos and art and... ooo! Doughnuts!

Page 04KARJAKA STUDIOS info@karjaka.com 917 789 4829 karjaka.com