Lenses and 'artifice'

Submitted by wowfactorpix

Question:

G'day, Andy and Michael. Thank you so much for writing TPCP! It deals with personal investment in vision and mind and that's where I know the growth of my photography lies. I recently presented twice at APSCON (the annual convention of the Australian Photographic Society) on the theme of investing in mind and eye rather than investing in apparatus as a path to photographic fulfillment. I was delighted to discover TPCP amongst a slew of camera craft books at a trade show associated with our convention. I bought it and have been enjoying it immensely. I have a question for you about lenses, funnily enough. Your book deals with clear seeing without conceptions and artifice. I get that. But in clearly seeing the world around me, I see it with my human field of vision - exactly as you do. I get the feeling that I should be doing the exercises with lenses that replicate my vision - whether that be a 'normal' lens or a telephoto that replicates what I see when I view the world around me very selectively. Super-wide lenses are among my favourites, perhaps because they show me my world in ways that I cannot 'see' naturally. I'm interested in your view about whether I should eschew my wide lenses while I'm working through TPCP in order to see in a purer, human fashion. Kind regards, Rob

Answer:

Good question Rob. I think you got the point exactly. We are interested in forming the equivelant of our perceptions, and normal lenses and telephotos can do that. Super-wide angle lenses do not do that. There is nothing with using wide angle lenses, but they really don't work well for this practice.

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Submitted by wowfactorpix on January 9, 2012 - 4:26am.

Thanks very much for confirming what seemed an intuitive conclusion to me after working thus far through the book. It's reassuring to know that I'm on the right wavelength! Rob (9 Jan 2012)

Lenses and 'artifice'

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