Zoom Lenses Are For Lazy People: DC Edition

Just me, the D700, and a 50mm f/1.4D vs Washington DC and 318,391,304 tourists…

Lately, I’ve been trying to avoid bringing out the 24-70mm f/2.8G as much as possible. It’s big and heavy and intimidating… and honestly, I think I’m over zooms. There’s just a magical quality to photos taken with primes. Anyways, my advice to you: if you aren’t shooting with a prime yet, you need to start now.

NIKON D700 and 50.0 mm f/1.4 shooting f/4.0, 1/640 s, ISO 200 at 50 mm. Taken at 2010:03:29 18:06:45

Also, if you’re going to a tourist hot spot, use the people to add something. Oh, and if you’re particularly lazy (like me) and don’t want to walk all the way over to get a close shot, use foreground framing. Makes you look artsy instead of lazy.

Finally, it just needs to be stated: DC is overrated. In the last year, I’ve gone to DC, Boston, Philly, Rome, Dubai, Cape Town, Durban, San Diego, San Francisco, Paris, LA, and various other cities and I’ve got to say that somehow DC always leaves me feeling dirty inside. Now, whenever I lament that fact that I’m in Boston or New York, I’ll just think to myself, “Hey, it could be worse–you could be in DC.”