Hey Ya'll! I just wanted to say this is my 400th blog! Whoop! Whoop! Who would have thought that I would have so much to say? Let's see 400 divided by 52 equals 7.6. Over 7 and a half years of doing a once a week blog. Whew! How's everyone doing? Me? Not too bad. But I've been in a photography slump. I have been working on the MAV (Max's Adventure Van) so much that my photography has taken a hit. Also the weather has not been too good for photography either. But spring is in the air and I want to get out and shoot but I need to do something to kick start my photography mojo. I think once I get started I'll be okay.  Now I have been in slumps in the past and sometimes just getting a new piece of gear will knock you out of that slump. But I'm pretty set on gear. Sometimes just changing genres of photography does the trick. Maybe trying a new and different technique to get those juices flowing again. This week I want to share a technique that has helped me in the past and helped me see more photography minded. Shooting with one focal length. Some may call it a one lens challenge but lots of people all they have are zoom lenses and if you just restrict to one lens you could have a focal length of 24-120mm which isn't much of a challenge because you have so many focal lengths to shoot from. So if you only have zooms you can use a piece of gaffers tape and tape your lens to one specific focal length. Say 35 or 50 and leave it there all day. For me I like using primes for this exercise and put a 35, 50 or even a 85 and only use it for a day. This exercise will get you more into seeing the scene. You will have to use your feet to zoom in and out and framing will become easier as the day goes on.  Usually with zooms we tend to shoot at the long end or the short end and not much in the middle. But if you restrict yourself to one focal length it makes you see things differently. 

How do I do this? I usually take a photowalk somewhere. It could be somewhere I've done many times like my hometown or somewhere near by. But by restricting your focal length you have to see the same scenes differently. Now if you like to do landscapes this could work also.  A year or so ago Robert my photography wing man and I decided to do this challenge. It was a one lens or (Focal length) challenge. We decided to go to Wilmington NC and shoot the downtown area with one lens. The first thing that the challenge did was to lighten our load of camera gear that we were carrying. One lens and one camera body makes for a light load! When we got to our destination it started to sprinkle and light rain a little making the challenge even more difficult. Now we had to think about keeping our lens dry and looking at the scene with only one focal length. What a great time we had. I chose an old 50mm macro that I had. It was a slow to focus lens but pretty sharp. I think he had something like a 35mm ish lens that he was using. I do believe that the shots I got that day were some of my best of Wilmington that I have ever shot. Some of them have even made my website that is reserved for some of my best shots. Using that one focal length made me look in places I don't normally look for shots and at things that I would have never seen before but because I was restricted to the one focal length it made me look . Now I'm only proposing doing this for a day but some people do it for much longer.  Maybe a week, month or even a year. I don't think I could do a month or a year. That would be just too long. But a week I could do. Anyway if you are having problems getting your photography mojo going again try this exercise and you might find that you really like doing it and end up shooting more with just one focal length. Well that's enough for today until next time . Get out and Shoot!

Hey if you want to check out my photography go to my instagram account Max Stansell Photography there are over 2000 posts there. Here is the link

 Max Stansell Photography Instagram Link