Markets and Conventions with the Fuji 23mm f2
I have two prime lenses. The Fuji 23mm f2 and the 50mm f2. I picked up the 23mm first as I had heard it was a solid place to start with primes. It’s a wide lens that incorporates a lot of detail and for street photography usually means you’ll be up close. As someone who’s still not too comfortable getting close to subjects, I found it tough to shoot with. This lead me to the 50mm, which is currently my favorite for downtown photos. However, recently I’ve found myself in some more compact environments and I think the 23mm now has its home.
My wife and I like to check out local markets and food truck events occasionally, and this is where I have been putting the 23mm to work. Often times I am standing just a few feet away from a vendor table, so having the wide capability of the 23mm lets me get a lot of detail in the frame and gives me the ability to crop in on a subject if I want. The shot above was at a small market in Winter Park on a Sunday morning. This particular vendor (BinBin) was selling crochet flowers amongst other small objects. Needless to say the colors were wild. Took some pictures, bought some cool flowers, and sent the pics to them.
In the Milk District on Tuesday nights behind the bar strip is a food truck market. This was great practice for some night photography. I took both the photo above and below wide open at f2. Both shots I cropped a bit as I was a few steps away at each moment. If I was using the 50mm, I would have had to take about 20 steps back to get even this much in the frame, or been looking to isolate details. For events like these, I like being able to capture a broader scene with the option to crop, so the 23mm fit the bill.
Every December a Christmas themed Anime convention comes to town and it’s called Holiday Matsuri. Yes, a Christmas themed Anime convention. My wife and I usually dress up along with our friends and get a hotel room, it’s a great time. The most recent event was the OCCC and the Hyatt Regency, and one morning I decided to get up a bit early and go for a walk. I ended up taking some of my favorite photos so far on that walk, all with the 23mm. Again, as I mentioned above I was looking to capture scenes while out walking. I didn’t know what I would encounter, so I gave the 23mm a chance. The photos below are some of the results.
If you are having trouble taking photos with a wider focal length, try taking it to a more intimate environment, it might change your mind like it did me.
