Intimate lenses…

If you’ve been following me for a while, you MIGHT happen to have noticed a thing I do called “roll-over EXIF information” from time to time (when I have the time to do it). This is the little text that pops up when you hold the mouse over one of my images. It shows camera information such as what camera and lens and settings used on the image.

Well, if you check the past few days, you might have noticed something a little different.

“Nikon D700” has joined “Nikon D300” in the camera inventory.

Besides this photo, of course. It’s just a regular family photo. But, there are two notable things about this photo. (…other than a 1GB card I just noticed in the front there. Where did that one even come from? How OLD is that!? Anyways…)

First, it was a 20 second exposure in a dark room lit by my cell phone glow. Try it, you’ll love it. Something like 20sec @ f/8 on ISO200. The extreme vignette is because I held the light very close to the subject and moved it around fairly evenly. The heavy fall-off is due to that, too.

Secondly, and what I’ve been previewing for a few days now: this is all the equipment I’m taking to Haiti for 10 days. I leave tomorrow.

So, for 10 days I will be traveling through Haiti doing a few stories with a friend of mine with 2 cameras (Nikon D700 and D300) and four prime lenses. That’s right, no zoom. They are the classic 24/2.8; the 35/2; the 50/1.4; and the 85/1.8 … all Nikkor means they’re all really sweet primes.

What is my reasoning behind this madness? Who does that!? Who takes only primes on a trip like this!?

Okay, twofold: first, how much does this whole kit weigh? That’s right, not much. Fast and light. One small backpack for 10 days. Simple living.

And second, they’re all wide, fast lenses. How do you fill a frame with a lens like this? Get close. These are what I consider to be “intimate lenses.” They require you to interact with the subject on some level. You are forced to not only use your technical skills but also your personal communication skills.

Anyone in the world can snipe with 200mm. I want to challenge myself to be different – to work on the personal level of the Magnum and VII masters.

I guess the most significant downside is time loss switching lenses and the danger of exposing the sensor in such a harsh environment during said change. But its all in the technique. Like a tactical special ops officer changing a clip on his weapon, it has to be a fast, fluid and non-fumbling motion.

Otherwise, this is the setup. This is the kit.

There may be a few days of blackout in the initial travel cycle of this trip. I hope I won’t be out for the full 10 days, but knowing Haiti there’s no telling. I’ll have the MacBook and the Blackberry worldphone, but just stay tuned on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/haonavy/ and watch us travel through the Haitian countryside.

Stay tuned. Its about to get good again…
-Noah D.