Some might argue that the 35mm focal length is the most famous of all. The “35 vs50” war has ranged on for decades, each saying it’s the best, each saying it’s the most diverse and for some reason, each claiming to be the equivalent of the human eye. I’m not here to add to that, only to show you my favorite photos taken at 35mm. If you’re curious, I’ll be covering 50mm in part four.

The Church

The McDougall Memorial Church was built by my ancestor, and a few years ago it burnt down and was subsequently rebuilt. I’m happy to have many images of the original structure, not only for historical context but because now, due to the intentional fire, it’s barred off from getting up close. This shot, not so close, but there’s no wood pillar blocking the view from the front either.

The Reference

A couple of months later I found myself in Newfoundland visiting my wife’s family and on one of my photo walks I captured this strikingly colourful image, and the reason why I chose this one in particular was the McDougall Street Sign, due to the aforementioned lineage.

The Angle

I think what I really like about the 35mm lens is that is can distort when it needs to or you can line it up to make sure proportions are correct. In this case, I wanted this dogs head to be larger than his frame.

The Pot of Gold

It’s funny looking back at some of these camera settings now. I would not have made the same choices, but none the less this is a favourite. The train tracks leading to the rainbow is a right place/right time scenario if there ever was one. Just the right amount of blue skies and dark clouds, and that famous wheat colouring of rural Alberta. Not to mention the big puffy clouds rounding everything off.

The Family

This was part of a series of photos put out in collaboration with The University of Calgary, Xerox and the Hotchkiss Brain Institute. The thing I remember is the coordinator kept telling me how amaing the widows are and I kept asking how much room there would be. “Oh lots of room” I was informed, and this image had to be shot from outside in the doorway. This is why scouting a location is so important but not always possible, and using a wide angle was absolutely essential for a portrait involving nine people.

The Friend

The lens I have used here and in other shots in this series had seen better days. I actually found it a number if years ago after what looked like a serious drop from…somewhere? So parts of the image were soft but it was all I had and most of the time it wasn’t apparent. Especially in the last image when it was printed on News or Magazine paper. Here I can see it’s on its last legs but none the less this is a great shot of a fellow photography student on her scooter.

The Connection

A friend of my wife had two dogs getting on in age and wanted some portraits before they crossed the rainbow road, and I think what I delivered met the clients needs.

Tune in next week when I tackle the oddball 40mm focal length for part three of Focal February.