Why I’m Committing to the Fuji 18mm for Street Photography

I decided early on when I finally bought the Fuji XT3 (my dream camera) that I was going to stick to prime lenses and keep my kit as minimal as possible (no easy feat when you are sticking to primes). The main purpose of the purchase was to facilitate more street photography. I had the D7200 for landscapes and seascapes, but I wanted something somewhat less bulky to carry around on the streets with me. Little did I know, of course, that I would end up largely doing street photography almost exclusively within a couple of years…

I started out with a couple of Fuji’s f2 lenses (the 23mm and the 35mm), and very much enjoyed using them. They were compact, had good image quality and, despite being relatively light, had a good solid build. It wasn’t long, however, before I had a hankering for an upgrade and began looking at new lenses.

I’ve now got three lenses in my kit: the Fuji XF33mm f1.4 R LM WR, the 18mm f1.4 R LM WR and the Fuji XF 50mm f2 R WR. Easily my favourite of the three is the 33mm (approx 50mm full frame). That’s the lens I keep on my camera most of the time. It is wide enough to get more context in my shots, but long enough that I can keep some distance from my subject. Perfect. The 50mm (75mm full frame) is a fairly recent addition I picked up second hand last summer. Since gravitating to street photography, I’ve become increasingly interested in the work of Saul Leiter, and was intrigued to discover that he liked to use long focal lengths, using anything from a 50mm to a 150mm lens. If it’s good enough for Saul Leiter…

After the 33mm, the 50mm has become my second most used lens. I liked it for abstract shots, but also I enjoy the additional reach and distance it gives me from my subjects (I’m not keen on getting too close when the subjects are people). It’s not unusual for me to just switch between these two lenses on a trip. They do the job for the kinds of images I like to capture, so it’s rare that I come across a scene where I want a different focal length. Which brings me to the 18mm…

When I bought the 18mm, it was a toss up between that and the 23mm. After a lot of umm-ing and ahh-ing, I decided on the 18mm. At the end of the day, I can crop into 23mm, but I obviously can’t go from 23mm to 18mm. In that sense, it was a no-brainer. And although I don’t regret buying the 18mm, it has been a real challenge to use it effectively.

Looking back through my Lightroom catalogue, I can see that I’ve only used it on three trips in 2025. Given I go out both days on the weekend, that’s not a lot of usage, even if we are only at the beginning of March. In fact, if I look back further, I can see that other than product shots and family shots, the last time I really used it when out and about was in Berlin back in August, It’s clearly not getting a lot of usage. So why is that?

I think it’s largely because I haven’t really figured out how to use a wide angle lens in street photography. When I look at the shots I have got when doing street photography, they are largely architecture shots or group photos. None of them are particularly portfolio quality shots. They’re fairly standard, fairly ordinary shots.

I do look at wide angle street photography shots and see the potential, even if sometimes the photos aren’t my kind of style. Take for example the kind of street photo shots where the frame is filled with layers, foreground elements, mid-ground interest and background interest. The kind of shots where interesting people fill the frame, such as it’s almost as if put together deliberately in a collage. Like these by Vineet Vohra. Now that’s not my style of street photography, but I do love those kinds of images. And of course, this is where a wide-angle comes into its own.

But it doesn’t have to be the kind of layering shot as beautifully demonstrated by Vineet Vohra. There other ways to approach wide-angle street photography, I guess I’ve probably just not worked it out yet. So here’s a commitment from me, or maybe a challenge. For the next few photo trips, I’m going to try to stick to the 18mm and resist the temptation to switch out for the 33 or the 50. It’s time to put this beautiful, high quality 18mm lens through its paces properly. I’ll let you know how it goes.

In the meantime, here’s some 18mm shots I’ve taken so far. I’ll let you be the judge as to how much work I need to do in the days ahead…

Six things from 2022

Well, here we are again. Rapidly heading towards the end of the year. Which can mean only one thing…a few reflections on the year just gone. So, with no further delay, six things I’m taking from the last year.

Street Photography

I really feel like my street photography has improved a lot this past year, to the extent that, towards the end of the year, I started to feel it’s becoming my main type of photography. However, I think that’s largely down to the time of year and the type of street photography I’ve enjoyed. As the nights have drawn in, I’ve really enjoyed shooting on the streets in the evenings. I tend to find so many more opportunities than during the daytime to create interesting photos. I think this particularly comes down to a combination of the vibe at night, but also that there are great opportunities for more interesting and abstract photography than during the day. For example, in winter the cold evenings and warm interiors often leads to condensation on bar/restaurant/cafe windows which, for me, makes for some interesting abstract photos. Of course, some times evening shoots can leave you going home empty-handed. The reliance on light and, from my point of view, striking a balance between too many people and too few, can make some evening photowalks a bit of a drag. But when they pay off, they seem to really pay off.

I’m also finding with my night street photography that I am a bit more adventurous with my edits. Pushing it a little outside the realms of what it looked like in the moment. I’ve been pretty chuffed to have a few people make reference to “blade runner” in relation to my night photography, which is a huge compliment to me as it’s one of my favourite films. Obviously, the streets of East Kent bear no relation to the street scenes in Ridley Scott’s masterpiece, but pushing those edits so they resemble that kind of imagery does, I think, give that extra atmosphere that my daytime street photography often lacks.

Autumn Photography

It’s become somewhat of a ritual now…as we enter October and peak autumnal colours, every single weekend is spent at the local woods, looking for compositions and hoping to capture those beautiful, vivid autumn colours. It’s fairly typical for me to spend about 3-4 hours in the woods every Sunday at this time of year. Far more time than I would ordinarily spend and, to be fair, pretty much at the limits of what I can get away with without creating an issue at home. There’s no better place to be, in my mind, if you want to be out taking photos in the autumn, than the woods. And if you get some fog or mist thrown into the mix too…even better!

This year, I have really felt that my woodland photography has improved a lot. Every year I feel I am making progress, but this year in particular I came home with a host of autumn woodland photographs that I was really proud of. I think part of this comes down to better editing, but I also think my composition has improved and the technical aspects have improved too. Of course, we’re all on a journey of improvement so I suspect I will feel that next year’s are better than this year’s but nonetheless, I am certainly happy with what I’ve taken in 2022.

Film Photography

This year I’ve also rediscovered film photography. Ok, it’s with a point and shoot camera, but it’s been interesting using the Mju II again after 20 years. There’s been a lot to [re]learn about shooting with film, not least the “decisive moment”, but it has been an enjoyable experience so far. For now, the Mju II is purely a carry-around camera when I’m travelling to and from work. Picking up on opportunities as and when I stumble upon them. I try not to be trigger happy (it’s too expensive to be firing away left, right and centre after all), and really try to pick my moments. It’s been a challenge learning not to shoot too early, and not to shoot too late. But it has been fun and I have been pleased with some of the results whilst I figure it all out. A second film has just been completed and is due to be sent for processing…let’s see how that turns out.

Fuji 33mm f1.4

This is, without doubt, the most expensive lens I have ever bought, and it’s been worth every penny. Having started getting into some low light street photography, I began to feel like a 1.4 lens would be a good move. I took a look at a few options, including the classic Fuji 35mm 1.4, but in the end I decided to go for the brand new 33mm. I don’t regret it for an instant. It’s been a fantastic lens so far, at a focal length I really enjoy working with (not least because it means I can take a few steps back from my subject). Since buying it, my other Fuji lenses (the 23mm f2 and 35mm f2) have barely got a look in. In fact, I’m already mulling over the 16mm 1.4 or 18mm 1.4 to compliment it when I’m out on the streets. I won’t get either any time soon, but either one of those are definitely on my wishlist.

As for the 33mm, it’s incredibly sharp and although it’s a fair bit bigger than the f2s, it’s not a chore to carry around. I’ve happily shot with it all day long and not had a problem. I’m not one for fixating on gear, but it’s certainly one of those lenses where you just want to get out and use it. When a piece of kit makes you want to go out and take photos, you know it’s a winner.

Getting back into blogging

I’ve been blogging in various guises now for just short of twenty years. But I’ve really dropped the habit in recent years. Time was I used to almost blog daily. Surprisingly, kids coming along kinda had an impact on that, and as they grew older, I spent less and less time sitting down at a computer for an hour or two and writing whatever I wanted to write. With the advent of opening an online store, I realise now that it might be helpful to start blogging more regularly, not just to share my photography and my thoughts on photography, but also to help promote this website, draw in traffic and all that yucky marketing stuff which comes with selling products. And so here I am, blogging more regularly. I’m aiming to make 8pm on a Wednesday my standard blog post publishing time, and will promote these posts on all the usual social media platforms. Any shares, likes or subscriptions to my blog would be welcome of course!

Online Store

Of course the biggest deal for me this year was opening a store selling prints. It’s not something I want to get too hung up about, it’s just there to highlight what I consider my “best” work and make it easier for people who would like to purchase a print. Ultimately, I don’t want to pressure myself into making it a big deal, so it’s there, people can buy prints, I’ll promote it periodically, but I won’t stress if I don’t sell [m]any. Let’s see if I sell any from the store in 2023!

And with that…onward to 2023. Hope you all have a great new year and the very best wishes for 2023.