Street Photography @12mm

Since I started practising street photography (in the freest sense of the term) several years ago, my photographic vision has also constantly changed, learning to appreciate more and more the medium-short focal lengths to the detriment of the easier medium-telephotos. Isolating a single subject or a single instant is certainly, from a visual point of view, a more impactful story, but at the same time, it is simpler and more limiting. Learning to use wider angles of view has allowed me to expand the boundaries of my stories and has increased the challenge, the fun and the final satisfaction.

Learning to see through a frame wider than my field of vision wasn’t easy, and I needed a lot of discipline, observation and training in the field, especially in photographing the unpredictability of the road. But it is precisely this ability to insert more into the frame that allows me to create connections, otherwise invisible relationships between subjects and elements that at first glance do not seem related to each other.

I started practising with the M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.8 which is the focal length equivalent to the classic 35mm in the Micro4/3 world. I spent many months shooting only at this focal length until I could already see the shot in my mind before I even lifted the camera and looked into the viewfinder (or display). The moment I reached a perfect awareness of the use of this framing and that, above all, I found my way and style of relating to subjects and spaces, I decided to further widen the field of vision and be forced to look, once again, in a different.

I had already had the opportunity to use the M.Zuiko 12mm f/2 on the occasion of a personal project a couple of years ago and I had found the use of this focal length really illuminating. The right opportunity presented itself a few weeks ago when I found a really perfect specimen and I made it mine and I must admit that mounted on my OM-5 it’s a beautiful kit.

But what advantages do I have in using this 12mm instead of, for example, the 12-40mm f/2.8 kept at 12mm? The difference, as often happens and I have to repeat, is not in the file but in the approach to photography. First of all, there is the same difference in use between any zoom and a fixed: the first makes me lazy, the second stimulates my curiosity. With a 24mm (equivalent) I don’t have many excuses: if I want to get closer to the scene, if I want to get more in touch with the subjects, if I want to give the right space and weight to each element of the scene I have to move, I have to be more careful in the composition.

The practical use of the 12mm f/2 is no different from what I normally do with my smartphone: I lift the camera, point and shoot. The wide field of view helps me to compensate for some small framing errors, leaving room for maneuver with the cutter and straightening: in fact, I find that the 12mm Zuiko, especially if combined with a small-medium sized camera body, creates a point-and-shoot combo incredibly versatile, high quality and at the same time fun to use, because its so “harmless” aspect allows me to address it to anyone without particular fears.

The other aspect that didn’t leave me a chance was the constructive one: the small M.Zuiko 12mm in fact seems to come directly from the 70s, with its all-metal construction and beautiful finishes: if I had to use just one word, it would be “sexy”. And when a tool is also beautiful as well as useful, it lets itself be used much, much more willingly.

The extra brightness stop that the 12mm boasts compared to the 12-40mm 2.8 PRO is important in some areas but I don’t consider it vital in an absolute sense, therefore I wouldn’t reduce the choice to the simple need for extra light. It’s the whole shooting experience that is triggered when I use this configuration, OM-5 and 12mm (in my case), which benefits and pushes me to go out, look for and shoot new situations: it’s pure fun that I hardly perceived somewhere else.

At full list price, the 12mm f/2.0 has a price that could be discouraging; however, I invite you to consider that a generous cashback is often active on this product and that there is in any case the possibility of recovering perfect specimens on the second-hand market at about 50% of the starting price: the grey versions are much more frequent (and often cheaper) but it is not impossible to find, as in my case, a perfect example even in black colour. This difference in availability is due to the fact that the “black” variant was marketed after the grey model which was therefore, for many months, the only option available on the market).

Text and photos: Ugo Baldassarre – 2023

My visual blog: walkeshoot.blogspot.com/
Website: www.ugobaldassarre.com
Instagram: @ugobphoto @micro43italia.it
Founder of: www.micro43italia.it