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Using The Whole Gear BAG
My Personal Challenge I Set for Myself
Over the years I have figured out that I need two different gear bag set-ups. To be able to do this, I have a quite large bag I use at commercial shoots. In which I carry every possible piece of mobile equipment including, bodies, lens, and gadgets of all sorts. Then in my everyday bag that I take on leisure photo journeys I carry a little more than what I estimate I will use. It holds 6 lens and a camera body with battery pack, but that kit typically is a lot more gear than I ever use in a single photo journey. Looking at most everything I shoot, it seems that the 24-85mm and 70-300mm zooms will cover about every composition I would want.

Then if I add in the 105mm macro, it gives me the rest of the compositions I would need. That leaves the next question in my gear bag... why do I carry the 20mm, 50mm and 85mm prime glass.

As for the 20mm f/2.8 - a sharp lens that I use this frequently and it’s always to be in the bag. The 50mm f/1.4 is just there to be there and to know I have a 50mm f/1.4 which is a thing of the past any more for being the everyday 'normal lens".

The 85mm f/1.8 is just Bad Azz and I just have it when I want the camera to look mega sexy.

Personal Challenge
On a trip to Isle of Palms, South Carolina would be the perfect opportunity to challenge myself to use every pieces of lens gear that I have packed.... including the battery pack that I usually don’t carry on walkabouts.

Based on my previous walkabouts in Charleston and Isle of Palms, the the first 4 lens on my list will be used but why would I go with the 50mm or 85mm primes? Why not just go head on with the challenge and go totally old school where the 50mm normal lens have been the only glass you had.

Shooting with the 50mm, my goal was for super soft depth-of-field and/or some sweet looking bokeh. It seems I can’t really recall what it would have been like back in my early days of shooting with a Nikon F (no internal meter) coupled to a 50mm f/2 normal lens.

Obviously a bit more time is spent getting your body in a position relative to the subject that suits your desired composition. I discovered this to be quite the detail to deal with when I pulled up to the hotel and saw some bicycles sitting in the sun.

Later that evening after the sun went down, I tried the 50mm at wide open f/1.4 on the lights outside a cafe. I was surprised as to how far back from the camera that light was making it to the image from quick shutter speeds of 1/125 @ f/1.4.

With some lights in the background, you can see the sweet looking bokeh produced in the last image of this pop-up window. I also included a scene in this pop-up window shot with the 24-85mm at the 50mm setting.

From previous experiences at capturing sunrise scenes/ I find that the 70-300mm will be my go to lens. I also don’t want to change lens on the beach and the 70-300mm range is pretty broad.

From semi wide landscapes to close-up scenes of seagulls and sand pipers on the shoreline. I am not even sure I would want to try a prime lens in this situation since time is critical.

Beach Sunrise shoots also produce a new type of shot with the addition of a pier if one is near by. Or in my lucky chance that a musician and a photo crew were also on the beach at sunrise. I grabbed a shot or two while I had the chance as seen in the last image of this pop-up window

Even day by day the sunrise can be much different. Some days a cloud of haze surrounds it or even covers it up. And sometimes a perfect orange ball appears and slowly rises to the sky. As a result, I awaken just before sunrise every day when visiting the beach to be able to capture as many images in my stockpile that I can..

On a short walkabout inCharleston, I decided to go with my everyday go-to lens, the 24-85mm zoom. It suits me quite adequately with the 24mm wide and a slight magnification with the 85mm end of the lens.

I knew from my previous walkabouts in Charleston that I would primarily see use from the 24-85mm and the 20mm prime. And that's exactly what I brought on this walkabout.

Switching to the 85mm f/1.8 for some shots out in the sun to capture the colors of the bar stools. It is a bit different to keep moving my physical location instead of moving the zoom ring in order to change the composition.

Going on a walkabout with the 85mm seemed to be a challenge to myself at times... as I arrived at the turtle sculpture I found the need/desire for a wider view wanted to shoot something with the 85mm no matter what.

As I think back to my early days in photography, I can recall the dreams photographers would have for the opportunity to own the 85mm f/1.8. Also commonly referred to as the portrait lens due to it’s beautiful bokeh when shooting wide open.

Even then the 85mm is pretty much a specialized lens, even more so than the 28mm which was the wide angle and the 135mm that was considered the telephoto lens. I remember the day I went from a 35mm rangefinder to the SLR and I bought the 28mm and the 135mm to go with the 50mm that came with the camera. I was quite excited to have the “complete kit” for the times.

Although I did accomplish the challenge, I still rarely seem to shoot with the 85mm very often... if at all. I will admit that I mainly have it because it looks bad azz and just to say I have an 85mm f /1.8 prime lens.

As for the final lens in my bag that I haven't used yet... The 105mm macro which is also a quite specialized lens. But, unlike my other primes, I actually shoot with it quite frequently capturing macro and close up images.

Since it was already after dark, I wasn’t sure I would find any suitable subjects to capture with the 105mm. I also didn’t feel I was missing out on the personal challenge this weekend since I already shoot with the 105mm quite frequently, and is mounted on my camera most of the time.

I did manage to grab a few images of some signage at night and thus, felt in some way I had managed to finish the challenge by shooting with every lens I had brought with me. I never shoot with the 105mm other than macro captures. This added an extra degree of difficulty for me to frame up scenes that I liked in the viewfinder.

One more sunrise the next morning and my trip will wind down as I head back home for a new week to begin all again. After shooting 559 images that basically covers a dozen or so different shooting locations, I would be very pleased if I end up with 30-50 “keepers”. Because the three different mornings of sunrise images make up the bulk of the shots, I still have a few scenes that I had felt good about their outcome.

The photo journey to the Angel Oak Tree on St. John’s Island did have me skeptical of any gallery worthy images being captured. There were lots of tourist gathered around the tree and after all, it is just a tree and I wondered what I could get out of this journey.

After making the drive to find the Ange Oak Tree, I was at least going to grab a quick photo of it. Photographically thinking that this would be the dream scene for the 20mm.

I ended up capturing about 50 images from my visit to the Angel Oak Tree and even processed one scene into a Gallery Piece "The Oaken Beast" available online in my web shoppe.

As a bonus scene to this trip, there was a very old cemetery and beautiful church on the road back to the Angel Oak Tree. Again, the 20mm came in handy here, as it see's a lot of use in my gear bag in comparison to the amount of use my other “primes”.

At the end of this personal challenge, I find that I still have the same opinions and amount of usage each of my lens will see. The 24-85 is my “go-to” lens with the 20mm seeing moderate use and the 105 macro having its special place as well. The 70-300 is mandatory for dportd and those subjects far away and will always see plenty of use.

And just like it was when I began this challenge, the 50mm f/1.4 and the 85mm f/1.8 are just for showing off some awesome glass. Yet, at the same time I did manage to shoot with them all and fulfill the challenge I had sent before myself.