my life w/ DA 21 Limited

:: From my perspective, 21mm and the 70mm make a great Pentax FOV dUo. I want a big distance between my FOVs.

I joke that in 2019-2020 (Pre-pandemic) i did a “one year, one lens” project with two lenses—— and with an interchangeable lens camera, that’s the way it’s done.

One lens is the ONE, the walk around lens, the street lens. In my case, that would be close to a 30mm field of view prime lens.

There are no pictures with my portrait lens in my street essay, I don’t walk around with that lens. A couple of portraits taken on the Panasonic with a Sigma 56mm 1.4 and satisfying bokeh conclude the book. The portrait in the street photography essay of a porter with wIth a coil of cloth On his head and fine bokeh was taken with the Pentax and a Sigma 30mm 1.4 , the one beneath Howrah bridge was taken with the DA 21. These last two facts seem to indicate that everything can be done with one lens.

For the street you just need one Lens except that the Da 21 3.2 wasn’t fast enough, so I felt I had to add the Sigma 30mm 1.4. Why did I really need the portraits lens? I didn’t need it for the street essay, but I did for the book that takes you into the slums, schooLs, and free street clInics, all of which I entered only with My 30mm FOV lens.

Now, I can get to my point. The book features work I did as a volunteer photographer in Calcutta for three NGOs and what doors that opened for me. Wandering into a slum on your own is not the same as arriving with a team offering free medical services that provides you with a translator and guide. And the NGOs expected me to photograph musical performances and ceremonies for wHich I needed a long and fast lens. I made do with my 112mm FOV prime— a Fast zoom would have worked much better.

that is why I do One Lens, One Year with 2 lenses One is enough for me, but it’s not enough for the NGOs.