DanCo Photo

If you’ve been around photography for any length of time, you’ll probably have heard the expression “f/8 and be there.” I think this was originally coined by Weegee, the New York street photographer, but I’m sure it’s been attributed to countless other photographers over the years. He was known for shooting black and white street photography in the 1930s and 40s.

However, the point remains valid, even if we’re not shooting with film cameras anymore – and program modes and auto modes exist in almost every camera you can buy today.

I’ve found myself recently relying on shallow depths of field way too much, using them to try and make potentially boring photos more interesting. So The F8 Project, as I’m now calling it, is an attempt for me to break out of that rut and start shooting in a different way – hoping it inspires a bit more creativity and a bit more invention.

I started this weekend with my Olympus E-M5ii and 25mm 1.8 lens, which is my ‘carry everywhere’ camera at the moment because it’s small, pretty tough and worth hardly anything at all.I think this little camera punches way above its weight, and I’ve got a lot more keepers with it than I ever imagined I would.

Technical note: Let’s not get bogged down by discussing the difference in f/8 between m43, APSC, and full-frame cameras. It’s a principle, not a literal rule.

We took a walk through some fields near my parents’ house and found some horses, and I wanted to capture all of the detail in the scene, rather than just picking out particular, minute details. I’m a big believer in removing crutches in order to improve at photography – the more you try something out of your comfort zone, the more you’ll be forced to adapt and come up with a new way of getting images you’re happy with.

More to come on this series, I think, it’s a skill that’s worth improving.