Standard focal length
Far from the standard treatment
Lying between short and long is a magical focal length disparagingly referred to as ‘standard’. In other words, it feels neither too wide nor too telephoto.
For her series ‘Pull Back the Shade’, Muzi Quawson documented the life of Amanda, a local musician in search of the hippy ideal in upstate New York. But rather than photograph Amanda every now and then, Quawson literally moved in with her, sometimes for months at a time, and documented every aspect of her life.
A ‘standard’ focal length gets you close to your subject, without being too close.
Using this standard focal length allowed Quawson to document her subject’s life without becoming intrusive. The results are incredibly intimate photographs, ...
Get Read This If You Want to Take Great Photographs now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
