I Added a New Lens to the Collection

I am so excited to talk about this lens today because let me tell you, it is a beast. I had been searching for a new lens for about a month, I was watching videos and reviews every night but it did not make it any easier to choose. For every lens you look at, there will be a thousand completely different opinions. You’ll see people who rave about the lens but then the next review will be talking about how that exact same lens model constantly misfocused. When you see these clashing reviews, you have to keep in mind that yes, you could get a faulty product from the manufacturer and two, that not everyone has the same photography style as you or the same needs in a lens.

Before purchasing my new lens, I was shooting with a Canon 50mm f/1.8 which was producing pretty great images for me. I just needed something a little different, I thought I was looking for a lens with greater compression like a 135mm. I still wanted the low f-stop so I wasn’t leaning towards the Canon 135mm f/2.0, I was looking at the Sigma 135mm f/1.8. I was relatively fearful to invest upwards of $1,400 on a lens brand I had never used. I was so stressed trying to pick a lens because of the wide variation in reviews and the steep price tags. After jumping around from 35mm to 85mm back to 135mm, I decided on investing in a higher-end 50mm lens from Canon.

My first tip for investing in your first high-end lens would be find a professional photographer that has a similar style to what you have or what you want to achieve and take their advice. I was inspired by the wedding photographer Katelyn James. My second tip would be to invest in a more expensive version of the focal length you are shooting with already, in my case that was the 50mm.

My reasons for choosing the Canon 50mm f/1.2

• I trust the brand Canon

• 50mm is a good versatile focal length

• I was already shooting with a 50mm lens

• The f-stop of 1.2 would give me a lot more blur

• It was a good start to my professional lens collection

Things that made me skeptical to purchase the 50mm f/1.2

• THE PRICE

• Not getting to experiment with a new focal length

• Not getting the higher compression I wanted in a lens

• Quite a few reviews about the shutter breaking

Why wouldn’t I have just gotten the much more affordable Canon 50mm f/1.4? The 50mm f/1.4 is said to not even work as good as the 50mm f/1.8 that I already had. I saw it as a waste of money to put $400 towards that 50mm f/1.4 rather than just saving it for the lens I truly intended on purchasing.

I am so happy with my purchase. I was able to do my first shoot in Traverse City, MI with it and it performed amazingly. The background blur was far more gorgeous than I could have imagined and the focus is so sharp. I am going to insert some pictures below from this past weekend’s shoot.

Why I’m Starting a Photography Business

I’ve always been a creative and artistic person (which I owe to all three of my grandmas), but I’ve never had so much passion towards one form of art as photography. I was always crafting something growing up, mostly through knitting or creating a piece with my Silhouette. When I would finish these projects, there was still something missing, I wouldn't be completely satisfied. I soon figure that I wasn’t satisfied because I couldn’t share the joy of my creations with someone else. Fast forward a little bit, I got into high school and I just lost free time and the crafts got pushed off to the side. This didn’t bother me for a few years but then I got this horrible feeling that all I was doing was wasting time (if you know this feeling you know), I needed a hobby again! Everything I used to do just didn’t give me the same joy it used to, so I just dragged on for another year.

At the end of that horribly unfulfilling year, I took a photography class. This class gave me a spark of motivation because of how much I loved capturing images. Once I learned how to control the camera in manual, I was seeing amazing results and something I was truly proud of. I realized that this was a true passion for me, this was something that no matter how much effort it took, it never felt like work for me. This is when I wanted to turn this into something profitable, I figured that for now I could at least give high school seniors the opportunity to get quality images for a fraction of the average price in my area. I finally found a way to share the joy I get from my work with other people, by capturing joyous events of clients’ lives.

On another note, a big part of my personality is that I’m in love with the concept of love. What I mean by that is everything couples, engagement, and weddings. I just think love has so much beauty to capture and it’s such an important and vital part of life. That’s why my goal for my business is to become a wedding photographer, who gets to capture the joy of love. I’m so thankful that my parents have bought a really nice camera for me to start off with, but I need to come up with a lot more funds to get the lenses I need to produce quality work for couples on such an important day. I truly am so happy that this business is coming true. I appreciate every bit of support I get right now and I say, “Thank you!” in advanced to anyone who shows me support.