What I Want to Preserve with a Wide-Angle Lens | Knowledge #485

Since I started photographing my child, I’ve come to love wide-angle lenses.
Especially those around 28mm or 35mm, which offer a slightly broader perspective. I feel that these lenses allow me to capture not only the person but also the atmosphere of the moment.

When children are small, they can’t pose well yet.
They might just be standing there or walking toward you. Yet, those unguarded moments are irresistibly endearing.

That’s why, rather than simply capturing “just this instant,”
I find myself wanting to preserve “the entire span of time.”

Where we were, what kind of light surrounded us, and the sense of distance between us—wide-angle lenses seem to embrace these desires.

Watching my child, I often notice the changing seasons.
Seeing the evening sun on their face, I think, “Ah, it’s evening now,” or feel, “The days are getting longer,” or “Summer is here.”

Even though I’m looking at my child, what lingers in my memory is often the light, the breeze, or the air around them.
That’s why, when I take photographs, I want to capture the entire moment if I can.

I want to preserve not only my child’s expressions, but also the evening itself.
Perhaps I am quite greedy in this regard. But I believe it’s the wide-angle lens that fulfills such desires.

I also loved using a wide-angle lens when photographing my son coming down the slide at the park. Waiting nearby, he would slide toward me laughing, “I’m going to crash into you!”

That closeness translates directly into the joy of the photograph. Unlike images taken from a distance with a telephoto lens, wide-angle lenses retain the sensation of “being there together.”

I may not appear in the photograph, but I can see something in my son’s expression.

“Ah, I really was playing together with him at that moment.”
It’s a fleeting smile that only a parent gets to see. It’s not a face turned toward the camera, but surely an expression meant for me.

Wanting to preserve such moments, I still reach for my wide-angle lens today.

Of course, there are lenses with even wider angles.
Landscapes captured with ultra-wide lenses like 12mm can be overwhelmingly dynamic and fascinating.

But to me, those feel more like “lenses for capturing space.”
On the other hand, 28mm and 35mm offer just the right sense of proximity between people and their surroundings.

The atmosphere is preserved, yet the presence of people remains close. Since you don’t have to step back, you can release the shutter while playing with your child, capturing the flow of the moment.

When photographing children in everyday life, that naturalness feels especially comfortable.

I wonder how many more years I’ll be able to photograph my child while playing together like this.
With that thought in mind, today I once again attach a slightly wider lens to my camera.

I want to preserve not only my child’s growth, but also the light and air of each day.
What I truly wish to capture with a wide-angle lens is, I believe, the very time we spent together in that place.