vieri
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 p.1 #9 · Landscape photography with primarily >24mm? | |
Personally, and I am sorry if this ought sound a bit rash, I think that limiting oneself "in principle" to this or that focal length or focal range doesn't make much sense if you want to be a versatile landscape photographer. To me, it all depends on what each different location and what each different image "need". I am known to be a lover of wide-angles, and I wouldn't choose a camera system that didn't offer a good 16mm option (or wider, just in case). However, i.e., I go to Tuscany 5-6 times a year leading Workshops, and in Tuscany I pretty much never use anything wider than 35mm - with the occasional foray to 24mm at the widest - and use tele lenses quite a lot instead, just because that's what the landscape needs there. That said, however, even in Tuscany there is a village with an amazing thermal pool in the main square, and there you need 10-12mm... Also i.e., on the Isle of Skye or in Iceland I would use wides and ultra-wides much more, but there too there are situations where a longer lens would help. And so on 
Generally speaking, I see myself as an interpreter: the landscape is the musical score, or the theatric text, and my photographs are my interpretation. As any good musician or actor, we should be able to interpret any kind of piece of music or character, otherwise we'll end up being one of these character actors (perhaps very good) playing "always the bad guy", or "always this or that" kind of role. Which, back to photography, is something I see way too often, both in the choice of lenses, of subject matter and of post-processing. Now, if this is something that appeals to you, that's absolutely fine - there are great photographers that limit themselves to one "genre" of landscape photography only, or to one style of post-processing only, or to one lens only, and do that very well. However, seeing a fog shot processed like a high-contrast, midday one just because that particular photographer always uses the one style of post-processing, or seeing a photograph that could have benefited from a wider or longer lens shot with the "wrong" lens just on principle, and so on, is not giving me much visual joy.
Personally, I am more interested in the variety and in the amazement that different locations, different landscapes, and therefore styles of photography create in me - therefore, back to the OP's question, I happily use lenses from 12mm to about 180mm
Best regards,
Vieri
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