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Over the Easter weekend I set myself a challenge – instead of using my 24-70 f/2.8 or 70-200 f/2.8 zooms I had to stick to a single fixed focal length – my Nikon AF-S 50mm f/1.4 lens.

As nice as it is to travel light (and it is much lighter than my other zooms!) I was a little apprehensive as we approached the minature steam fair at Sammy Miller’s motorcycle museum, near New Milton. I was envisaging close cropped portraits of grizzled steam enthusiasts, and detail shots of their lovingly restored engines. How would I cope with the 50mm alone?

Harry helped me out here in a strange way. He was spooked by a little pocket steamroller shooting past us and decided the safest place to look at the steam was from within the playground. So against the fence we waited while he soaked up the atmosphere a little more.  There’s nothing like a climbing frame to inspire confidence, and provide a few photo opportunities!

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Nikon D700, 50mm AF-S f/1.4, 1/250 at f/6.3

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Harry watches the steam engines from the safety of the playground

Nikon D700, 50mm AF-S f/1.4, 1/1000 at f/2.8

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Confidence increases in direct proportion to goes on a slide. Fact.

Nikon D700, 50mm AF-S f/1.4, 1/500 at f/4

I’m used to tweaking zoom lenses to frame my shots rather than just using the extremes, so I found myself constantly moving around to get the shots. Certainly more excercise than normal with the 24-70. Also I kept moving close in to the subject only to find myself within the 45cm minimum focusing distance of the lens.

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One of the hazards of a steam fair is the amount of soot around – poor old Thomas found himself in the firing line! However this ended up working to my advantage later with some nice post-bath shots.

dsc_2173Nikon D700, 50mm AF-S f/1.4, 1/50 at f/10

And if you were wondering – I did take some shots of the steam festival! The most unusual sight? A steam powered bike that could get up to over 20 mph. Any regrets? There were grizzled faces to be featured but I didn’t have the confidence to get up close. Next project will be a longer lens version.