Established photographers who use wide angles 21mm or wider?

jsrockit

jsrockit

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Who are the established photographers who use wide angles 21mm or wider? or is this lens length that most feel is something that is only used for a specific purpose?

The closest I can think of is Lee Friedlander and the Hasselblad SWC (25mm equivalent in 35mm) ... well, I guess Daido Moriyama uses the GR21 at times. Anyone else use it for more than a few shots here and there?
 
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Keith beat me to saying Jeanloup Seiff.
He used it in a very unorthodox way in that he shot many formal portraits with the 21mm focal length (Super Angulon!) and did some incredibly beautiful work of some incredibly beautiful subjects. Indoors, outdoors, he shot it all. Up close with that amazing wide.

Phil Forrest
 
fantastic stuff! I like 21mm but just find it tricky at times with "street" shooting. I am working on it thought! gotta get real close!
 
"...I soon found a way of quelling my loneliness. I would carry a Leica around with me, with that wonderful German-made M21 lens which had served me so well in Beirut, Afghanistan and Chad. It became my companion, my alibi against that feeling of guilt born from not having anything else to do...."

Raymond Depardon, Manhattan Out



.
 
Harvey Stein shoots a 21 Leica 3.4 Super angulon and a 35mm cron monyed on 2 m4s carried on his chest one body over the other. Looks to me that he shoots about 1/2 of his shots with a 21mm lens. Based on my converstions with Stein and watching him shoot Also Devid Carol shoots primarily either a 21 and a 24. also on 2 M4 bodies. Also based on my converstaions with David Carol.
 
Mark Cohen used a 21mm lens a lot on his Leica for his street photography. I think he went a bit longer in later years. There was a pdn interview some years ago where he described setting the 21 for zone focusing.
 
MichaelW said:
Mark Cohen used a 21mm lens a lot on his Leica for his street photography. I think he went a bit longer in later years. There was a pdn interview some years ago where he described setting the 21 for zone focusing.
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Ah, I forgot about him... thanks. Keep em coming all. This type of stuff should help all of us who want to use these lenses. When I look through the threads here on ultra wides, many people do not know how to use them right... i.e. take photos of stuff that is far away making it even farther away in the photo. What all of the photographers that are mentioned in this thread do is GET CLOSE. Not a diss... because I struggle with this too at times.
 
jsrockit said:
Ah, I forgot about him... thanks. Keep em coming all. This type of stuff should help all of us who want to use these lenses. When I look through the threads here on ultra wides, many people do not know how to use them right... i.e. take photos of stuff that is far away making it even farther away in the photo. What all of the photographers that are mentioned in this thread do is GET CLOSE. Not a diss... because I struggle with this too at times.
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There are of course always exceptions.

Big sky with interesting clouds and light, for example, cries out for a wide angle of view.
 
Nearly everyone who owned an SWC >5 years ago was a pro or very good amateur.

(Most SWC shots you saw were very good and it developed a stellar reputation. Since they've been dumped for digital, Flickr SWC group images, as example, have declined and are as bad today as any other lens/camera combo posted. It isn't that the SWC was that much better, it's owners were. Some know how and where to use a particular tool.)

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