I’ve tried to be the type of photographer who doesn’t let wanting to buy more gear get in the way of taking photos, and I’ve never subscribed to the logic that if I just had X (lens, flashes, different camera body)  I could make great photos, but I have neglected equipment from time to time.  I was recently inspired by Bert Stephani, a fantastic fashion photographer, who was inspired by Jeff Ascough, one of the top wedding photographers in the world, to make more usage of one of the most basic lenses that every photographer has (or should have) in their bags – the 50mm.  As Bert says, before the kit  zoom lens of today, when you used to by a SLR in the film days, you more or less bought it with this lens, it’s usually the cheapest lens in a camera line (depending on speed, faster the lens, more money you pay), I have three fifties, one that I got when I bought my first 35mm camera, an Olympus OM-1.  when I first got that camera, that was the only lens that I had, so I had to shoot everything with it, and you pretty much could /can shoot anything with a fifty, step back far enough, you can get  a decent wide establishing shot, they focus close enough where you can capture details or close ups.  Now that I have Nikons, I have two fifties, a 50 f2 AIS (which I bought when I bought my first Nikon 35 mm – the F3) and an autofocus 50 1.4.  Bert is pusuing a personal project he calls 50/50.  That is he’s shooting everyday details (and some assignment stuff) with a fifty mm lens over the course of 50 days.  He’s an amazing photographer as it is, but what he is doing with just that lens is on another level, it forces you to make the shot without some of that other stuff creeping in.  Instead of reaching for a wide angle or a zoom or a tele, you have to make it work with the angle of view that the 50mm provides.  Hell, this got me up and off of my ass, shooting just for the fun of it with only one lens.  Unfortunately I don’t have a D3 or a D700 so that I could use my either my 50 1.4 or the AIS.  But I do have the 35 f2, which is a great little lens in of itself, that I bought about a year ago, and haven’t used much, so I’ve put all my other lenses away and just struck out with my D300 and the 35 F2.  While my results aren’t any where near Bert’s, I am starting to see patterns in the way that I shoot, which is the first step to developing style as a photographer.  It’s also helping me with editing, over the past week or so, I’ve shot 72 photos, took those 72 and narrowed them down to about 20, and here are some of those twenty: