This morning, I watched a YouTuber talk about focal lengths. I’m sure this is a dry subject for non-photographers, but it is a subject of relatively hot debate if you do love photography. I won’t get into that here, but it made me think of one of my favorite portraits I’ve ever taken.

This is my God Son.

I had a new lens I wanted to test out, so I asked his mother if we could take him and his sister to get some snowballs (this is an incredible New Orleans dessert, if you’re unaware) and I can take some photos of them. It wasn’t a serious shoot. I just wanted to see what the lens could do.

I ended up with several fun shots that I liked. As we were wrapping up and about to take the kids home, my God Son decided he wasn’t done playing. He ducked underneath the table we were sitting at. I quickly did the same. And I got this shot of him.

This was shot with a 20 millimeter lens. Twenty is kind of a basic wide-angle lens. Most portrait photographer would never even consider using it to take portraits, because wide angle lenses cause distortion. Reality gets a bit warped. And because of this, portraits can be extremely unflattering.

But they don’t have to be. When used with purpose, a wide angle lens can give your portrait a unique look. Of course the flip side is that if you use it wrong, you can make your subject look like one of the Coneheads. So don’t go to gigs with just that one lens.

But if you are interested in photography (and I do teach a class on the basics if you’re interested) try different things. Listen to older photographers’ advice, but don’t take them as gospel. Figure out what makes sense for you.

This is still one of the best photographs I ever took. It sits above my bed, along with a few of my other favorite shots from my career.