Wide-Angle Lens, Telephoto, and Truth: Shifting the Way We See
A wide-angle lens makes the world feel vast. A telephoto lens flattens it. Neither is wrong—but each tells a different story. The same is true for how we view situations in our lives. In the Focus Forward post I wrote about Lens Compression, I explored how my telephoto lens enabled me to capture an image from farther away and keep the subject the same size as when I stood closer with a different lens. But that shift had a consequence — the background looked much closer than it actually was. Using different lenses lets me see things differently.
When we’re examining a topic, we can find a broader range of interest points if we look at the thing through different lenses. Just as using a different camera lens changes the perspective of the photo, examining a subject through a different philosophical lens can change our understanding of it.
What a Physical Lens Teaches Us
Wide-Angle
I use a wide-angle lens when I want to shoot an interior or capture a landscape. It pulls in more of the scene, and puts the whole picture into focus. You can take a wide-angle approach to something by stepping back and looking at a topic in its environment — its surroundings, its history, its supporters and detractors.
Zoom/Telephoto
My telephoto or “zoom” lenses allow me to feel close to my subject without physically moving closer. It’s what made it possible to capture the faces of the bison at Yellowstone in images that look like I’m two feet away from the creature. (That’s not a safe distance.) These lenses compress the distance between me and my subject, but also everything behind the subject as well. In addition to wildlife photography, I also like to use these lenses to capture portraits of people from farther away than conventional portraits.
Narrowing the focus on a topic can help you see things you might miss in the overview, but there are a couple of important trade-offs. The first is that you can’t stop when you find something you like. You need to examine the whole scene and situation with that drilled-in focus. The other thing to be aware of is that zooming in too close can make you lose focus, in photography and in studying a topic. You can lose the context of the big picture, just as the lens can’t find a point on which to focus.
Shift
I have often dramatically improved a photograph by taking two or three steps to one side, or stepping backward or forward, or even raising or lowering my camera. Doing these things lets me see a different aspect of my subject – maybe the light is hitting it differently, but most often, it’s just a whole different side of the thing. I shot a whole series in just one portion of a river, and no two photos are the same. They tell different stories about that spot. Several years ago, I wrote a post connecting my corneal abrasion and experience with an eyepatch to a scene from My Cousin Vinny. I’m not going to rewrite it here, you can go and read it, but it’s about perception. Stepping away from our firmly held position on a topic can allow us to see a different feature of it.
Using a Different Lens in Life
Employee/Solopreneur
At this stage in my life, I’m blessed to be an employee of a company that values me as an individual as well as a source of revenue; I’m glad to play both roles for the organization. But I’m also a small business owner, and things look very different to me in that position. Buying camera equipment isn’t just a hobby purchase anymore, now it’s something that has to show up in my business records.
Improving my skills is critical for a technology profession. If I’m standing still, I’m losing ground. But upskilling is also something that I do to benefit my business, and it’s not just about the photography techniques. I’m learning how to grow my sales, promote my products, and increase my brand recognition. It’s not enough just to do the job well enough to keep it.
I wrote recently about how my creative hobbies benefit my technical profession, and that applies here as well. If I tried to isolate each from the other, both would suffer. Thinking creatively helps me solve problems, and process-oriented thinking keeps me sharp while I pursue creative activities. But there’s something else that happens – being a business owner, I look differently at risk: the risk of having assets, the risk of liability, the risk of financial failure. These are risks I don’t worry over much in my own business, but as an employee, I do consider these worries that my employer faces.
Worldly/Spiritual
This is one of the most important distinctions I can make when figuring things out. Sometimes I encounter a situation and wonder what to make of it. There’s usually an obvious presentation, and that’s the one most people are going to accept. However, when I examine any situation through the lens of our Savior’s Plan of Salvation, I see things very differently. I see His love for all of us, including and especially me. He also shows me what He wants for me, my destiny, and my destination. I come to understand what He wants me to understand about the situation. Sometimes it’s the same as the “world’s” perception, but often, I’m standing alone in my position on it. And that’s okay.
Other Lenses
There are also other lenses we may be using. Some of them are age, culture, trauma, privilege, and position. You will see your world through a lens. You can choose which lens to use. It’s important to be aware of the lens you’re using — which one you default to — and to have the courage to swap lenses when you need to see differently. You almost always need to see things somewhat differently.
Why it Matters
The only evidence of life is growth, according to 19th-century cardinal John Henry Newman. Yes, I believe that. It makes sense. But our personal growth, the growth that may not be visible, is only possible when we stop assuming that our view is the only one. It’s important to be intentional about perspective. It lets us see more clearly — not just differently. Just like in my photography, the lens I choose determines the story I will tell.
Your Turn
When I made the discovery about shifting my physical position, a light went off in my brain. When I did the piece on lens compression, it completed the concept. Ask yourself, “What lens am I using?” especially when you are completely certain in your position.
Tell me about a time when you found yourself thinking differently about something because you got new information — saw things differently. Drop a comment below, just under the “Related Posts” section, and let’s keep the conversation going.
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