When my wife and I were planning for a family, we envisioned a future where she and our baby would tag along with me around the world for my work trips—using the airline miles I have amassed over the years for free flights. But then, COVID happened and my overseas work travel all but stopped, and my wife returned to work as our kid started preschool. It seemed the dream would remain just that.
When an opportunity for her to join me in Japan presented itself—I jumped on it. Japan was where we spent our honeymoon and would be my wife’s first time back there since 2018—7 years later. And although the timing of the trip had more to do with my work than the seasons, we happened to be there at the time when the cherry blossoms were in bloom.
And oddly enough, I stumbled into a wedding which I happened to photograph for a few minutes.
For this trip Nikon Professional Services was generous enough to loan me a Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.2 lens. I have, and am a big fan of the lens’ little brother, the Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.8 lens, but have been curious if the extra light capturing capability of the lens would be worth the expense and weight. While it’s a fabulous lens, I didn’t see much of a difference between it and its little brother in the way that I shoot. I imagine people doing closeup face portraits would get more out of it than me.
