It's funny that in the old days, the days of ASA 400 Tri-X film I didn't really pay much attention to depth of field. When we were photographing in old book stores I defaulted to f1.7 on my Canonet camera because.....I kept running out of light.

 

And now it's a look I find wonderful and fascinating. Along with that 40mm focal length. 

Funny how, until recently, need was the mother of style. We needed more light. I opened up the aperture knowing I was hitting the limits of my ability to handhold the camera. But to my eye the out of focus areas in the background, as authentic as they come, make this portrait of a young child clutching a print magazine one of my favorite early photographs. I think I've been trying to get back to that basic level of making pictures ever since.