“Say what you will about the undoubted advantages of other focal lengths, no lens can handle so many different subjects and situations as satisfactorily as the good old reliable 50-mm. Unless the photographer is working on a specific idea, or is faced with some special problem demanding something markedly longer or shorter, the 50 gives a frame that’s neither too tight for most indoor work, nor too loose for general outdoor shooting. If there is no lens for all seasons, at least there is one for most situations, and this is the versatile 50.”
Bob Schwalberg, “The shifty fifty”, Popular Photography, pp.73-75,118,119 (Sep., 1970)
Bob Schwalberg
Schwalberg on Henri Cartier-Bresson
“He practices his own special brand of outside-looking-in photography. He roams he world with a Leica. About 90 percent of his pictures are made with 50-mm normal-focus lenses. He never poses. He never arranges. If observed, he instantly breaks off action. He adds no photographic lighting, but uses light exactly as he finds it. He eschews every specialized optical effect, from limited depth of field to ultra-wide-angle vision. In effect, he is the theoretically ideal photographer who sees without being seen, records without impinging upon his subjects.”
Bob Schwalberg, “Cartier-Bresson Today”, Popular Photography, 60(5), P.108 (1967)
Crafting Pixels 