After seeing his stirring presentation at the recent Canon Roadshow, we just had to get Simon McDonnell in for our Canon Series. When browsing through his portfolio, one quickly realises that he is one of those photographers that’s able to capture anything that crosses his path. Aviation, motorsport, street and landscape, McDonnell has outstanding images for each. He also enjoys photographing fire-fighting and search and rescue teams in action, a world McDonnell is very familiar with since he’s involved with Search and Rescue himself as member of the Rescue South Africa International Disaster Response Team.

For his first question we asked him to pick his favourite lens to shoot with.

Simon McDonnell: My ‘Go to’ lens is the Canon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6L IS USM. I know it’s not the most modern piece of glass in the Canon arsenal, but I’m often restricted to having just one lens with me, so of course the exceptional versatility of the 28-300mm is what makes it my lens of choice. Using this lens also means I don’t have to change lenses as often as I would with several different focal length lenses, and that’s a huge factor in some of the environments I’m shooting in.

Follow McDonnell on Instagram, or view his portfolio on his website.