These are the most common questions I have heard.
Why carry such heavy lenses?
Why such fast lenses?
Why such a shallow depth of field?
First off this has always struck me a little funny. When I first started in photography I was shooting 4X5 view cameras, then later to medium format and now 35mm. The first 35mm slr with a motor I shot was a Nikon F2. It was built like a tank and was twice as heavy. Actually the weight of most of gear has become less. With the advent of zoom tech I carry far fewer lenses and camera. I use to carry 3 or 4 bodies and several lenses (180 f2.8, 300 f4.5, 50mm f1.8, 85 f2 and 28mm). So for me weight is far less an issue.
A simple answer flexibility and control. Sometimes one is force to shot in a low light situations and other times you need to freeze action, or sometimes both. These are extremely important factors in photojournalism as well as sports photography. Arenas, domes and night games make squeezing every fstop a necessity. Fast lenses allow you to use more of the natural. One example of this is balanced flash- If you want to cut down on harsh flash lighting and those nasty shadows just open your lens and let more of the natural light in.
In most of the art, commercial art and portrait photography styles stopping down is in the norm, the f22 club for example. The reason for a shallow depth is simple control. By limiting the depth of field you force the viewer to look where you are focused. Think about it in sports the backgrounds are extremely busy. But by using a shallow depth of field, and focusing on the action you blur the background and isolate the subject. Another example of this is SI Magazine Swimsuit Edition, if you what highlight a beautiful woman but keep the mood of the beach open up your lens. More and more portrait photographers are using this technique just read or look at Gary Bernsteins work or read his books. For me one of the most abused filters is the soft focus filters. I am not saying don't use them but I am saying by using a shallow depth of field you will get a similar effect. And in terms of publication reproduction a shallow depth of field works better than soft focus filter. Even though the filter makes a nice standard print it still has a great loss in print reproduction.
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