As a photographer I'm accustomed to thinking inside the box. Through my viewfinder I segment the world by placing a frame around one part of my field of view. Deciding what goes in the frame is the first step in editing the reality around me.
But sometimes you just can't put the world in a box. You need to include everything. That's why my favorite lens is a circular fisheye that covers a 180° span. It's always with me. The lens distorts… yes. But in much the same way our own vision distorts. We don't have a clear view at the edges of our peripheral vision. A hint of an image or shape is all we really perceive. The circular fisheye catches it in much the same way.
Sometimes you need everything in the frame to tell the picture. Look at my picture Scorpion Stand. My belly was pressed up to the stand. The vendor, the skewers of soon to be fried insects, the hustle of the neighboring vendors were all integral to the story. Even my widest-angle lens (16mm) wouldn't have taken in the scene.
Or look at Sahara Campfire. A most extraordinary moment…. The moon high overhead, the constellation Orion setting on the horizon, sitting inside a circle of men around the campfire. Of the dozens of shots I took that night, only the fisheye captured the magic of the moment.
The circular fisheye works best when the field of interest goes way up, way down, and way to the sides all at the same time. A fisheye shot of a landscape or an interior shot where half the frame is sky or ceiling is very boring.
I just have to be careful to not get my feet in the picture.