1/500 is all I need for photography, maybe you too?

I have been a professional sports photographer for nearly two decades, traveling the world for my job and shooting at many different shutter speeds to capture the action in full swing.

Now I've changed course and try to capture the beauty of the everyday through street/documentary photography. 1/500 sec seems to be my limit, or rather, not even my limit, but more of an “always-on” approach. And while that may sound strange, in reality it works in any setting!

I guess you could say that when I shoot manually I use a “shutter priority” setting, just adjusting the aperture to suit my surroundings. But knowing that I have my camera set to 1/500 gives me the confidence that I can capture any situation that comes my way and my images will be motion free. Personally, I don't see the need for shutter speeds of 1/4,000 and above, because honestly 1/500 just works so well that it's like my own “gold standard” and the setting I change first on any camera.