Thirty-five millimeters is wide enough if you take a step back
For a long time I kept a 28mm lens in my bag because I was afraid of narrow sidewalks. Whenever I stood across from a corner grocery or an old theater marquee, my first instinct was to fit the whole facade into the finder without crossing the street. The pictures that came back had everything in them and nothing at the center. The edges stretched just enough to remind you that a wide lens had done the work instead of your feet.
In August I left the 28mm in the drawer and walked only with the 35mm. The first two rolls felt cramped. I kept clipping the tops of awnings and backing into bus stops. By the third roll I noticed that when a building did not fit, the whole frame was usually telling me I was standing in the wrong place anyway. Stepping back five paces—or giving up on the roof and taking only the doorway and the person waiting beside it—made a calmer picture almost every time.
A 35mm frame does not flatter a lazy composition. It is not wide enough to look dramatic on its own, and it is not long enough to isolate a face from a messy background. You have to decide what belongs in the corners before you lift the camera. That small delay is worth more than the extra angle of view I thought I needed.