It is certainly true that UVW lenses require practise and some compositional thought but they give a lot of options that are just not available with other lenses. Some situations where they are very good:
* Showing depth
* Emphasizing perspective and difference in size
* Emphasizing motion
* Working in cramped spaces
Below are some examples from a recent trip to Hanoi. I am not saying that the shots are necessarily very good but they work in the sense that they would not have been possible with other lenses and they also show what I intended to show (all shot with a Nikon D300 and Nikon 12-24 mm at 12 mm; making the effective focal length 18 mm):
One Night in Hanoi by
monojussi, on Flickr
Dinner Time by
monojussi, on Flickr
Say Hi to Uncle Ho by
monojussi, on Flickr
The House on the Corner by
monojussi, on Flickr
I have made it a habit to walk around with just one lens with me. A full day in Hanoi with the 12-24 mm lens (at 12 mm most of the time) forced me to think about the composition and story telling in the images and – IMHO – helped me take better photos.
Cheers,
T.