A shorter long lens

I made a bit of an error. I purchased a long lens last year (a 150-600mm) and was so impressed that I discarded my short telephoto (a 70-350mm) like Woody in Toy Story. I don't wanna play with you anymore... I wasn't going to need that - now I have serious kit. Photography became serious business. Hauling out the big lens when I wanted to chase birds - arising early in the morning or in the late Summer evening. The additional reach was tremendous. More zoom and increased distance between self and subject. Being twice as far away made the birds less skittish. More birds stuck around, more opportunities arose and the pictures were better.

The cost? Carrying an item akin to a bag of sugar out whenever I wanted to take photos. The perspiration from the increased weight in the blazing sun, deflecting the occasional "that's a big lens" comments and even the lack of a bag to fit both lens and camera attached together. The shorter kit lenses didn't do it for me either. Not enough reach for occasional birds, and not enough color in the images. Over the course of a year, the new lens pushed photography into a bucket where it had to be prime conditions to shoot. The initial enthusiasm and vigor early on waned and priorities shifted - chairs needed building, work got busy and drawing became fun.

My opportunistic photography plummeted. No taking the camera out on family trips to Santa Cruz. That meant missed frames from little corners of daily life. The lady launching bubbles across the ocean, producing amorphous forms and color backdropped by the ocean. And the one Tree Swallow among the acrobatic others who decided to take a break and perch on a bare branch, displaying oh so dainty feet. Sure we can't capture them all, but we can at least give ourselves a chance. I rebought that shorter telephoto. It's now sitting next to me in the garden as I write this note. I'm hoping the Robins or Phoebes will show up and I can begin clawing back the old photography spirit.