Post by Grubb.
Yesterday we had a guide take us up into the Andes. With us was a couple, Nick and Patricia, from Rio de Janeiro, and a middle aged man, Bjorn, from Norway but now living in Great Britain. The guys had bonded the day before during a wine tour over the fact that their cameras were outfitted with Canon lenses. On our trek camera settings were a hot topic. Whenever we hit the ground to take in the panorama, Nick and Bjorn would position themselves on opposite ends of our viewpoint and aim their extended telephoto lenses. This brought the snowy peaks of the distant mountains closer, but didn’t do much for the feeling of depth that is so overwhelming it seems to make time stop. The sharp, jagged immensity of the snow-swept peaks so far off from the immediacy of the large sloping hillsides increases the size contrasts that create a sense of awe. Telephoto closeups take that all away.
But then, when Bjorn had been on a boat in the Amazon and had gotten an incredible closeup shot of a Jaguar flashing his incisors as he yawned, I could see how one could get attached to the highly magnified lens. And I suppose getting a photo that immerses one into the snow on the steep side of a mountain beats getting frostbite on a risky climb.
The saying goes that when you can afford the long fast lenses, you’re too old to carry them.
Funny
Both Bjorn and Nick make healthy incomes from their respective corporations.