I quit smoking almost 2 months ago. I mentioned it a couple of weeks ago in the post Digital photography changed the question. Quitting smoking is supposed to be one of the best things you can ever do. To put how I feel about the whole process of quitting smoking in perspective, I would rather go through the pain of child birth, than experience quitting smoking ever again. The idea that my health will improve, and supposedly my lifespan will increase should be enough motivation to get me through it, but it’s not. I knew I needed something much bigger than that, so after talking it over with my husband we agreed that if I made it to 6 months with out having a cigarette I would be able to buy the Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 zoom lens. This was the perfect motivation for weeks 3-8 of quitting, but then I started to think, and I realized that 6 months would put it in September. The problem is that I want this lens for all the things I do in the summer. After all, 70-200mm is not really a lens I would use indoors very often. I knew that it wouldn’t be much of a reward to get it and not really use it for many months, and I didn’t know what to do. So finally I decided (with my husband’s encouragement) that I should buy the lens now, but with the understanding that if I start smoking before September 23, 2011 I would have to sell the lens.
In case you haven’t guessed, I got the lens, and so far I have just been playing with it. Here are a few photos that I was able to take that I would never have been able to get with my 24-70mm.
Nikon D300 70-200mm @ 185mm f13 1/200, ISO 200
I drive or walk past this flag almost everyday, and I never noticed until I took this photo how ratty the flag is. Despite the fact the I hadn’t noticed it before, it bothers me. I’m pretty sure you would never find any American that would fly a ratty flag, so why do Canadians think it’s okay?
Nikon D300 70-200mm @ 200mm f5 1/1000, ISO 200
NIkon D300 70-200mm @ 200mm f5 1/1000, ISO 200
NIkon D300 70-200mm @ 200mm f5 1/1000, ISO 200
Congratulations on quitting smoking, keep up the good work. Now that you have an f/2.8 telephoto zoom, you’ll need the extra lung capacity to carry it around.
In that first picture, it looks like you have some dust on your sensor. The combination of bright blue sky and f/13 will bring out even the tiniest speck of dust.
Have fun with the new lens. Nothing like a new lens to boost your creativity. It it helps you quit smoking too, then that’s even better.
Thank you very much Bryan! I have noticed that lens is heavy that is for sure. And there is nothing like a new lens to see things in a whole new way.
I was noticing the speck on that first photo as well. I’m surprised that there is dust on the sensor, as I just got it back from the repair shop, and I figured they would have sent it back clean for me. Guess I will have to look into that though, thank you for pointing it out.
Kudos on dropping that, really applaud !
It probably a matter or right motivation at the right time., hope it all works out well