Trying to recover from burnout

It’s been quite a while since I’ve added anything to this site. I got thoroughly burnt out. While it’s true there was less to see in winter, I had a long stretch where I didn’t like my output. I’ll still aim to mainly post day trips, and this is from a trip to Cornwall Park in Bellingham in early March.

Some of my burnout may come from me focusing too much on opportune bird shots, but my technique still has a way to go. With equipment normally used for that purpose, there is room for improvement I haven’t really considered. Here are a couple shots of the same squirrel, with different framing.

Notice how different the moods of these two pictures are, yet the only things that have major changes are out of focus!

Don’t get me wrong, most of my output lately is still birding equipment getting opportune shots; and Cornwall Park’s squirrels and more-common birds are easier to get shots of than the wildlife better at hiding. (I heard but did not see an owl not far from the largest concentration of other birds.)

I would do well to get back to plants and other relatively still subjects. Up until I got a long lens, this was my strong suit. In fact, some of my earliest work was finding sunstars. I tried getting one on this trip, but these tend to be at their best in the late summer.

I would also do well to try to get multiple subjects when I can. While the following shot was opportune and the framing worked out, I need to start paying more attention to framing.

Hopefully I am recovering from my burnout, but only time will tell. Work stress has been easing up significantly lately, but in turn some things outside of work are still managing to stress me out. I don’t have much compulsion to get new photography gear in the near future (especially with new EF glass all but disappearing), but I’ve been spending irresponsibly on other hobbies in a time where I seem to be very much on the losing side of inflation. I need to remind myself photographic gear, properly cared for, is very hardy.