If you’d like to meet other people, but you’re not the type to approach them first, I have a potential solution for you …
Go buy a huge camera lens.
Seriously.
We were at this park in Tucson for about 90 minutes the other day, and at least half a dozen people came over to talk to me. The conversations all started with some version of:
Wow, that’s quite a camera you have there.
The ironic thing is, probably 75-80% of the pictures I take these days are taken with my Pixel phone’s camera.
But for taking pictures of birds and other wildlife the “real” camera with a big lens attached is pretty much a necessity.
More Than a Hike: My Quest for the Elegant Trogon in Ramsey Canyon
Ramsey Canyon was one of the first places my girlfriend Kelly and I hiked when we arrived in Arizona—for her in 2012, and for me in 2014. There’s a reason we were both drawn to it: there is simply nowhere else like it in southern Arizona.
I tried to get by without a long lens for 3 or 4 years. It was torture.
Bird Photography at the San Pedro River
The first time I lived here in Arizona I used to take a lot of wildlife pictures. Then my big 500 mm lens broke while I was in Texas. So for the past 2 1/2 years since I moved back, I haven’t been out with my camera nearly as much.
These days when I’m going to a sporting event, or planning to look for wildlife is usually the only time I carry my real camera with the big lens.
But since I also need to work on being more sociable in real life, perhaps I should just start taking it with me everywhere I go as a conversation starter.
The other day at the lake, we met several couples who had some interesting stories. A man and his camera shy dog.
And one old guy who spent a good 15 minutes showing us his pictures and telling me about all the different kinds of wildlife I might see in the area (including a baby bobcat he’d photographed one morning).
I’m pretty sure none of that would’ve happened if I hadn’t been carrying my big lens.
Do you have any unusual but still reliable conversations starters?
Til next time,
Todd