Taking the long view

Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times

Covid has changed the way we see the world; and not metaphorically.  Of course there's the fact that we are now seeing our friends and colleagues in small boxes on a small and not in person. But Zoom aside, things look different.  I may be imagining things but what first struck me looking at this image of Mitch McConnell from today's New York Times is that is was taken with quite a long lens (perhaps a 300mm telephoto in 35mm format). The background seems too close to the figures in the middle ground who appear closer than they are to the foreground.  The depth of field is very shallow as well, again a feature of a picture taken with a long lens. 

Which got me to wondering whether photojournalists had swapped their normal-wide angles like the Nikon AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8 for something like the Nikon AF-S 120-300mm f/2.8E. Why? Well if they used to get into a scrum of journalists quite close to the subject they'd need the shorter length lens. But with covid getting close to people like McConnell isn't possible. Everyone not in "the bubble" must be being kept at a very safe social distance, so you'd need a long lens. So taking the long view is just good sense.