My primary issues aren’t whether I have the right camera, or lens, or how sharp the subject is, or how noisy the image is.  My main issue is finding and making images where the subject doesn’t mind that I am photographing them when they are doing something interesting.  

Birds are wary when they see me behind the window, but if I really wanted to get better pictures of them I could learn to use the camera gear more effectively and even build a blind.  In this case it would be easy to put a cloth up between me and the birds with a small hole through which I could photograph them.

Photographing birds primarily takes patience, but that doesn’t work as well with people.  It seems that someone is always concerned about privacy, or at the very least, they stare or change their behavior when they know someone is taking a picture of them.  Before Covid stuck, most folks here had gotten used to me taking pictures and I was able to make images that I can’t now.  We have had such a turnover in residents that it is now like starting all over, and I find it not worth the effort since it would take several more years to get back to where I had been. Years that I might not have.   

The only solution I have found so far is to stop photographing people or to make images and then make sure that the faces, etc. are blurred or hidden in the shadows.  That is why I have tried various styles of B&W imagery in the past.  It is easier to hide the identities of people, and it is even easier if I only photograph details that are not linked to any particular location.

I have only occasionally photographed birds, etc. as I used them to practice various technical aspects that might lead me to ways of making more images; i.e., more images of the lives of people and their issues and concerns.  But, maybe I should really give-up and find other things to photograph.  I have stopped with photographing people, many times, but keep going back to considering how I might be able to do it.  Is now the time to really stop and move on?  Rationally, the answer is yes.