I got myself a bit of gear that is almost anti-photography in its purpose for me, at least in the short term.
Photography can be a great way of encouraging you to look differently. But especially now that my only fully reliable camera is my phone, I find that its UI causes me to break out of "being in the moment". And in general, especially when I go on hikes, I am sometimes too focused on finding a pretty frame and not on being present.
So I got myself some half-decent binoculars; the Helios Nitrosport (terrible name) 8x34, for just under 100 euros. Not a well-known brand, but they are good value for the specs. They're a bit larger than I'm used to, no longer pants pocketable like my previous 8x21 cheapo company gift bino's, these are just about jacket pocketable so we'll have to see how that works for me in summer... But the difference in clarity, color, apparent angle of view, contrast, just about every aspect you can think of, is just night and day. And speaking of night, they work into the twilight to quite a remarkable degree for binoculars that are still only mid-size.
These truly make it enjoyable to look through the binoculars and find out what the object of your attention looks like from up close. Completely different experience to photography, while still being strongly related. So far, a resounding success. And when I get a camera with a proper tele zoom again, I imagine (hope) that the bino's and the zoom will complement each other nicely.
