Photography, like life, is really about a series of compromises. Or to put it in another way - different strokes for different folks.
Those of us who have lived long enough to see and experience the many changes in photography over the decades (in my case, 1961-2020) fondly remember the era when we were younger and everything cost two and six - except zoom lenses.
I made do with TLRs in the '60s, initially Yashicas and from 1966, a Rollei which cost me five months' salary to buy on what we called "the never never" (lay-by). I recall the first zoom lenses I saw, a fellow news photog had a Nikon F which we all lusted after but couldn't afford and TWO of those optical beasts, first a 43-86 (of which the less said the better) and then an 80-200 which he used for sports shoots.
The rest of us somehow got by with our TLRs and their 'standard' 75mm or 80mm lenses which had to do us for all our general photography but meant stepping back quite a bit to take any images even vaguely reminiscent of anything wide angle. In the news trade I didn't really bother with minor discrepancies like corners of garages poking out of the edges of my shots or trees growing out of roofs. I just took the damn shots and souped my film in Dektol to get finished prints in time for the late evening news room closing. Color meant Ektachrome or Anscochrome which had to be sent away for processing and usually took two weeks for negatives and small square prints to be returned. I sort of knew about Rollei telephoto and wide angle cameras, which would have cost me the earth and the moon to buy. Hence the foot work.
I had a great time back then and still have many memories of news shoots, portraits, weddings, family social events, shots of long-deceased pets, and yes, even houses with garages in the edges and trees poking out of roofs. I treasure the few images I have left of my family's home and grandparents' farm. All taken with my Yashicas and the Rollei.
My early photography taught me frugality - or maybe 'minimalism' is a better term.
Times have changed and now we can all revel in the luxury of buying either zooms or primes according to which ever take our fancy. I still use my Rollei but I have a few Nikon zooms, yet I often make do with a 35mm or 28mm on a D700 or D800 - these lenses give me all I want from my images. 'Zoom' to me is mostly a veneable 28-85 which got fairly negative reviews when it came out but gives me sharp shots. For me, needs must.
Other than to respectfully but firmly disagree with Chris's summing up of foot-zooming as "dumb", I entirely (well, 99%) agree with his comments and his supporting images.
