Yes, subject matter and composition trumps all. But when you can get distance shots that are sharp and in focus, a lot of that has to do with the lens.
Here's a few more of the flying squirrels from that night when they were being their usual nosy selves and cooperating for photos. These were taken with regular film, and because it was dark I had to just guess at the focus range by how far I was from them, and used a very minimal fill flash to not scare them off. Lost the photos for over 10 years, the negatives were ruined when the basement flooded one year. I was so happy when I found them again, immediately scanned them and cleaned up as best as possible at that point before they got lost again in a move.
