Today is Mother’s Day here in America. Therefore, I want to talk about cameras

It turns out that if I want to make a living at being a journalist I have to be a photojournalist. Gone are the days when every Louis Lane has her own Jimmy Olsen to tote the rig and take the picture for her. Not that I’m anything resembling a ‘Louis Lane’. I don’t write about politics, and I rarely cover breaking news. I’m one of those silly little people who is proud to be a fluff writer. I don’t do investigative writing and I stay away from controversies.

Almost a good shot, but my camera wouldn't focus when framed right.

Because of this I’ve been putting off getting an expensive professional grade camera. I’ve been deluding myself into believing that my little pocket camera is good enough. Recent events have shoved me out of that delusion.

My tiny little town recently suffered a tragedy. A historical landmark burnt to the ground. A landmark that we, as a community, are very fond of. As the only representative of one of my main publishers in this entire area I went out to cover the story. And this is what I found...

My little pocket camera doesn’t do so well taking shots of fire fighters in action or filter out the sound of circular saws when in video mode. I can’t tell the spokesman from the fire department to make the guys in the background stop what their doing while he addresses the press core about the fire they’re still wrapping up.  I can’t make the crying child stand still, or get the dog, who’s running through traffic to get the child’s side, to pose for a shot. I can’t get the crowd, who came out to mourn the loss of the landmark, to stay still.

Interesting picture, but the lighting sucks. 

This has been coming for a long time; this frustration with my camera. It’s actually been building since before I got it. I knew it wasn’t going to be good enough for my needs, but it was the best I could afford. I’ve put up with taking 5 times longer to get a shot than I should have to, not getting shots that could make me money simply because my little camera didn’t ‘bend that way’, and having to disregard entire video segments because the sound was screwed up. I’ve gone out of my way to take pictures at the right time of day because my camera is fickle about light. I’ve missed some shots entirely because there was absolutely no way to get my camera to focus, only to find out someone else took the shot from a lesser angle and made a mint.

I have children to feed and bills to pay. My publisher pays up three times more for articles accompanied by original photos and video. I’ve done the math. I need a new camera. So, if there’s a Mother’s Day faerie out there somewhere, could you please send me a Cannon Rebel Eos T3 with level 1 lens kit and a tripod? Please?

It took me an hour to set up this shot and wait for the light.

I want it for Mother’s Day... or my birthday, or my unbirthday, or just because. I want a camera that does what I need it to do, when I need it to do it. I don't have time to wait around for the sun to change angel. It does me no good to see what could be a great shot, only find out that I have to choose between the right framing and focus. When I miss a shot by a split second I miss the shot entirely, so I need a camera that can take 3 frames per second. I'm not just trying to record my children's childhoods here. I'm trying to finance them.