BETACAM!?

If you have been keeping up with my post, you may have read that I got to look into the viewfinder of a BETACAM at the age of 6 or 7. Now, I got to actually operate on at the age of 17...on my own.

When I went into "the bureau"/Greg's apartment for the tour, he explained to me how he scheduled his day and how he got stories, etc... However, Greg was such a sport....he answered all the questions I had.

Let me pause for a moment and explain to you that I am a news junkie. I was and am fascinated with television news. It was fate that led me to Greg because he was also a televsion news junkie. We instantly clicked and bonded because we could talk for hours about tv news. We were able to discuss issues we could not discuss with someone else for fear of being labeled "weird" "dork", "stupid" "crazy"... we discussed things like tv news logos, theme music, favorite anchors.... I guess that is why he trusted me to handle expensive station equipment when I did not actually work for the station.

Anyway, as Greg showed me "the studio" in his apartment....I asked about what they shot on... He pulled out the camera. I was so excited to see it. It was a Sony DXC 437 docked to a BVV-5. He said, "Well, do you want to hold it?" I was even more excited to put the camera on my shoulder. Greg then told me about his assignment for the next day. It was in a small town about 30 minutes away at the county court house. I don't remember the details of that particular story, but I do remember that I was so excited the night before that once again, I could barely sleep. In fact, I did not even go to school. I skipped and went with Greg on this story.

Greg trained me on the basics....white balance, setting focus, framing shots and interviews, etc... He was very patient with me. I was in high school and shooting news which was something I always wanted to do. After going out with Greg on many stories, shooting these stories by myself....I was getting antsy about reaching my next goal: Executing a live shot.

To be continued........

Thanks for stopping by....I know that I am no "Lenslinger" when it comes to story telling and grammar. However, I enjoy telling my story of the journey through photojournalism. In case your wondering, I did make it to a fairly large market. But, I will get to that soon....