Photographer? Who me?

For those who know me well, photography isn't exactly my forte. In fact my family has come to learn that I am not the person to rely on to get pictures at a function. Either I forget something such as charging my battery or I just take god-awful pictures with someone's face cut off or poor picture quality. The biggest complaint is that I don't take enough photos.

My brother is the known photographer of the family. He likes to document every minute when he comes down to visit from California. Every meal he makes us wait until he takes a picture or if we go somewhere, we have to pose so he can take a picture. I just roll my eyes and walk away. There is seriously no need to document every minute. My theory is how many pictures can you have of the same people. I don't need to remember what they look like brushing their teeth.

However, recently things have started to change. As the news room is getting busy with the new school year and the upcoming elections, us reporters are finding that we are relied on to take our own pictures. We only have so many photographers and they cant be in the same place at the same time. At first, I groaned. Me? Take a picture? Ummm I dont think that is such a good idea. But I had no choice.

Is my battery fully charged? Check. Is the media card empty? Check. Is the media card in the camera? check. Is the camera in my bag? Check. I went down my checklist over and over again until I was in the car on my way to my assignment and knew the camera was beside me. Then it was time for the actual picture taking. The moment of truth. Could I take a fairly decent picture when it came down to work?

Gear at the Co-op in Belford which will be recycle for energy

The answer: YES! On my first assignment, my job used two of my photos for the article. I couldn't believe it. One actually came out fairly well (right). When I had first looked at the picture, I thought, eh its just nets on the ground. After a second look, I realized that capturing the boats in the background gave the picture a whole new depth. Apparently, my job thought so too and I got paid for my photos.

That's right: I got paid for my photos. It's nothing major, just a few bucks. At least it's something and  it pays for breakfast! LOL.

That assignment was just the start. In the past two weeks, I have been asked to take my camera for a few assignments and have gotten paid for 5 photos. It may not seem like much but for a reporter who only writes about 6 articles a weeks, its alot.  Here are a few of the others:

The Coe Estate in Middletown that will be a learning center for children with autism

The new tree house at the playground

The new playground area at Wolcott Park in Eatontown.