In light of the holiday season we just finished and all the craziness going on everywhere both socially and politically, I thought I'd start a thread in which we could all share our stories about things that warm the heart that are photography-related. Be it you doing a favor for a friend, meeting someone who got to shoot at the Special Olympics somewhere and witnessed/photographed a kid with Down's Syndrome make a clutch shot in basketball, or anything at all related to photography that warms the heart and soul. This is no place for getting into nit-picking over equipment, lenses, brands, locations, whether or not you should have charged for that wedding, or anything else. Just feel-good stories of the photographic variety.
Here's mine.
I served in AmeriCorps NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps) from February-November 2011. I had my 60D by my side the entire year and arguably had the best camera of over 150 people. Those with DSLRs as well primarily had something from the Rebel line-up, with the exception of the Nikon guy, but his camera wasn't significant enough for me to remember what model it was. I was tasked with the same job on my team as another friend was on her team; we were both asked to take care of the photography and act as the filters for determining all official photography. The difference is that while I had my fancy camera, SHE was shooting with a camera phone the entire year because she had been forced to choose between owning a cell phone or owning a camera, and had thus made the call to get a nice cell phone with a decent camera built-in.
I'm not bragging when I say I produced some great shots, but I will brag for her when I say that, from what I saw, she was very good with that little cell phone camera. Of course, she would have strongly preferred a dedicated camera, and at that point literally anything was an upgrade for her (with the exception of cheaper cell phones with built-in cameras). I, meanwhile, not only had my 60D by my side but had also had the foresight to bring along the old P&S I had been using for years before getting fancy with my photography. Naturally, it didn't occur to me at all during the year that I should let her borrow my P&S (stupidstupidstupid) but a few days before Christmas and about a month after the program ended I realized what I needed to do.
She had paid her dues with the camera phone, I knew this, and I had a strong desire to get her started on her photographic journey, as she had developed a strong desire to learn photography over the year. I knew she wanted to own a dedicated camera of any type more than anything else, but had no money to do it. On Christmas I chatted with her and asked if she had a digital camera yet (her boyfriend's mom had given her [note, given, as in for free] an AE-1 with a 50mm attached during our summer break). She said no, so I told her I needed her address.
My old P&S, which is the camera that got me a job at a newspaper as a photographer, now resides with her. I mailed it to her a few days after Christmas with just a couple instructions. She needed to use the darn thing and, when she saw some sort of chance to do so, she needed to pay it forward. Both of us, at this point, have gotten our upgrades. I about died waiting on mine, but I got lucky. She was incredibly patient all year and now has a camera which I am convinced is magical. That P&S, a Sony Cybershot DSC-W30 with a cute little Zeiss lens (I posted a picture of it on the forums once), produced a few of the best images I have ever taken, but I was at a point in my journey where nothing I could do, other than get a new camera with more features, was going to drastically improve the pictures I was taking. Even after I did get the new camera, I kept my old friend around, content to have it for back-up and emergencies.
I'm glad I could provide her with an opportunity to grow from her camera phone, even though she kept insisting that I didn't need to. I will likely eventually buy a new P&S, as they are useful things to have on-hand, but I'm glad I made the decision to give her the Sony. I can't wait to see what she produces.
