I’d Be A Photographer, If I Wasn’t A Writer
A reply to Sherry McGuinn’s, “If I wasn’t a writer” story & prompt
I love taking pictures.
When I was young — maybe 4 or 5 — my parents gave me one of their old cameras. It was an Kodak Instamatic camera that used a cartridge-type film. I remember having a package of Magic Cube flashes and loving snapping a photo, seeing the bulb explode into white light, then rotate as the film advanced.
They were point and shoot cameras. Easy. Perfect for someone to learn how to take pictures. I loved pointing my camera and snapping away.
When I was a little older — in middle school — my class from Northern New Jersey was taking a school field trip to Washington, D.C. It was an overnight stay. Very exciting. It was also in the spring, around the time of my birthday (or close). I asked for a camera for the trip. My parents bought me a Minolta X-370 SLR. I still have that camera.
It was the perfect camera for learning. It had an auto mode — which I used all the time. I just worried about framing the shots. I loved it. I still have that beautiful simple, but reliable camera to this day.
When I entered high school, I got involved with a student paper that was published in the local newspaper. It was pretty cool to be able to go into the newsroom once a week and feel like some grizzled newspaper person at the age of 16 or 17. I was old enough to drive, so I’d cruise around various school events and take pictures. It was great fun.
From there, I got recruited to the official high school paper. I remember the teacher asking me to keep my best work for the school and not to submit it to the newspaper’s tabloid insert written by the area high schoolers. I ignored her. I was the creative genius and photo editor of both places. My work would go where ever it worked the best. It worked out because I usually was able to find plenty of things to photograph. The newspaper’s staff also had student editors from four area schools, so it really was more regional, while the school was hyper-local, before we knew that term.
When I got older, I went to journalism school. For some reason, I didn’t pursue photography. I was intrigued, but thought I’d end up making something I enjoyed into work. I didn’t want deadline pressure. I just wanted to take pictures I wanted.
So, I focused on writing. I really enjoyed that. I was a nervous wreck asking people for interviews. I was also afraid of people when I was in my student reporter mode. Our El Presidente likes to press-o-phobia. I had internalized press-o-phobia when I was younger. I felt like everyone disliked reporters. It was all in my head, but it limited me. I ended up not pursuing journalism because of it. I think part of it was that we’d get assignments to go cover a city hall meeting where the city leaders were used to the long-time local newspaper reporter. Having 15 to 20 aspiring Woodwards and Bernsteins burst into their meeting probably put them on edge.
I always loved doing school assignments where I dealt with normal people. If I could have been a features writer. I get to do what I like now, so it’s worked out in that regard.
But, if I had it all to do over, I’d be a photographer. I love taking pictures of people, places and things.
These days, I enjoy using my cell phone’s camera. I have it with me all the time. It doesn’t draw attention — even if I’m taking a selfie which is a sign of how ubiquitous cell phone cameras are these days.
I am a photographer, after all!
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This was a lot of fun. I thank Sherry McGuinn for tagging me and getting me to think. I want to pass the joy along and invite Britni Pepper, Simran Kankas, Marla Bishop, ☕️ Rolli, Xavier Van Holde, Kira Dawn, Bridget Webber, James Finn, BFoundAPen, Brian Fehler, Jimmy Doom, Meeta Seth, Jezebel, Chrissie Morris Brady Ph.D. to write about what they’d be if they weren’t writers. 💗💗💗
Inspired by Sherry McGuinn’s “If I Wasn’t A Writer” prompt at:
Chris Hedges 🦄 BA, JD, loves taking pictures with her cell phone camera. “Take the shot and fix it on the computer,” is my motto.