I have a confession to make.
I cheated last week.
I opened my Christmas present six weeks early. But hey, who's counting.
In my defense, my wonderful, amazing, thoughtful (yes I could continue with more nice adjectives) significant other offered me the opportunity to open it early. I just didn't refuse.
And how could I refuse. After all, it had to be good if he wanted to give it to me six weeks ahead of schedule.
So you're probably thinking by now, "What is it is already?"
Well, it was a dream come true: a brand new Nikon D7000.
Now this camera is the real deal. It's amazing in low-light situations; its ability to auto-focus on moving objects is impressive, to say the least; and its possible number one perk for me, is the fact it takes HD video.
You see, I have another confession to make.
I didn't go to school to be a print journalist. Though I love writing, I focused on video production in school.
My favourite thing was shooting video. This is likely because I've been a shutterbug ever since I can remember. Not that I was really great at taking photos (I'm better now), but it was a definite passion.
This passion translated quite well to the video camera.
Editing video came in as a close second as a passion in school. And thanks to our computer crashing a couple months ago, we finally bought a MacBookPro.
So armed with a laptop with an affordable and user-friendly video editing program and my brand new camera, I'm right in my element.
It's been awhile (four-and-a-half years to be exact) since I last shot any video, so I'm tickled pink right now. And I have plans.
Boy do I have plans.
The feeling I have is completely indescribable. Again, I love writing, but video and photography is on a whole other level for me.
Let me explain.
Five years ago I wrote, shot, directed and edited two documentaries.
The first was titled, "Power Kid." It was a story of the bond between a father and his daughter that spanned two countries. There were clips in this documentary that could never be properly duplicated in print.
For example, the moment when the then four-year-old girl explained why she was going to live with her "boyfriend" when she grows up instead of her Mommy or Daddy. The sheer emotion that radiated from her as she screamed into the camera, "Because Mommy lives here and Daddy lives there, so that's why!" could bring anyone to tears. But to read it in print just isn't the same.
The second documentary was titled, "Living Positive." It was about a man who contracted HIV the first time he ever tried intravenous drugs. He had been living positive for more than two decades, and was nearing the end of his life when I met him.
When he spoke into the camera and said, "The doctor says I have six months to live - and that's being optimistic," again this emotion can't be translated to print. It just can't.
While making video documentaries would be a huge undertaking right now, making fun videos of our lives isn't. And that is exactly what I plan to do - in addition to documenting everything I see with photographs, of course.
Aren't I lucky!
Now let's hope he likes his Christmas gift as much as I liked mine. I do have big shoes to fill.
