From: Richard W. Adkins, WRAL-TV, Raleigh, NC

Remember the Good Ol’ Days? No, not the days of film, I mean the other good Ol’ days. The days when you and I and most other mid-life TV ‘togs showed up bright eyed and high spirited for our first News Photographer job. Boy, those were the days!

There is nothing like the sight of a late 70’s Chevy station wagon loaded with a RCA TK-76, six battery belts that lasted five minutes each, a Sony 110 recorder and a pile of used ¾” resume tapes that the ND just handed you to shoot on.

Does anyone out there remember those first few assignments? Remember that one that went so badly you erased the tape and claimed the deck got a head clog so you got nothing? Or how about that 15 second VO you shot three 20 minutes field tapes worth of b-roll for? Do you remember that white balance? What color was that anyway? You couldn’t duplicate it now if you had too.

Hey, how about that old guy sitting in photog room, the one who has worked there 30 years. Remember his words? “I’ve seen a hundred like you come and go, and I’ll see a hundred more before I retire.” Do you ever go back and visit him?

Remember that Tie you wore your first day of work?

Do you remember when you used to speed to spot news? Do remember that state trooper with absolutely no sense of humor? Remember when the ND called you into the office because someone complained about your aggressive driving… and he/she ended that conversation with a wink and a smile?

Do you ever think about any of those thoughts when the new guy comes into your current shop, he looks at that beat-up hand me down Chevy mini-van and sees the 3 batteries that are so bad no one stole them with the rest of the gear?

Every day I hate my job by 9:30am, and every night I dream about it and can’t wait to get to work the next morning. It nice to live in a world where there are very few rules, bad experiences are fond memories and everyday I make a difference in someone’s life… Even if it’s my own.