My kids have always been fascinated with anything EMS related. Car wrecks, fires, anything that involves an ambulance or fire truck. Maybe it's from years of listening to stories about the days when the Island King was a paramedic or maybe it's just human nature but whatever it is they have it.
So yesterday I went to pick up the Island Girl and as I pulled into the parking lot where our carpool meets I see a bad wreck. The woman who was driving the carpool pulled in at the same time and Island Girl jumped out of her car and ran over to ask if I had the camera with me. "I want to get some shots of this" she says.
I only had my little point and shoot but she happily grabbed it and ran over to the edge of the parking lot to snap some pictures. At the same time the local newspaper photographer showed up and within minutes Island Girl has hooked up with him and they are crawling around behind some bushes trying to get closer without getting in trouble.
They took pictures for a while and then she brought the photographer over to meet me. It turns out that he's not the staff photographer, he just does freelance for them and he spent the next 20 minutes giving her photography tips and advice on how to get close to get a good shot without getting in trouble with whatever law enforcement agency is on scene.
She was really disappointed that we didn't have the "real" camera with us and most of her shots came out blurry but that wasn't her fault. That camera is horrible and only about 1 in 5 shots actually turn out so I think she did pretty good with what she had to work with.
On the way home she asked if we could get a police scanner, listen for interesting calls and then rush to wherever the action is so she can take pictures (with the good camera) to sell to the newspaper.
Lord have mercy - we have an ambulance chaser!
She seems serious and even though the subject matter is morbid, the experience could be good for her. She'll learn alot about action shots, freelance photography and how to deal with harsh lighting and weather conditions.
I still haven't given her my ok but I'm thinking about it. I'll definitely have to check out each accident first so she doesn't walk up on anything horrible but if it's not anything really bad I think it might be alright.
I guess that makes me the mother of an ambulance chaser LOLLabels: Staying
