Camera

Chapter 2

I am woken up once again by the sound my old digital alarm clock. 'Its too early' i think too myself. My hand leaves my bed a reaches to hit the alarm, but misses and hits the corner of my desk. "Shit" I say under my breath. A pain shot straight through my hand and up my wrist. I turn over to face the alarm and read the screen. "Six in the morning". I let out a groan, which sounds like a mash up of someone's stomach rumbling and a zombie. "Wait, or is it seven?" It was hard to tell, as over the many years I've had it the screen has slowly faded and the numbers become less visible and clear. "No it is six", I say after leaning in closer. I was about to drag my feet out of bed But as soon as I decide to actually move, I hear a knock on my door and some very excited giggles. "Come in Mia". My door opens and lift switches on (I have two switches, one by my door and one by my bed. You could guess the problems that causes me as I have a little sister). I see a very excited looking girl race towards my bed. She looks a lot like me, although she always has her hair in a ponytail, and little hamster cheeks. Plus the fact she is 5 years younger. As she ran, her hair jumped up and down as if it was excited as she was. "Happy birthday Chloe!" Is all I heard before she jumped on my bed and wrapped her arms around me. "Thanks.." My voice was muffled her shoulder covered my mouth. I took a deep breath as soon as she let go. Not because I was out of breath, but because it's what I use to calm myself down and change moods. Mia wouldn't want to see me bored, tired and sluggish on my birthday, so I took a deep breath, cleared my mind, and actually started to get excited with her. My mum walked in, and smiled in a way you rarely see; as if she actually meant it. Her long brown hair was also in a ponytail, and evan though she was smiling, her eyes looked as tired as i was. Her dark purple dressing gown sat on her shoulders and draped down to her feet. She was wearing that horrible yellow nighty I always felt like being sick on when I saw it. She was holding a small pink box, about the size or a kindle or something, and only about four to five inches tall. I didn't ask for anything this birthday, apart from money. I prefer it like that, I can spend it on whatever I like, without having to write thank you notes to everyone. Oh wait! I did ask for something!

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I've been in love with photography now for ages, ever since I remember actually being able to get up and do something. My first camera was given to me when I was 4 years old. It was one of those plastic dispensable ones, where you have a limited amount of pictures and hand it into a shop or supermarket to get the film/photos off of it. It was yellow, red, and had a small picture of Winnie the poo on the bottom left corner. The camera itself didn't have a flash, but then again I didn't need one. I was 4, and pressed the button whenever I felt like it. Not surprising when my mum handed in the camera and collected the photos, most of them were blurred, of the floor, or awkward angles of my face and eyes as I looked into the small circle lens, wondering what it was. But since then, I've fell in love with cameras. I remember my first digital camera, it was an old silver Canon which had been bought second hand off eBay when I was six. I fell in love with it straight away. It was my dad that had showed me he to use it. And who introduced me into photography in the first place. Up to when I was eight, he worked as a school photographer, taking the annual photos of hundreds of pupils, teachers and students in many different schools. As from then on, he had a signed contract from the national geographic association asking him to shoot photos of many things all over the world. He accepted, and that's why we rarely see him anymore. But anyway he's the reason I learnt and loved to use a camera. As I grew older, I learnt to experiment more with lighting, with angles, with shadows and with effects. I would spend about anything from three minuets to twenty minuets preparing and lining up my shot, sorting out lighting and angles, take about 7 different shots, and then spent anything up to around two hours editing them all. I loved it. Many people may find it boring, but to me it's what I do best. I've taken some very good photos before, and I plan to keep getting better and better. I've been saving up for an actual professional camera like my dad has. A genuine, big camera where I can change the lenses and change effects and zoom and have a really clear quality and spend ages taking photos. Just thinking about it gets me excited. The only problem is, they can cost hundreds. Thinking about that always killed the mood. I decided to ask for one of those professional cameras for my birthday this year. I doubt ill actually get one, but you never know. 'Always think positive' is what my best friend Maddi always tells me. So that's what I'm gonna do.

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