Caught on Film

I got my first camera when I was nine years old. It was a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye, a model few people will now remember. But for me it was a gift of enormous value, for now I could look at the world thru lens and actually capture what I saw as a permanent record. It was astonishing, a miracle, or at least I thought it so at the time.

But it also made me a lot more conscious of what the eye sees and what I really wanted to capture. I took a picture of my sister’s shoelaces by accident. And then there was the photo of Mom as she was turning her head quickly…well I think it was my mother but then who could tell? It was simply a blur.

Taking a picture is not easy, that is if you really want a good outcome. And in those days before computer every single print cost money. I spent all of my allowance more than once on a series of goof-ups that ended up in the trash. So two things are needed for a fool-proof picture. You need a good camera and a good camera man with an eye to know what to capture and what to leave.

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Lani Rae Hughes called me on the afternoon of September 23, 2003. She had been hired a year earlier by our “partners” Soteria Productions as producer for all of The Amazing Collection programs and had proved to be a competent, capable young woman. Besides, she was just a lot of fun and encouraged all of us and for many reasons I had learned to trust her and her judgment.

On this particular day she was asking for the big bucks. She wanted a boom camera for Soteria Productions to film All Rise with Babbie Mason for the book of Ezekiel. A boom camera is a large camera on a long, stable arm that can be maneuvered up high and down low and can get into a lot of places a lone cameraman cannot get into and it does it fast. She said they wanted the best and this kind of camera would do just that!

They had a vision for the song and as she described it to me it all sounded good. But then she ‘lowered the boom’ so to speak and told me the cost. It would be $800 for a couple of hours of camera time and an experienced cameraman I was shocked to say the least. This sounded like an enormous amount of money at a time when the bank account looked mighty low. Did we REALLY need to spend so much money just to get a little bit better view, a higher view? I thought of my Hawkeye that we purchased for a mere seven dollars in 1955. Surely the costs were outrageous. But instead of just saying NO (which I was inclined to do!) I told Lani to pray about it and if God wanted a boom camera than I knew He would provide for it.

I hung up and went to the mailbox. There was a check for $20,000 for Big Dream. By the time I got back to the house Eleanor was calling saying she had just gotten a check for $2,000 and that very morning she and her prayer team had asked God for $22, 000.

So I called Lani back. I guess God wanted a boom camera and indeed He did because to this day that is one of my very favorite music videos ever. It was a lesson for sure. We were trying to produce something that could bring glory to God. We were not to short change on those things of importance. We would use the boom camera time and time again and each time it would add beauty and interest to the film beyond anything a “still” camera could do and every time God provided .

Colossians 3:17

Whatever you do in word or deed it all in the name of the Lord.