Video Camera

Day 134: Video Camera

That quarter ought to give you an idea
of the scale of this machine

Rich understands this video camera far better than I do. It's definitely not like a smart phone video camera, which fits in your pocket and can be accessed with an upward swipe.

We purchased it after Emma Jane and before Sam was born. It is the technology that produced those early EmmaVision VCR tapes. A couple I especially remember: dancing around with Emma in my arms. She was dressed in red all-in-one jammies and laughing; I was wearing a red fleece robe. The Talking Heads are singing: "He's so cute in his little red suit!" Gramma and Pappa and Richie are dancing too. Or my personal favorite: my voice behind the camera googoo'ing as Emma Jane crawls toward a light socket and sticks her finger in; I fail to notice. It's a miracle she survived long enough to get admitted to college.

Rich used this thing to film the G-rated aspects of Sam's birth. Despite the G-rating, Sam and I share an aversion to watching that particular video. My favorite footage: Sam screaming bloody murder, covered in waxy muck while being swabbed off by a nurse in rubber gloves, while Dr. Gay sews up my episiotomy in the background. Just what every new mother wants to see.

This device involves special tapes with acronyms I don't understand, fancy plugs, computers and transfers to other special tapes with other acronyms. When we bought it, we thought of it as sleek, small and high tech. Now it seems as awkward and outsized as the cliched chubby kid in a Disney flick. Maybe a passionate retro Community High freshman would be interested in using it to make passionate retro videos.

Otherwise, at sixteen years old, this bit of technology is utterly, completely obsolete.