My birthday came and went and still no tripod. My order hasn’t arrived yet and it’s so damn irritating. The tripod is supposed to be a gift from Cecile and her brother and sisters and her mom. Cecile warned me never to tell them how much the actual tripod costs because they will all have a heart attack.

FLIM: “ How can they chip in on a price they don’t know? “

CES: “ They’ll just pool in 500 bucks a piece and then I’ll give you the sum total of that and then you put in the difference.”

FLIM: “ Ok.”

CES: “ So when’s the tripod coming.”

FLIM: “ In three days.”

CES: “ But you have to have the gift for the celebration on Sunday. What are they going to present to you during the gift giving ceremony.”

Cecile’s family has this neat tradition whether Christmas or Birthdays were they all gather around and present the gifts to the celebrant with much fan fare and aplomb. And upon receiving the said article the celebrant must utter the time-honored phrase,“

THANKS! THIS IS WHAT I ALWAYS WANTED! “

FLIM: “ What can I do? They don’t have the tripod yet? It’s coming in three days. Can I just give you a catalogue photo and then have it presented to me as my forth coming gift?”

CES: ” Hmmmmmmm”

I have been plagued by the tripod problem since I went digital. The cameras are so damn light that it’s actually a chore to hold them steady. I didn’t have problems like this with film because of the giant cameras and heavy lenses I have to lug around.

The thing that really puzzles me is that before I didn’t care if I had a shitty tripod. I could actually make my shots with the ordinary tripods that I can get my hands on. And on screen it doesn’t show whether THE TRIPOD WAS RICKETY OR NOT PERFECTLY STABLE. But now all of a sudden I have to get the best and high tech tripod possible. And I begin to wonder…. Do I really need the expensive and most advance pod available or is it just pure whim?

Do I really need a high tech tripod…or better actors?