Click!
Snap!
Click!
Snap!
Click!
Snap!
"Yula, honey, I think that's enough of taking pictures with your camera today! Come back inside!" says my mother from the back door of our house.
"Not yet mum!" I say back, "I think I could get better pictures of this heather if I get more time!"
My mum sighs and walks back in. She knows it's no use to make me do something I don't want to do. I smirk and lift my camera up to my eyes. The heather is brilliant; a light hazy purple with a soft touch. I can basically see the aroma drifting from it.
THIS is why photography is the best job you can have. You get to see such beautiful things such as this heather. But the best part is the fact that you get to keep a memory of that beauty. As my father would say, cameras are like nets. The scene you are about to take a picture of are the butterflies you're trying to catch. One click of a button and SNAP! You keep the butterfly forever.
My father's such an awesome person. No wonder I got my camera skills from him.
The sun starts to go down, and I stop taking pictures of the heather. My camera only has enough film left to take one more picture, and I don't want to waste it on the flowers I took 50 pictures of before. I walk slowly towards the orange sunset, almost afraid that if I walk too fast, it would become scared and go away.
I gently place my finger on the capture button. I need to get this butterfly just right, otherwise it might come out blurry. Or even WORSE, it might cut out some important bit.
I shudder at that thought and carefully position my camera so that it could see the entire sunset.
I snap my finger down on the button, and the camera metaphorically swings and catches the butterfly.
I grin in satisfaction as I see the outcome. A simply gorgeous picture is set on the screen. An orange sunset, with clouds adrift as if trying to escape the soon-to-come night.
Perfect.
I hurry back to the house, where my mother is stirring a pot of carrot soup in the kitchen. I flop down on the faint yellow couch and flip through the pictures I took.
I'm about halfway through when my mum comes in and clears her throat. I look up and raise an eyebrow.
"As you know, the reaping of the 56th Hunger Games are taking place tomorrow." She says in a shaking voice.
I nod my head. "Yeah, so?"
She takes a deep breath and says, "Well, you're not going to be there."
My mouth drops open with surprise. "WHAT? What do you mean? Everyone's supposed to be there. Its COMPULSORY!"
My mother sighs and twirls a strand of her auburn hair. Gosh, I wish I had her hair. While she has that wonderful non-aging auburn hair, I have stringy blonde hair. Yuck.
She walks to me and kneels in front of me so that her blue eyes would look straight into my brown ones.
"You've been invited to travel to the Capitol to take pictures of the Hunger Games!" She whispers.
Mouth dropped open and eyes widened, I put my hands on my mum's shoulders.
"Are you serious..?" I whisper, not daring to take a breath until she answers.
She doesn't meet my eyes as she says, "Did I ever lie to you, Yula?"
So. That's it.
I'm the photographer of the 56th Hunger Games, and I feel like barfing all over my mother.