Learning The Truth Of Mentoring

I have recently received a promotion from Camera Sherpa to Photographic Novice 2nd Class.  This does not mean that I have been freed of my duties as Camera Sherpa. But it does mean that I am allowed now to have my own camera and do some of my own non-cell phone pictures.

Some background is in order.

Wife in her benevolence noted a number of years ago that her  trusty Camera Sherpa was looking a bit long in the tooth. He was having more aches and pains from carrying the huge bag of lenses and other camera paraphernalia. So she decided to look for a mirror-less camera to replace her beloved Nikon. This led to purchasing an Olympus which is indeed much less heavy both in terms of the camera body and its lenses. But the Olympus never really won her heart.

Also as time went on, Wife started to get the idea that it would be nice to have someone around that would share her passion for photography. After doing a very, very thorough search throughout our household, multiple times, over a number time periods, she kept coming to the conclusion that there was not a lot of choices out there as to the person who could fill this role. It had to be de-I.

She floated many trial balloons that didn't really get the desired result. However, as the fullness of semi-retirement lifestyle came upon de-I and as the influence of Wife's photographic knowledge started to take root in his meager cell phone pictures, de-I began to come around to the idea. But there was the problem that there still was only one camera.

Then like a deus ex machina Nikon came out with a new electronic SLR that was much lighter. Wife was in love again. With new camera in hand, the Olympus was now available for de-I. But what was going to be required for all this to work?

• Photo editing software needed to be put on de-I's computer
• Had to figure out how to even use the Olympus in a minimal sense
• Needed to figure out how to transfer images from the camera to de-I's computer

With all this, there was the challenge of de-I being a MAC user and Wife being a PC user. de-I however looked forward to having the interaction that would come from the knowledgeable Wife guiding him, teaching him, passing on her knowledge to him.

The first sessions showed just how this relationship was going to unfold.

"Here," Wife said, "This is the stuff for the editing software. There are directions in the box and you can web search if there are any problems. Here's the camera. You can find the instruction book in the cabinet and web search as necessary. I have things I need to do."

Clearly the 'closeness', 'interaction', and 'passing on of knowledge' has a different meaning for Wife.