History Main / CameraFiend

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[[IntrepidReporter Some characters]] use a camera. These characters ''[[CargoShip love]]'' their camera. They'll have the device with them everywhere they go and they'll use it well, usually sticking it in the most unwelcome of places - they'll take the most inane pictures they can, record everything they see or all of the above. Something embarrassing happens? They'll snap a shot. Important plot event? They caught it on tape. You can always expect this character to wear their camera on their sleeve for any important or non-important moment that may arise, often feeling uncomfortable without the object at near. Its possible that they derive some kind of strange pleasure from watching people, though its best not to get into [[FreudWasRight that]].

On the bright side, they'll provide the scrapbook {{Montage}} of happy times near the end of the series. May themself be annoyed by being caught on film or having their picture taken. Expect one of the cast to use this to their advantage at some point.

Unlike GoingForTheBigScoop, these characters are motivated by the simple act of taking pictures compulsively and occasionally (read: often) using them to their advantage while a characters GoingForTheBigScoop are motivated by getting a good story (they can occasionally overlap). Also, this character isn't necessarily a reporter.

An IntrepidReporter off duty tends to fall into this. Sometimes referred to as a ShutterBug.

Because this character is often a budding film or media student, s/he is very likely to be an AuthorAvatar of the production's writer, director, or producer.

See also the JapaneseTourist, who will more often than not be one of these.

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!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''FullMetalPanic'' has Kyoko, who's been known to take pictures of everything from random interactions between her friend Kaname with strangers to grease stains that look like George Washington.
* ''SchoolRumble'' has Takano Akira, whose shutter finger can catch every embarassing shot she sees, and she has at points manipulated her friends into oddball activities so she can record and make money off of them. Unlike her SchoolNewsPaperNewsHound rival ([[UnknownRival from his point of view]]) Takeichi Fuyuki, she actually does catch some of the more impressive photos that he only wishes he could manage. Plus, she is skilled in the use of firearms.
* Kazumi Asakura of ''MahouSenseiNegima'' likes to use her [[WackyHomeRoom Wacky Class']] antics to her advantage whenever she can, or otherwise obsessing in some way about GoingForTheBigScoop. Her class panics when being attacked by a ghost? She pulls out her camera immediately.
* Anya Alstreim of ''CodeGeass'', who records anything and everything with her handheld computer/camera device. Subverted in that she has a fairly legitimate reason for doing so: [[spoiler:she doesn't trust her own memories due to Geass-related tampering]].
** One of the Britannian students in episode 5 of the first season at one of the Shinjuku gravesites is seen taking pictures with his friends, until an enraged Tamaki approaches him
* Tomoyo Daidouji in ''CardcaptorSakura'', who follows the titular Sakura through her battles, often making her wear strange outfits in the process.
* Yotsuba from ''SisterPrincess'', as part of her "checking up on Big Bro" (i.e. stalking the protagonist) personality quirk.
* In ''IchigoMashimaro'', episode 26, Miu decides that now that she has a video camera, she's going to record everything. This includes her morning soup, what happens when you attempt to deprive Nobue of smokes, having Matsuri try to [[BlindWithoutEm find her glasses when they're on Nobue's face]], and finally, seeing for herself if the 11-year-old English-born girl actually is... er... [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean noticeably developed]] ([[spoiler:she is, but as she is only 11, they're still almost nothing]]). (See also episode 9 for the text equivalent.)
* In ''{{Vandread}}'', Paiway Underberg, the female nurse aboard the Nirvana is constantly recording interesting moments with her camera, with her catchphrase "Gotcha!", all part of her "Pai-checks."
* Tsutako from MariaSamaGaMiteru is pretty much defined by: "Carries a camera everywhere."
* Lisa Vanette in the final episode of ''BubblegumCrisis 2033'', who nearly gets herself killed trying to "reveal the Knight Sabers' true identities".
* Ranko Hata from ''SeitokaiYakuindomo'', who was shown to carry an entire TV studio's worth of equipment with her in episode 3, and carries relatively normal cameras almost every other time she shows up. "Relatively normal" not counting the time she {{Golgo 13}}-ed Tsuda in an [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome epic]] camera set-up scene.
* Makoto the SchoolNewspaperNewsHound eats, breathes, and at least sleeps next to his camera, always ready to get pictures of the UltimateGirls.
* Todd Snap from {{Pokemon}}, who was first introduced in the anime, would later be the main character of the {{spinoff}} game PokemonSnap.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]
* ''{{Cloverfield}}'': "Let's follow a giant monster on our camcorder through [[BigApplesauce New York]]. See if that's a good idea."
* Michaelangelo Antonioni's ''{{Blowup}}'' is about a fashion photographer who thinks he has captured a murder in the act in the background of one of his shots.
* Brophy from {{Mel Brooks}}' Hitchcock homage ''HighAnxiety''. In a parody of ''Blow Up'', he finds proof that [[spoiler:an imposter commmited a murder that the main character is accused of]] by blowing up one of his candid photographs to wall-size.
* ''Pecker'' from the John Waters film of the same name is all about this trope.
* ''OneHourPhoto'' had RobinWilliams in the unusual role of an obsessive film ''developer'', to the point that he was practically stalking one family through their pictures that he was developing.
* Micah from ''ParanormalActivity'' qualifies as this, as he is obessed with that camera, calling it his baby at some point in the movie, and refusing to get rid of it, even when he knows the camera only makes the demon angrier.
* Katsuji from {{Gremlins}} 2. "Work a camera? [[IAmTheTrope I AM a camera]]!"
* Nicole in ''Crazy/Beautiful'' took tons of pictures with her vintage Polaroid camera. There was even a scrapbook montage at the end of the movie containing her photos.
* A TruthInTelevision example, Thierry Guetta from the {{Banksy}} documentary ''ExitThroughTheGiftShop'' films absolutely everything. At one point it shows that hundreds of unmarked tapes that he's filmed over the years.
* TheSkydivers has a minor character who is this trope. He's asked what he does with all the pictures he takes: "Sit home and look at them."
[[/folder]]


[[folder:Literature]]
* Colin Creevey in ''HarryPotter'', naturally.
* Twoflower and Otto Von Chreik in ''{{Discworld}}''. While Otto doesn't constantly take pictures of everything, he still qualifies, because only a CameraFiend would get a job as a professional photographer when every camera flash has a good chance of ''killing him'' (Otto being a vampire), forcing him to rely on someone else to bring him back to life (after which he does it all over again). Eventually he takes to wearing a small vial of blood around his neck; he takes the shot, turns to ashes, the blood breaks on his ashes and he gets up, cursing.
** In ''Monstrous Regiment'' he specifically tells Polly that he has [[AddictionDisplacement replaced his addiction to blood]] with one for 'the subtle play of light'.
* Navidson from ''[[color:blue:House]] [[HouseOfLeaves of Leaves]]'', who sticks his special Hi-8 cameras everywhere in the house, and uses them in every exploration of the [[color:blue:house]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* [[{{Scrubs}} Ben.]] Don't pose for them. [[spoiler:[[TearJerker Remember this.]]]]
* Canadian teenage sitcom ''StudentBodies'' crosses this with SchoolNewspaperNewsHound in the aptly-nicknamed character, Flash.
* [[{{KamenRiderDecade}} Tsukasa Kadoya]] is somewhat obsessed with (and terribad at) capturing the world on photographs.
** Though Tsukasa's normal pictures tend to be blurry and distorted, they also reveal the true nature of the subjects he photographs; for example, a picture taken of a girl with a missing brother shows a ghost image of said brother watching over her.
* [[StarTrekVoyager The Doctor]] (no, not [[DoctorWho that Doctor]]) has a 24th-century holo-camera that he loves using. It was a key element in at least one episode.
* Simon films just about everything on his camera-phone during the first season of ''{{Misfits}}''. He doesn't do it so much in season 2, a sign that he is actually starting to ''engage'' with people rather than standing around filming them creepily.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theater]]
* Mark from ''{{Rent}}'' is a documentary filmmaker and films the other characters throughout the story, leading to a touching montage at the end. In "Goodbye Love" Roger accuses Mark of obsessing over his camera to avoid facing reality.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Elena Fisher in ''UnchartedDrakesFortune'' in the course of the game captures all the important footage for her documentary (for which the network of is providing backing for the exploration). [[spoiler: Later in the game a predictably rickety RopeBridge collapses beneath her and Drake's feet, forcing her to free her hand and climb up by letting go of the camera. Camera or you life indeed]].
* Lotta Hart in ''PhoenixWright: AceAttorney''.
** [[{{Fanboy}} Cody Hackins]] of the first game falls into this category as well. He refuses to testify unless he is allowed to bring his camera into the courtroom.
* The player character in ''Michigan: Report From Hell'' is a TV news cameraman who hardly ever puts down the camera for ''anything''. Not zombie attacks, not BodyHorror monsters, not even to get a kiss from the hot reporter chick whose life you save.
* Aya Shameimaru of ''TouhouProject''. She even has her own spin-off game, ''Shoot the Bullet'', which has her taking pictures of [[BulletHell spellcard]] patterns of the other characters. {{Fandom}} [[{{Flanderisation}} flanderised]] this into a specialization in upskirts and Reimu's armpits.
* You've never heard of [[DeadRising Frank West?]] He's covered wars, you know.
* Beat, from EternalSonata, carries his camera into battle, where he can take photos of the monsters ''as they're attacking him'' - and sell them for cash in shops. His love of photography is frequently ridiculed by his buddy Allegretto.
* [[GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas Carl "CJ" Johnson]] has a camera in his Ganton home's bedroom, which he can pick up and even use in some missions.
** Any photos you take when playing appear in the Gallery. They're basically a different sort of screenshot.
* [[{{Earthbound}} Say, "Fuzzy Pickles!"]]
* Jin Sun-Kwon from [[FirstEncounterAssaultRecon F.E.A.R.]] never leaves her camera behind. She may not carry any sort of firearm, but the camera's there. Somewhat justified since she's the team's data analyst, but that wouldn't obligate her to keep her camera throughout ''Extraction Point'', particularly [[spoiler:up to the moment of her death. A weird twist is that the unmanned camera continuously snaps shots of her corpse]].
[[/folder]]

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<<|CharactersAsDevice|>>

* A TruthInTelevision example, Thierry Guetta from the {{Banksy}} documentary films absolutely everything. At one point it shows that hundreds of unmarked tapes that he's filmed over the years.

* Michaelangelo Antonioni's ''Blow Up'' is about a fashion photographer who thinks he has captured a murder in the act in the background of one of his shots.

* Makoto eats, breathes, and at least sleeps next to his camera, always ready to get pictures of the UltimateGirls.

* Brophy from {{Mel Brooks}}' Hitchcock homage ''High Anxiety''. In a parody of ''Blow Up'', he finds proof that [[spoiler:an imposter commmited a murder that the main character is accused of]] by blowing up one of his candid photographs to wall-size.

* Katsuji from {{Gremlins}} 2. "Work a camera? I AM a camera!"

Because this character is often a budding film or media students, s/he is very likely to be an AuthorAvatar of the production's writer, director, producer, etc.

* Mark from ''{{Rent}}'' is a documentary filmmaker and films the other characters throughout the story, leading to a touching montage at the end. In "Goodbye Love" Roger accuses Mark of obsessing over his camera to admit facing reality.

Because this character is often a budding film or media students, they're very likely to be an AuthorAvatar of the production's writer, director, producer, etc.

Because these characters are often budding film or media students, they're very likely to be AuthorAvatars of the production's writer, director, or producer.

* A TruthInTelevision example, Thierry Guetta from [[Banksy Banksy's]] Exit Through The Gift Shop documentary films absolutely everything. At one point it shows that hundreds of unmarked tapes that he's filmed over the years.

* In ''Vandread'', Paiway Underberg, the female nurse aboard the Nirvana is constantly recording interesting moments with her camera, with her catchphrase "Gotcha!", all part of her "Pai-checks."

* ''Pecker'' from the John Waters film Pecker is all about this trope.
* ''{{One Hour Photo}}'' had RobinWilliams in the unusual role of an obsessive film ''developer'', to the point that he was practically stalking one family through their pictures that he was developing.

* Katsuji from Gremlins 2. "Work a camera? I AM a camera!"

* Colin Creevey in ''HarryPotter'' naturally

* [[{{Earthbound}} Say, "Fuzzy Pickles!"]]

* [[StarTrekVoyager The Doctor]] (no, not [[DoctorWho that Doctor]] has a 24th-century holo-camera that he loves using. It was a key element in at least one episode.