I’m in a Rav 4 on the side of the highway, knee deep in a VO/SOT for 4 p.m., a PKG for 5 p.m. and another for 6 p.m., barely noticing anything but the clock and my Edius timeline.

But I couldn’t miss one thing.

It was a crunching sound coming from the backseat, and it was getting louder and louder, sort of like a bee flying towards you.

“Want a pringle?” said, my coworker, a photographer making the noise, looking happy.

“Must be nice,” I thought, wanting to snatch the Pringles and throw them out the window. But instantly, I felt a pang of guilt. It wasn’t their fault.

The station I was working for strictly forbid photographers from “helping” MMJ’s. They were only there to set up our live shots. So every day, like clockwork, I would remind myself that there wasn’t much the photographer could do that I couldn’t.

After all, that’s why they hired me, right?

Wrong. They hired me because I was willing to do two people’s jobs for one salary, and the sick part is I never once thought something was wrong about this, until I finally did.

Don’t get me wrong.

I think MMJing has a purpose, but I believe we’re using it in the wrong way in too many newsrooms.

For instance, when someone hands me a camera and says I’ll be working on one story for one show, I love it. I have fun getting nats, talking to people and putting the best product I can together.

But it almost never seems to go that way.

Another contributing factor is we’re all buying into it.

I constantly hear reporters say, “Photographers are so annoying. I like working alone” and (my favorite): “I love to do it all. That’s what news directors look for.”

Does anyone else hear these words, and wonder to themselves, “But what happened to the importance of really great storytelling? Where did that go?”