Camera

Move over Woody Allen; it's Josh Rifkin behind the camera. With close to $20,000 of video equipment filling his back room, Rifkin, at age 16, is already on his way to becoming a film director. "After years of making home movies with my father's camera and countless for-fun projects, the hobby became too expensive," Rifkin said the other day. "So we went into business. " In reality, as Rifkin readily concedes, he went into business, and his father, Al Rifkin, paid the bills - at least at first.

A new video camera - purchased with part of the fine paid by a convicted illegal dumper - will be used to keep an eye on the worst dumping grounds in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania Attorney General Mike Fisher yesterday handed a $15,000 check for the equipment to PhilaPride, a civic organization involved in the anti-dumping campaign. The ceremony was held against the backdrop of old tires and heaps of decaying trash at 49th Street and Grays Avenue - one of the most notorious illegal dumps in the city.

A Seattle Kingdome worker was suspended yesterday after one of the Seahawks' "Seagals" cheerleaders noticed a hidden camera in their locker room before Sunday's game. One of the Seagals said she was drinking a soda and looked up to see the outline of the camera behind a light fixture. Kingdome spokeswoman Carol Keaton said the camera had been removed before the cheerleaders changed into their uniforms. A police spokeswoman said no charges were likely to be filed since it was unclear if any laws were broken.

The camera of a Channel 29 news photographer who was waiting out the SEPTA union negotiations in Center City yesterday was stolen from his side. Soon, the camera might be filming amorous couples for "Missionary-Style Impossible" and "Shakespeare in Lust. " TV news stations nationwide have been plagued by thieves who steal news cameras for use in the porn industry, said Joel Sanders, news operation manager for Channel 29 (WTXF-TV). "Most of the market is in porn movies in Mexico," he said.

When it comes to photography, Herb Halsman always has had a taste for the bizarre. For instance, there was the time he walked into a wedding to take the portraits, lined up all the participants and pulled out a camera shaped like Mickey Mouse's head. Fortunately, the bride and bridegroom were his friends, Halsman said. Lately, though, he has turned his enthusiasm for the unusual toward more commercial - if not more profitable - channels. The Cameraman and Treasure Hunter, a camera and antique shop run by Halsman and his wife, Aileen, opened three weeks ago on Moreland Road across from the Willow Grove Park shopping mall.

FREEDOM, Pa. - A hidden camera caught a Western Pennsylvania high school teacher doing drugs in his office and offering them to a student, police said Tuesday. Authorities said they received a complaint about James C. Summers this month, and then installed a hidden camera in the physical education teacher's office at Freedom Area High School. The video allegedly showed Summers, 41, of Darlington, crushing and inhaling a pill, and preparing a crushed pill for a student. Summers was arrested Tuesday and was being held in the Beaver County Jail after he was unable to post $200,000 bond.

When Tom Brokaw stares into the camera later this month on "NBC Nightly News," there won't be anyone behind the camera looking back. Later this month, NBC becomes the first network to replace its camera operators with robotic cameras. The three studio cameras on "NBC Nightly News" will be controlled by a production director operating a computer that will activate fully automated equipment. "If everything works right, the viewers shouldn't notice any differences," said Tom Wolzien, vice president of editorial production services for NBC. The cameras look like conventional studio equipment, but will maneuver around the studio on a track.

If you are one of those lucky people whose Christmas gifts included a 35mm camera, welcome to the ranks of the nation's prolific photographers. They shot 12.68 billion photographs in 1985 - almost 50 each for every man, woman and child in the country. The obvious, but still the best, way to start with new equipment is to read the instruction book. This can be pretty boring, but the instructions invariably contain information that you will not find out for yourself and that can make your life simpler later on. It is a good idea to run an entire roll of film through a new camera right away and get it processed immediately to determine if the camera is functioning properly.

U.S. sprinter Tyson Gay is fast, but not fast enough. Fellow runner Tony McQuay caught Gay napping during the U.S. men's basketball team's game against France on Sunday. Granted the U.S. won 98-71, but it wasn't that boring. McQuay snapped a photo of Gay and posted it on Twitter. "He got me pretty good," Gay said. Gay was asked if he's gotten even with McQuay. "I haven't yet," Gay said. - Tom Mahon

Lurking somewhere, beyond the range of the cameras is an appealing Bob Dole - a caring, likeable guy, say friends and colleagues who've known him for decades. Put him in front of a camera, though, and bad things happen. Through no fault of his own, Dole doesn't have a telegenic face - his eyebrows look dark and sinister, the set of his mouth seems grim. The camera doesn't flatter him - not the way it flatters Bill Clinton. The two men must know that, because Clinton in front of the camera is relaxed and open, while it seems an ordeal for Dole to face the lens.