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Being broke sucks, especially during the holidays. It's a time when every electronic device around you is encouraging you to buy stuff until your credit cards are worn through; a time when reminders of frugality and common sense are welcome. But, a recent post on the site Consumerist is more than a little troubling. A post entitled "Ideas On Scraping Up Extra Cash For The Holidays" has three bullet points, one of which is -- get ready for it -- "Become a photographer". Here's what follows:

What does your job entail? Photographing paintings and three-dimensional objects in the museum’s collection. In the studio, we have an easel set up for paintings of every type and size, and other two-dimensional work. The three-dimensional objects range from tiny, ancient artifacts to large sculptures and pieces of furniture. You’ve shot everything there? Yes. Every major piece needs to be photographed, not just for archival purposes, but for publications. What’s the process?

Great as a camera can be, it’s often the lens that defines what you can do with your pictures. Also, as you grow and develop, it’s the glass, not the camera bodies, that will stay with you. To help you make your lens choices wisely, we asked working pros from a range of photography fields about the lenses that matter the most to them and why.CLAUDIO BEIER: Portrait Photographer(www.claudiobeier.com)

Corinne May Boltz’s “Haunted Houses” series began more as road-trip photography than a ghost hunt. “I’ve always been interested in domestic interiors, and the connections that people have with their homes,” she says. “Photographing homes with ghosts seemed a unique way to explore that interest.”