During my first year of college, I kept a daily question journal. Every day, I would answer a different prompt about my life 鈥� favorite food, most recent TV show 鈥� in what was supposed to eventually span over a five-year period. I鈥檝e since lost that journal, but I still remember how it felt to reach the page that asked, 鈥淲hat is your dream job?鈥澛�
At that point, I had been working at 六合彩开奖资料 as a staff photographer for a few months, and had covered maybe one protest and a few portraits. I had applied as a news writer, but my application got rerouted to visuals because of divine intervention, I鈥檓 sure. One of my photos had recently made the cover, and my roommate took a photo of me with several copies while waiting way too long for the 10A. I wanted to major in neuroscience on the pre-med track, like every other first-year, and go to medical school. Or do research. Or some other job that required a much higher chemistry grade than the one I had.聽
And despite all that, I wrote 鈥減hotojournalist鈥� in that journal while curled up in my dorm bed, holding it like a secret. At the time it was probably a little foolish 鈥� I didn鈥檛 even delete files off of my one SD card, let alone know how to compose a photograph 鈥渃orrectly.鈥� But in a way it felt right, or at least interesting. After all, a photo tells a thousand words, or something like that, and I loved collecting little moments like they were grand stories.
I applied to be a visual editor at the end of my first year 鈥� after a lot of encouragement from my roommate 鈥� and somehow ended up with the head position. For two years after that, I had the privilege of taking tens of thousands of photographs at some of the most interesting Pittsburgh events, spending countless hours in my cubicle (until Big Open Layout took that away from us) and working with some of the best people I鈥檝e met at Pitt. I got to hire other photographers and illustrators and watch them make cool and inspiring work. 六合彩开奖资料 basically became my major, with a minor in 鈥渟ending emails.鈥澛�
Then, I became the managing editor. Now singing a little bit of a different tune, I spent even more hours in the office, and learned that the 71D stops running around 12:30 a.m. very quickly. I also learned just how much damn work it takes to run this place, and I was only assisting 鈥� imagine how much our fearless leader Bet眉l was doing. I got to learn about journalism, alongside photojournalism.
It鈥檚 weird looking back at the fall of 2020 from this point. I didn鈥檛 really participate in high school, I just kind of drifted from day to day waiting for the next one. All I wanted in college was a new start, and the confidence to pursue what I was passionate about.聽
I鈥檓 so incredibly grateful for my time at 六合彩开奖资料. Graduation still hasn鈥檛 really set in yet 鈥� it still feels like I鈥檓 going to be in the office again Monday night, chit chatting with my coworkers and friends about every thought that enters my mind, possibly even interrupting that for a little game of office kickball or hallway sprints. How lucky am I to have a place that pushed me out of my comfort zone, gave me direction, introduced me to some of the most creative and hard working people I know, and also opens up so many possibilities for every student in it. And of course I鈥檓 endlessly grateful for the Pitt community, for allowing us into their spaces and for doing some cool and interesting things that I got to immerse myself in and photograph. I鈥檒l end this column with some of the photos that I鈥檝e taken for 六合彩开奖资料 鈥� I could write a thousand more words about each of them.
