Writing has always come naturally to me, which has served as a good foundation for almost every other skill I have picked up as a journalist. If I could write and ask questions, I could do anything. Except take pictures. Camera settings seemed like a puzzle I would never be able to solve and I didn’t know the first thing about where to stand or how to compose a good shot. 

As a Shield staffer, I was hesitant to cover events, afraid of returning with subpar photos and tarnishing my status as an otherwise versatile journalist. While every staffer rushed to photograph McCallum’s rivalry Taco Shack game, I happily typed away at my next story draft. I’d covered a few events my sophomore year and was resigned to the fact that my photo credits would end there. Photography was just something I was not going to master.

So when yearbook adviser Frank Webster came into the newspaper room midway through my junior year and asked if anyone from our staff would like to join his photography trip to Big Bend National Park, I never imagined I would say yes. 

I told him, “I’m not much of a photographer, but I’ll pass your message along.”

“Not much of a photographer?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

I decided to go as a documentarian, to report on the trip and its educational experience. But what I learned was that I actually enjoyed photography. I was by no means a natural, but that just meant that there was more room for improvement. 

After I returned, I started signing up to photograph events. I became part of the weekly varsity football coverage team the following year. I learned to shoot theatre, pep rallies, orchestra concerts and basketball games. Each time continuing the adventure I began on that trip out west.

Scroll through this page to see examples of my growth as a photojournalist.