When I signed up for Intro. to Journalism, I thought the class would be mostly about writing. I joined because I wanted to become a reporter, so that I could learn and share interesting stories about people, events, and places. When I found out that we were starting the photography unit, I felt a little disappointed. I didn’t have any experience, and I was sure that I didn’t have the patience or talent to become a photographer. My older sister used to take photography lessons in college and would spend hours trying to get her pictures just right. I dreaded being a subject in her photographs, but I knew that being a photographer would be a lot more stressful. I started the unit thinking this would be another boring project where I would do the bare minimium so I could get a good grade. But now, looking through the pictures I took over the past few weeks, I feel a certain sense of accomplishment. Yes, I know that my pictures are not even close to being professional, but I can’t help but feel a little proud of the work I did.

Over the last two weeks, I learned so much about photography and the capabilities of a camera. I was able to play with light, speed, and reflections to make my photographs truly unique. No doubt my favorite types of photographs were portraiture, free form, and covering an event. These photos allowed me to capture unpoised moments of real human emotion. They allowed me to do the thing that I had signed up for: tell a real human story. I now believe that a picture is truly worth a thousand words. While I wasn’t able to experiment with photojournalism as much as I would have liked in this project, it introduced me to the basics and opened up a door of new possibilities. I hope that one day I will be able to use photography as a platform to learn and share the stories of people worldwide.