ABOUT

When I stop to think about it, it was probably inevitable that I’d fall in love with photojournalism.

You could say photography is in my blood–my dad gave me my first experience with a 35mm Nikon long before I had a clue what shutter speed, ISO or aperture meant. My grandfather taught me how to develop photos in the darkroom he kept in his house. At a recent family wedding (with fewer than twenty guests), there were at least four Nikon DSLRs in use.

People said “I told you so” when I decided halfway through college to pursue journalism as a career. Adding photojournalism was a natural next step.

There are days when I’m out reporting that I’d much rather leave the pen and paper in my bag and just take photos. I love the challenge of making myself an invisible observer–”Just ignore me” are some of my favorite words.

But these days, the biggest challenge as a photojournalist is bigger than just making images. Anybody with decent equipment set on ‘auto’ can do that. I take a certain degree of pride in shooting in manual, although sometimes that means I struggle to get everything right. I push myself to get where I need to be in order to capture the most compelling shot–not the most “interesting,” not with cool tricks of light or angle just for the sake of it, but the picture where the framing, angle, light and moment come together to best tell the story.

That’s what sets photojournalists apart from happy-snappy onlookers, or even art photographers. I’m just as much a reporter with a camera in hand as I am with a pen and paper.