My Photography Scholarship 2011 entry

Photography Scholarship 2011

Worldwide | Tuesday, November 15, 2011 | 5 photos

When I was in high school, my grandfather handed me a case containing all sorts of mysterious things: devices, camera lenses, colored pieces of plastic, meters, and an old Minolta camera. I’d just signed up for my first photography class, where I would spend all of fourth period and most of my lunch hours splashing around in the dark room. Ever since Mrs. Astrauskas had us build our very first pinhole camera, I haven’t looked back. I still might not know what half of those things are in my grandfather’s box, but I’ve had a camera in my hands since that day.
My day-job, the thing that allows me to do things like eat and live somewhere besides in a cardboard box, is working as a technical writer. It’s supremely boring, but I get my passion from wandering about and trying to capture a real and honest depiction of the world around me. Sometimes I do that with video, but the still power of an image has always been stronger. From the earliest days, I’ve longed to travel, sometimes simply to see which things are different, and which normality transcends cultural differences. Photography is something I’ve felt never can be mastered fully—nothing truly good ever is—but it’s something that can be improved upon.
So that is what I would like: a chance to do just that, to improve what skills I have picked up, and to gain new skills. The trick to living is to never stop learning, and I would love the opportunity to move onward and upward, to continue seeing the world as it honestly is, no matter how beautiful, stark, or depressing.