Making it count

My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

USA | Monday, January 14, 2013 | 5 photos

Thirty min had gone by and I was still stuck in a 4-person elevator of an old sex motel- turned homeless shelter with 12 other journalists. They were selected to take over a monthly issue of The Homeless Voice in 36 hours. Never having a course in journalism, I was in charge of photography.Later that evening as I slid across of the bed of a truck covered in dirt and sweat, I focused a 300mm lens for the first time with the biggest smile I’d ever experienced. I realized at that moment that I wouldn’t be happier doing anything else for the rest of my life. Years later the feeling is still as alive as it was that night when I’m behind the lens. There is nothing I am more passionate about than telling the stories of mankind through what is truly an art. I realize that I have still yet to scratch the surface of becoming the visual storyteller that I hope to become, but I am passionate and I am thirsty. I believe that the level I aspire to reach has yet to even be defined. For me, this opportunity is 100% more valuable than 4 years of dated lectures and literature and going into a staff job directly after college. I couldn’t create a better place to be in this period of life if I tried.