Photography is an evolving pastime that has helped me find myself.
All photos by Rebecca Holt
Photography is something that has changed my life significantly over the past few years. It is one thing I am good at that makes me unique. At first I thought it was just something simple and fun, but it has become much more than that.
My interest in photography began my sophomore year when I took photojournalism with Jeff Coleman using the little Lumix cameras. At first it was easy, using the automatic settings and completing projects about composition and lines. When we learned how to use the manual settings on the camera it was the first step in my photography experience, and I mastered it. When it came time to choose classes at the end of sophomore year, I talked to Coleman and he told me he was teaching Advanced Photography which is a class for students who were in photojournalism. I took the opportunity and it was a good choice. The class ended up having only seven students in it and it was a great opportunity to further my photography skills. That year Coleman decided to buy new cameras, Nikon D40s, which inspired me to ask for that camera from my parents for my birthday in September. To my surprise, I got the exact camera that I had on my wish list.
Having my own camera was the next step in my photography; I was able to capture whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, without having the hassle of checking a camera out from Coleman. I pushed my the creativity to the max and expressed my thoughts through the means of photos. My camera was always with me during family vacations and important social events. It became glued to my body.
My favorite photograph I took with my new camera was a recreation of a photograph my mother took at Lake Michigan when I was younger. The photo my mother took was a landscape photograph of the remains of an old fishing dock on the lake. I have loved this photo ever since I saw it; I have kept it in my room for years. I tried to recreate the photo the best I could and I did it successfully. I cherish both the old photo by my mother and my photo; I have both of them framed and hanging on my bedroom wall. Not only was it a success, but I had a blast taking the photo; it is a memory I will have forever.
When Kevin Fleming, TJ’s yearbook and newspaper photographer for the 2008-2009 school year approached me about following in his footsteps, I was surprised and did not know what to say. I thought long and hard about the decision. I did not know if I wanted photography to consume my life, or to just keep it as a hobby; but I made the decision to go for it.
I am now the Photography Editor for the TJ Journal and the Aristocrat Yearbook. Now, instead of just taking photos to express myself and as a hobby, I am taking pictures to express student life, sports, and academics at my school.
For the TJ Journal, I am responsible for taking varsity sports photos for all of the articles posted about their games, meets, or matches. For the major sports like football and basketball, an article is posted the day after each game and I must take pictures and upload them the day of the game. I also have to take the pictures that go with all of the articles, which includes student spotlights, teacher/coach spotlights, pictures of school events, and many others. To upload a picture onto the Journal is a time consuming task. I have to take the picture, upload it onto the computer, resize it twice, save it for the web and upload it onto the Journal in two different sizes. Then I place the photo into the article and in some cases write a caption for the photo. This process is done for every photo that is published on the TJ Journal. It is time consuming but worth it because I get to open the TJ Journal every day and see my work published for others to enjoy.
For the Aristocrat, TJ’s yearbook, I am responsible for taking sports photos of varsity, junior varsity, c-teams, student life photos, club photos, photos for any school events, and most other photos needed. For the yearbook I place all of the pictures I take onto a yearbook server we have set up for us in the computer lab. Yearbook is just as time consuming as the TJ Journal is. I spend a lot of my time taking sports photos and am often at school after hours. Because of it, I miss most of my family dinners and our relationship has struggled, but I still enjoy what I do.
The pressure and deadlines kill me. I am always stressed about getting the perfect shot because I do not want to disappoint anybody, including myself. I spend all of my extra time on photography or trying to organize my schedule to make it manageable. It has taken away from my social life, my school work, my job, and my home life; but I still take the time to do it. It has taught me to deal with stress, manage my time more efficiently, and most of all help me find myself. I love seeing my name in the captions, being up close to all the action at the games/events, but most of all I love finally finding something I am good at, capturing something that makes me unique.
