Yearbook Staffer

A few days ago, I was offered a position of photographer for the El Rodeo yearbook. I longed for the opportunity to improve my photography skills, which has long since stagnated. I yearned for more opportunities to shoot. I longed to serve as the apprentice to a more knowledgeable photographer and pick up a few gems here and there.

So I took a risk.

I applied for the photographer position at the USC El Rodeo yearbook. Despite my lack of experience in the yearbook industry (one of my close friends was the design editor for my high school yearbook and I often hung out in the publications/yearbook room) and my limited knowledge of Adobe InDesign, I truly wanted to be part of yearbook. I wanted to see my pictures featured in the student life spread of the yearbook.

"YES!" I exclaimed when I saw the acceptance email from the editor, which came less than 10 hours after I applied for the position.

And then I panicked.

Damn. What if I'm not cut out for this yearbook business? What if they scorn at my pictures? What if they see through the fact that I've only been shooting with my DSLR for 2 years? What if they find out that I only started shooting on manual mode last month? What if they realize that I only know two rules of composition - Rule of Thirds and Leading Lines - but only capable of following one.

I took a breath and looked to my photography idol, Jasmine Star, for inspiration. Like me, she started her photography career with a simple DSLR and big aspirations. "To get good at anything, you need to practice - there is no magic pill", she said.

All I need is the opportunity to shoot and the passion to become obsessive about photography!

My goal at the end of this year is to compile a viable photography portfolio and become a fully manual shooter.

Song of the Day

Lighters - Bad Meets Evil ft. Bruno Mars