Experiences

I've been blessed in my life to be able to have so many different kinds of experiences. Being a jack-of-all-trades but king of none, I've found myself in many places, doing many different things. I'm far from an adventurer, but I've done some cool things. Photography, as well as my internship, has really helped me with this. I've already told you some of the story of how I came into photography but havn't really talked about where it has taken me.

Firstly, it took me closer to my passion of storms, allowing me to enjoy a chase and capture its gradeur and keep the memories forever. It was awesome to be able to take my brother on his first storm chase and I look forward to taking several friends on their first chases in the future.

Another awesome thing thats happened due to my photography has been my enterance into the world of photojournalism. One of the big assignments I was able to cover, though my coverage not as in depth as some of my friends, was the 2008 Presidential campaign. UNC saw alot more attention than it normally would since Colorado was a swing state for the election. I first was able to photograph Eva Longoria, Adam Rodriguez and Kal Penn at UNC for an Obama rally.

Shortly thereafter, The future VP, Joe Biden, paid UNC a visit. Butler-Hancock Sports Pavillion was pretty well packed with supporters and it was my first real peek at behind the scenes photojournalism, including some of the ethics behind it (I got yelled at by a friend for clapping at something Biden said. PJs need to stay neutral). I also had a press pass made for me and realized just how powerful they can be...

A press pass can be a very powerful tool. I created one for the newspaper I work for, had my editor sign off on it and used it to get into the Biden rally, where the Obama campaign gave me one of their press passes. Pretty cool for a guy with a camera :)

I was all set-up for the rally in Denver when President Obama came to town. I flashed my Obama press pass and gained full access to all the cool shooting spots for his campaign. I was standing next to the photographers from all the big news outlets, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC. I managed to get some pretty cool pictures, which all look very similar to ones that they took as well...

I have a feeling these may just be the beginning of what could end up being a series of fun rides my cameras and I take. Look for some cool sports pictures coming up the next time I update this...