PHOTOJOURNALISM

I adjusted to using a mirrorless camera my junior year and grew confident in my photography ability. I made the goal to better use all aspects of a photo to advance a story — the foreground, background and each individual.

This is my sophomore year NSPA Photojournalist of the Year winning portfolio. Students missed out on the typical high school experience for 18 months. No pep rallies. No dances. And on most days, there were hardly any students on campus. Big events at school returned and mask mandates dropped during my sophomore year. I tried to capture moments where people needed each other in this portfolio — especially since, with COVID, human interaction is never guaranteed.

This was my winning NSPA portfolio from my freshman year. It was my first year using a DSLR camera, shooting high school activities, sports and becoming a primary staff photographer. While COVID-19 changed a lot of things in our school, it ultimately opened up a lot of opportunities for me as a freshman. I took advantage of each chance I got. Shooting school activities was tough because interactions were limited: fewer students were on campus and everyone wore masks. Sports, however, allowed me to capture glimpses of normalcy in a year that was anything but normal.

“Having a vision” was the key to my portrait photography. With my flag picture, that meant framing my subject when he swung the flag. For the magazine cover, I spent two hours finding the perfect lighting and pose. I timed the swim portrait before my subject dried off, so the water was caught dripping down her face.

I had the opportunity to photograph the soccer match between Manchester United and Real Madrid at NRG stadium through my internship with Our Esquina. My internship also gave me the opportunity to photograph Texas A&M football games.