I just reached my two month mark here at UNO and figured it’s about time to blog some images and write a little about my thoughts so far.
I can admit now that for a while, there was a part of me that thought I was giving up on photojournalism. Stepping out of the comfortable office of a newspaper and into an unknown world of marketing was a little unsettling. I didn’t know what I was totally getting into when I signed the papers and moved to Omaha, but I had a gut feeling that it was a good move for me and it felt right.
What I quickly learned once I started is that this job is literally what I make it to be. I know that’s an overused statement, but at UNO I am the only photographer and my own editor. On the surface it means I have a lot of work to do and every day is full with finding features and planned assignments. It also means that I have more freedom and am able to choose the direction the photography takes here. In the past, much of the work process was very rigid and controlled and photos were taken only when something was requested. However, when I stepped in at UNO, I set a hefty goal for myself of recreating the image library here with documentary photography as much as possible. I still have to set-up an occasional situation, but being a marketing position that’s expected, and in two months, I’ve really learned a lot about this new world.
With the goal of creating a new documentary library while keeping my personal journalistic standards of not Photoshopping or setting up situations, I’m thinking of it as a huge documentary project of a modern campus. Giving the materials here at UNO an honest and real life view into campus life is refreshing and has already been very well received. In a way, I feel as if my images now might matter more and are respected more.
After two months, it still doesn’t quite yet feel like my campus, but it’s getting there. Sometimes, I still feel like an outsider whose job it is to document everything and that doesn’t necessarily bother me. On the other hand, maybe that’s a good thing and will serve as a source of continual inspiration.
Here are a bunch of images from my time here so far. Feature hunts, portrait shoots, athletics (no football here - hockey, soccer and basketball are the big ones) and studio work.
Thanks for looking!
