Commentary: End of year wrap-up

After completing my second year full year as a photojournalist, you would think I had figured it out by now, but that is far from the truth. One of the many reasons that keeps me enticed for being photographer/videographer for The Feather has been all of the different opportunities that have come my way as a result of being apart of this great team.

Journalism at Fresno Christian High School has given me the gift to explore one of my biggest personal joys in life of being behind the camera capturing the life and times of a Fresno Christian student. But my role as a HS journalist has gone much farther than the walls of FC. I have been able to create and sustain a professional portfolio.

As I look to the future and what God has in store for me, I know that the skills I have learned in the journalism lab will be invaluable. I am excited for next year as I will be stepping into a bigger role on the publications team.

Senior year is rapidly approaching and the excitement and anticipation of next year just keeps growing. Good things are on the horizon for next year and I cannot wait to be apart of it.

Being apart of the photo team has taught me the importance of teamwork. A conflict in my schedule did not allow for the photojournalism class to be on my regular class schedule. I was lucky enough to have a free period to which I inserted an independent journalism class. Not being in the class with the photo team arose a multitude of difficulties in team communication and team cohesion. This obstacle was tough to overcome but with the help of photo editor Kylie Bell and photo adviser Kori Friesen we were able to make it work.

This year I took on a number of photo and video projects for the school marketing department and central office.

One of those projects was to create a video that showed all of the different aspects and programs that FC had to offer. This video was to go along with our Superintendent Jeremy Brown’s new plans and design for the campus.

Some things I struggled with and was able to learn from this project was remembering that I was still a HS student and needed to learn how to balance my time and be able to meet deadlines put before me by clients and also my teachers.

Another event during the past year that has taught me a lot was Homecoming. This is one of our schools biggest events and as a photographer for The Feather it is one of our biggest events to cover. We had our whole team on the field but due to the small size of our school we were down two members who had been elected for the homecoming court and one to float building.

Under the guidance of photo adviser Kori Friesen, we were able to divide and conquer homecoming. The images from this event were some of the best ever of this event.

I would like to give a special thank you to my advisers Greg Stobbe and Kori Friesen for keeping me grounded and pushing me to my full potential. Also a huge thank you to my photo editor Kylie Bell who was always there to help and never afraid to tell me when my posts made absolutely no sense and I needed to start over.

Reflection gallery below is a collection of images showing growth throughout this year.

For another end of year reflection read, Senior reflection: Olivia Quibe.

For more Feather photos, visit media, photos 2015-16.