我的30 Column [3pics]
以前记者用 - 30 - 标记结尾。今天是校报夏天学期的最后一期，也是我在校报的最后一期，马上就要毕业了。按照惯例，每个即将离开的senior staff都要在30 column里写一篇反省文。憋了一天写出了以下破字以纪念留学生涯中我最爱的日子。图是下午拽着朋友帮拍的。本想模仿苏珊·桑塔格论摄影的封面，结果硬生生被我玩坏了。只能当相机后面的人啊，一到相机前面根本正经文艺不起来╮(╯▽╰)╭。
=======无力翻译。凑合看。
I was lying on my sofa sweating from a photo assignment when I got Charlie’s message: “Do you want to write a -30-?”
WHAT?! YES and NO.
YES because I have words to spill. NO because I am not ready to say goodbye.
As an education student from China, I did not know the meaning of photojournalism or understand newspaper terms like “wild art” and “30 column” until I found the obscure basement. Last summer, I picked up an issue of the Texan while waiting for the shuttle, saw the tryouts application and decided to give it a shot. Too timid to open the door of the basement, I was probably stepping back and forth for 10 minutes before I got up the nerve. Thanks to this nerve, I ended up getting to know a bunch of awesome weirdos and finding a community where I belong.
Soon, I found myself obsessed with this job. It is almost like a first love. Wanting to get closer but wrapped with anxiety at the same time. Looking forward to being appreciated but surrounded by insecurity. I found within me a desire to improve myself and become a better person.
My obsession does worry my academic advisor and my parents because of the “serious business” I should be thinking about, such as my long-overdue graduation paper and the unfathomable future. But I have no regrets whatsoever. I would not trade anything for the memories of figuring out what angles to frame a speaker, feeling burnt under the sun while shooting demonstrations, biking at night on the Austin streets after photographing South By Southwest and X Games, falling fast asleep on the office sofas, getting to know stories of amazing students and professors, shamefully noticing my stupid face set as the desktop wallpaper, blissfully seeing my photos on the cover of the Texan and just hanging out with wonderful people in the office laughing at whatever. The list could go on forever.
To the first person I talked to at the Texan, Pu: It was interesting to see your name on paper and for you to be an actual person (or not?). To my photo editors, Marisa, Charlie, Sam and Sarah: It is your critiques, trust and support that shaped who I am. To all the photographers and videographers in the multimedia corner: It is your creativity, talent, sometimes-too-loud laughs and too-random thoughts that propel me to strive for more.
I am never a person of words. This is the longest caption I have ever written, but I hope this will not be the last. Thank you.
-30-
点这里看俺给校报拍的大部分照片。
