Day 46 (Sat., July 23)

I said it before: I hate calling in sick. This morning must have been the worse ever. I still had a nasty stomach ache that wouldn't let me concentrate. I couldn't even sleep. But I had to remind myself that a lot of other students would kill to have an internship this summer. So, w/ that I headed out the door ready to get into a day of work.

First, I headed to a church and hung out w/ a 15-year-old kid who has been doing a lot of things for her church youth group. Church and religion around this part of the country is very important to people. It seems as if everyone belongs to a faith group and they are proud and active. It feels good being in a town like that. You know good things happen when you are around people who follow a faith. It doesn't matter what their beliefs might be, just as long as they have some sort of faith.

After giving in to the thought of medicine, I headed to the drug store and got me some stomach ache relief stuff. I don't like medicine at all. My theory (here I go again) is that if you take medicine, you are just making your weak body cells a lil bit strong to survive the pain and illness. In a couple of days or weeks, those weak body cells will lose their strength and you'll be sick again. Think of it as a crack fiend. If you give the crack fiend some dope, their dependency will be taken care of, they will live another day happy. If you keep the crack fiend from getting any dope, eventually their dependency on the stuff will not be as big as time goes on. I believe that when you are sick, you should let the virus kill off all those weak body cells. Their weakness is the reason why you got sick, in the first place. Once the weak body cells are dead, new, strong ones will be born. Therefore, you'll be nice and strong and won't get sick again in a long time. That's why I only get the flu about every 18 months, or so (knocking on wood).

Working was a good way to forget about the pain. Next, I headed to a wakeboard tournament. I came back w/ some nice action images of the event. It feels good to go into an event that I have never been exposed to, and come back w/ some nice images. It shows that I am doing something right. You don't have to be an expert in the field of wakeboarding in order to get a good wakeboarding shot. You just need to know the basics. That's why I love photography. All you need is the basics.

But the basics for what?

For photography? yes!

For light and composition? yes!

For key moment? yes!

One question arises when thinking about all of the above It's great to know all there is to know about photography. But does that mean you are going to do a great job at EVERY event? NO!

Think of it as a doctor. The doctor knows what the functions of the body are. A doctor spent a long time in school to learn all about the functions of the different systems of the body. Whether it's the nervous, skeletal, musculoskeletal, cardiovascular and/or pulmonary systems (Oh God, I did pay attention in anatomy class), the doctor must know the basics. That's how photography is like. We need to know the basics of our camera, lenses and all other gadgets that we use. But, there's more to photography than the equipment. A photographer needs to be well-rounded, just like a doctor needs to know about all kinds of different things in life that include the environment, weather changes, anthropological aspects of people and even geological tidbits, to name a few. When arriving at an event, a photographer needs to know beyond the basics in order to get the job done. If the photographer is not, then that person is just a dumb soul w/ a nice camera.

The other day my schooling was scrutinized. It's hard to believe that at 26, I am still in school. I should be a doctor w/ all the years of school I have behind. True.

When I obtained my first college degree about three years ago, I was ready to be a full-time journalist and be the best sports reporter ever. Then a few weeks after getting my degree I was left dumbfounded. I was a dumb journalist. All I knew was about journalism and sports. That's pretty shallow. I didn't want to be a dumb journalist. I wanted to be able to walk into any story and do a great job writing it in order to do my job effectively. In the process, I decided photography was a lot more fulfilling. But, if I just concentrated on photography, then I would be a dumb photographer. Sociology was beginning to look pretty good. But that was too broad -- so I got personal. That's when I decided Xicano studies was a nice way to back it all up. In the extra time that I have been in school, I have learned a lot. I can walk into many conversations involving environmental science, math, sociology, art and anthropology. That's a great thing being that I am a photographer. That's because my daily job does not include doing the same thing over and over and over. I am not stuck behind a desk processing paperwork that only has a few things that differentiate from one another. I guess that's why sports writing lost its cool. Because year after year everything became repetitive, only the names of the athletes changed. Take a look back throughout the four internship journals on the web site. You'll see that there aren't too many days that are alike. I have covered everything from sports, to school events, to social events, to different type of religious activities. It's good that I know the basics about all of those different aspects of life. Otherwise, I'd be a dumb photographer w/ an expensive camera. Pretty soon I will graduate and will FINALLY get out of school. My parents will finally be freed from digging me out of holes, my siblings will no longer be ashamed of having such an old college student as a family member, but most of all, I will be a smart(er) journalist. That way when I am headed to a different event every day in different places of the earth, I won't be scratching my head wondering "what the hell is going on."

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