Bye-lines: Life’s lessons develop through the camera lens

Good God. As a photographer, I’ve never been in front of
the camera. And now I have my goofy mug plastered on 20,000 copies
of The Bruin. Now I definitely know it’s time to leave UCLA
and the Daily Bruin confines of 118 Kerckhoff before embarrassment
catches up with me. It’s time to face the real world that
does not provide free printing privileges, Internet access and the
cups of water I could not otherwise afford on my Daily Bruin
salary.

Then again, it’s also time to leave the days of glam
shoots, 300 pounds of lighting equipment, DIL midnights, Bel Air
morns, and the endless office photos that were never published but
are the most Pulitzer worthy. I’ve never had so much fun in
my life.

Photography taught me many things about life and the people that
live life. I’ve seen more behind the lens than through the
naked eye. The camera has taken me across the nation and through a
multitude of experiences I never knew before. I’ve witnessed
the human body crushed by protesting mobs and the human spirit
lifted through unity during tragedy. I’ve learned that life
is never a smooth stroll through a park but that, sometimes, it can
be a wild romp through a dog park with poop all over the place.
There’s never a dull moment. There’s always a
story.

The story is in the images that are worth far more than a
thousand words. It is in the photographer, behind the camera,
positioned at a bizarre angle and set up for the perfect shot. And
each day I pick up that camera, I thank God that He helped me find
it in the first place. I never intended to become a photographer.
Never even knew how to use a camera. But four years later,
I’m still here, with God as my compass and the camera as my
Sherpa through life ““ earning my bread and happiness through
pictures.

One can only be so lucky.

Lucky to have unbelievably loving and encouraging friends who
helped me scratch out a future in “making pictures.”
Lucky to have my God lift me up in times of doubt and absolute
confidence. But most of all, lucky to have the very addictive Daily
Bruin with very addictive staffers, that made the bumps, bruises,
stress and subsequent high cholesterol so worth it.

Jun was a Daily Bruin assistant photo editor.