Neil Bedi: Seeking creativity, finding love for journalism

I fell in love with photography in a high school darkroom.

More specifically, I fell in love with the process. The flow of dipping prints from one chemical into another to the constant beat of a ticking clock was mesmerizing.

For a high school senior with few real outlets for creativity, I found myself captivated by the satisfaction of creating art with my hands.

So when I came to UCLA – thousands of miles from home – to study computer science, I immediately searched for a place to practice my photography. It took two quarters of bouncing between clubs before I found myself in a photojournalism internship at the Daily Bruin.

I quickly threw myself into my work, seeking the same satisfaction I found in the darkroom. The Bruin of course no longer uses film photography, and I instead started practicing digital photography.

The switch was almost instantaneous, and I quickly fell for photojournalism and the job of capturing moments and people. Though inexperienced and mostly a nuisance to my editors, I took shoot after shoot to hone my skills.

Along the way, I avoided my computer science studies because they didn’t inspire the same passion that photojournalism did.

It didn’t help that every tough moment in my college career – from ending a long-term relationship to struggling with school – was followed by more time spent at The Bruin.

By my third year, I was hopelessly in love with journalism. I trained in multiple sections to produce different types of journalistic content. I stuck my head in meetings that I had nothing to do with to hear and contribute ideas.

And as years passed and life after college came closer, I felt torn between computer science and journalism.

But then – this year, in fact – things worked out.

I directed my love for journalism toward a specific focus: online journalism. And even though I am not pursuing online journalism right after college, practicing it has helped me find satisfaction in creating with code.

The Bruin once had a darkroom in the center of the office, but it was replaced with a computer server room during the transition into the digital age.

It seems that now, a decade and a half later, my mind has transitioned the same way.

Bedi was the Stack editor in 2015, Photo editor from 2013-2014, Spectrum editor in 2013 and a senior staff developer, photographer and reporter from 2013-2015.