If you could have any superpower, which one would you have and why?

We’ve all heard this question a thousand times. It’s a go-to ice breaker, no matter how old you are.

We always give the same answers: the ability to fly, teleport or become invisible.

We choose responses like these because we don’t usually think of having superpowers as cultivating extraordinary abilities. Instead, we think of supernatural powers that are out-of-reach fantasies.

However, it is easy to think of real-world superpowers. For example, doctors have the ability to save lives, and teachers have the ability to shape them.

But what if I told you there was a superpower that lets you preserve life?

With this superpower, you could bring back experiences in an instant. Thoughts, feelings, places and faces would come flooding back.

Now that would be pretty cool and very tempting. Too bad it doesn’t exist, right?

Wrong.

That superpower is photography.

Photography has the power to preserve emotions, history, loved ones and lives.

All superpowers begin with a spark but need training to reach their full potential.

From a young age I had this spark. I was told I had an eye for photography and have always viewed the world through a different lens than most. As I have pursued various photographic endeavors, I have honed my skills.

However, my time at the Daily Bruin has been my most intense training yet.

The Bruin provided me the creative and professional space to explore and develop my passion.

I have been able to not just capture but preserve culture, performance, grit, passion, camaraderie and community. My work as a photojournalist has given my superpower a purpose: to raise awareness, share stories, explore perspectives and serve my community.

When considering my experience here at UCLA, that is what I am most proud of. In a tiny but significant way, it is my legacy.

My photographs will stand forever, each with the innate power to hold fragments of time and history still, until a pair of eyes unlocks the experience again.

So thank you, Daily Bruin. Thank you for being the platform that gave my passion a purpose and gave my work, my worth and my art an audience.

Carlson was a 2024-26 Photo staffer and a 2023-24 Photo contributor.