Didn't see that coming!

Just when I was feeling crabby about not being out, shooting assignments.. like a "real photographer" God cuts me a little break from desk work. It started with a call from the boss.

"Apparently," he said with a pause...
Oh no, I think to myself. What did I do to the website now? "What's up?" I say.
"Well, apparently one of the sports guys forgot to send in a photo assignment, and it's running on the front page of the sports section. Can you-- are you able to get out for a bit?"
"No problem. I was just about to go out on my lunch break." (putting forth my best play-it-cool voice)
"Great. It starts in about 20 minutes so you have some time to get out there."
"I'm on it." I say. I'm on it?? What am I, Robin? To the bat cave!

Anyway, here's some outtakes.

So I guess I am useful, after all. I know I'm probably not ready to jump into full-scale photography work at a newspaper. Now that I work at TMN, I see how difficult and taxing it can be for our guys. I still have a lot to learn, and today the storm in my mind was calm. I realize two things:

1. Photojournalism is absolutely what I want to do with my life.
2. I need to head back to school and finish up so that I can be qualified to shoot full-time.

I might be able to land some job, somewhere without a degree... but I realize now that it's not about having a piece of paper-- it's about being ready.

So, whenever the time is right, which I'm thinking is going to be sometime in September, I'm going to re-enroll at the U of A. I'll take morning classes, which I know is going to be brutal when coupled with working at TMN full time... but I'm sure this is what I want to do... I want to be absolutely ready when I make that leap.