Flickr

Alright, as of right now, only half of my photos from New York are uploaded because it takes forever and a day to upload pictures. But you can check out my Flickr here. I'm still attempting to upload sports photos, and hopefully I'll make some progress throughout the week.

And yet again, another short post. Oh well. I may or may not try to get a job tomorrow (I have the ambition now, but tomorrow I may back out because I have social anxiety...yay.). So wish me luck, I suppose!

Scholarship!

Good news! I got my email about the scholarship and I received $1,000! That means I just have to earn about $1,000 more. I'm one step closer to going to Washington D.C. this summer.

I've finally joined Flickr and I'm currently attempting to upload a ton of pictures that are taking up space on my computer. I'll post a link later if anyone wants to go look at some of my photos.

This is yet another incredibly short post, but I really have zero updates other than my scholarship news. So I will go work on Flickr and watch Sherlock. Hopefully another post will come soon with the link. Au revoir!

Random Journalism Post

Since I won't have any updates on WJMC until the 24, and I would feel bad for waiting so long to post anything, I suppose I'll talk about photography a little bit. I've always loved photography. Ever since I can remember, being behind the camera was what I loved. It wasn't until about fifth grade that I got really interested in it. It was that year that I learned that I have a relative that worked for National Geographic as a photographer, and later, an editor. This was the moment that I discovered just how much you can achieve when you put your mind to it.

I was in a gifted class all throughout elementary and middle school, and my last couple of years in the class, we focused on photography. We would take senior photos for people that couldn't afford to pay for them to be done professionally. This was the first time I was exposed to portrait photography. I enjoyed it a lot, and for a time, I wanted to open up my own studio when I got older.

My freshman year of high school, I signed up for journalism class. I had never taken a journalism class before, but I fell in love with it. I love interviewing people, writing articles, I even love the complete chaos the class goes through whenever we get close to our deadline. My first semester of freshman year, I was a little afraid to go out and take photos because I didn't know if I would be any good. Second semester, my teacher pushed me to go to some basketball games and take photos with my brand new camera that I had gotten for Christmas. She came with me my first game and gave me pointers on what to do, and from that point on, I have loved every second I spend on that court. This was also the point I decided that what I really want is to be a photojournalist, because while portrait and "staged" photography is fine and great, capturing people doing their normal thing in their normal lives shows so much more emotion.

I've heard some people say that journalism is a dying art, but I could not disagree more. Yes, while the physical newspaper may be going out, every part of that newspaper will be going digital. That means you still need your writers and you still need your photographers. You still need people to report the news, and therefore, I do not believe journalism will ever die. In fact, I believe journalists and journalism will stick around forever.

I apologize if any of this is poorly written, as I am extremely tired and I'm currently thinking about Sherlock making it's American premiere tomorrow night (rather later tonight, since it is technically Sunday right now) and how very excited I am for round two. Wish me luck for Friday, I can't wait to find out about the scholarship!

UPDATE: I have neglected to mention that Tuesday I will be going to my first organization to request a donation. I'm really awful at public speaking, so wish me luck with that as well!

Progress

Alas, Sherlock got the best of me Sunday and I didn't get my scholarship application sent out. No worries though, because I got it all faxed to the college yesterday. Progress! I'll find out if I receive a scholarship on 24 January, so wish me luck.

This is an extremely short blog post, but I really have nothing else to write. I'm still in shock from the series finale Sunday. So basically, if I don't stop writing soon, this blog post that is supposed to be journalism related will soon turn into Sherlock. Hooray for keeping this post short and sweet. I must now bid you goodbye.

Photography

As I mentioned in my last post, photography is my thing. It's what I do; it's what I love. My camera is my favorite accessory. As of right now, I only take pictures of games and other school activities. Although the main thing I like to focus on are the real, true moments, I do like to get in touch with my creative side every once in a while. Some of my favorite pictures are from when I was in New York City and Virginia over the summer. I've posted a few examples below:

I don't have any updates on WJMC at the moment as I'm still trying to get my paperwork all ready. I'm aiming to get everything faxed tomorrow (if the emotional trauma I'll experience from the conclusion of Sherlock series three doesn't mess up my goal, that is). Wish me luck.

First Post: An Introduction

To start things off, I'm Alissa. A few things about me: I'm your average "nerdy" girl. British television is my obsession as I absolutely love Sherlock and Doctor Who. Yes, Doctor Who. For some reason people think that Doctor Who is a "male" show, but I will have you know, I know plenty of females that love the show. Sherlock is fantastic in every way, considering Benedict Cumberbatch is my favorite actor on the planet and he and the rest of the cast do an amazing job portraying every single character. No, this blog is not about British television. Sorry to disappoint. Another thing I love is Harry Potter. I've loved Harry Potter since fifth grade and I have read every single book and seen every single movie a countless number of times. This blog isn't about Harry Potter either. Again, my apologies. I'm on my school's newspaper and yearbook staff and my job is to go to all of our games and other school events and take photos. I guess you could say that I'm "The Photographer." We'll get to that later. So there you go, I'm a nerdy teenage girl that is a self proclaimed anglophile with very large dreams.

Photography is kind of my "thing" if you want to call it that, or if you want to get more specific, it's my passion. I don't really do "staged" photography. I prefer to capture real, true moments because that's where you see the real, true emotions. This is the main reason behind why I want to go into photojournalism. This is where this blog comes in. Recently, I have been invited to attend the Washington Journalism and Media Conference, or WJMC for short. Basically, it's a conference held at George Mason University for high school students interested in journalism. Here, you get to meet iconic figures in the industry, and strengthen your skills in the areas of journalism. This is an absolutely amazing opportunity for me, as it will help me to be noticed by colleges and give me a head start in my career. As of right now, I'm working on getting registered and sending in information to be considered for a scholarship. I'm also working on coming up with fundraising ideas and finding sponsors that will help me out financially.

I honestly don't know if I'll have any more than one reader of this blog, (Hi, Dad.) but this is just for me to document my journey leading up to, and during, WJMC. We'll just say that it's for sentimental reasons.