In 1989, I wrote a manifesto to support my application for a company loan to study at the Missouri School of Journalism.
33 years after, I did a stock check to see if I managed to live up to my promises.
I wrote the manifesto on an electronic typewriter using the default Courier typeface. For this follow-up, it was done on a Mac in Indesign with Bell Centennial Std. I hated computer then but have now owned no fewer than 30 Apple computers.
REASON FOR CHOICE OF STUDY:
(I choose to study photojournalism for no better reason than my love for my job as a news photographer and my wish to enhance my skills.)
Mostly accurate except that I also discovered in university that I love film, creative writing, history. Becoming Capa, my novella which was made into a movie, was written in a creative writing class in my last semester in college.
(In doing a formal course, I hope to further develop my news senses and my photographic techniques.)
More than two decades after leaving my last newsroom job, I am still a news junkie who gets super excited about current affairs.
(I also wish to learn the various aspects of newspaper publishing. More importantly, I want to present my works more professionally.)
I was fortunate to have been photographer, picture editor, web editor, web designer, web redesign consultant, presentation editor, photography columnist. But the job I really wanted was ideas editor – to be a person who walks around dishing out crazy ideas.
(As the host of America’s annual National Press Photographer Awards, University of Missouri at Columbia is an idea(sic) choice for photojournalistic education. Throughout the year, the best news photos taken around the world by the best photographers in the world are gathered at University of Missouri-Columbia. Being present at UMC will allow me the privileges to see and learn the latest in photojournalism.)
Fact-checking and accuracy were not my forte, and that was why I didn’t even get the name of the contest right. Who would have thought that 30+ years on, I am Co-Director and Founding Advisor of Pictures of the Year Asia, an offspring of Pictures of the Year International, the competition that brought me to Missouri?
STATEMENT OF CAREER GOALS ON COMPLETION OF COURSE
(Personally, I will deliver my assignments to the highest possible standard of a trained professional.)
I will only give myself a B+ grade in this area. I know I became a better photographer after leaving the paper.
(And I hope to impart my acquired knowledges(sic) to my fellow colleagues and apply what I learned to good use.)
I like to believe that the spirit of sharing continues and flourishes after I left the newspaper. Many of my adventures post-The Straits Times were continuations of what I did not manage to complete while in fulltime employment at the paper.
(I will work more independently and produce photojournalist essays regularly.)
I believe I was too early in the game in this area in a paper which was not ready but I know I probably helped to plant some seeds.
(Ultimately if the needs arise, I am prepared to help Lianhe Bao improves the visual images of our publications through better usages of news photos.)
Instead of returning to the Chinese newspaper division which I was originally from, I requested for a transfer to The Straits Times despite having to start from the very bottom. Had I gone back to the Chinese paper, I would have been fast-tracked into management and picture editing. Regrets? Not even once.
(I will help in any aspects of the company photographic requirements.)
Less than six months after joining The Straits Times, I was helping to revamp the daily operations of the Picture Desk. Among the many things I instituted — the movement chart, an idea I appropriated from Hartford Courant, where I interned. I kickstarted a regular photography column, revamped the management structure of the photography department, pushed for the digitalization and pioneered the FTP method of moving pictures.
(At the ‘matured’ stage of my photojournalistic career, I am prepared to train new staffs and do picture editing.)
Would have loved to do more in a newsroom but I did the bulk of picture editing after leaving full-time employment in journalism.
Overall, I would give myself a B+.
