This semester I’m taking a required course, Professional Portfolio — a course of vital importance to any aspiring future photojournalist who wants a good job. In addition, there are two other photography requirements I have to take. Basically, this means I’m shooting all the time. Two months ago I was complaining about being overwhelmed with writing courses and assignments that distracted me from taking pictures on a regular basis. Now I have gone to another extreme. But it’s not too bad; so far I have enjoyed most of it.

Not until this semester was I able to meet all the other graduate students in this program (because of a time conflict, I was in an undergraduate class last semester). I was so excited to meet them and to see their work and to talk about photography. On the Chinese New Year’s Eve (last Sunday) we hung out in Chinatown to celebrate (it was so nice of them to do this with me) and to take pictures. We talked about every random thing and drew the same conclusion by saying that “it can be a nice photo story, blah, blah, blah.” That’s true. Now I have the constant urge to look for a story. It reminds me my scientist friend, who also likes to cook. Before she serves every dish, she has to try it first. She calls this ritual “QC” (quality control), as in, “Wait, let me QC.” Just as she does in the lab. For photojournalism students, if we keep track of our daily conversations, we might come up with this list of most frequently used words: shoot, picture, story, one person, due on **day, etc.

Now I officially beginning my bittersweet honeymoon with photography. Approaching things with different angle and fresh eyes has become an unconscious act, and my brain is automatically generating a “viewfinder” all the time. One of my favorite books about photography is John Szarkowski’s (the former director of photography at the Museum of Modern Art) The Photographer’s Eye.

I hardly understood the book two years ago, but now it is beginning to make sense as I’ve gained more experience. On frame, it says “The photographer edits the meanings and patterns of the world through an imaginary frame. This frame is the beginning of his picture’s geometry. It is to the photograph as the cushion is to the billiard table.” The imaginary frame is truly becoming an indetachable part of my way approaching the world.