I headed to New York near the beginning of October and got to spend some time with photo friends exploring Manhattan before we boarded a bus bright and early for the Eddie Adams Workshop farm the next morning. Once we got to our destination in Jeffersonville, we were ushered up a hill and walked through a line of high fives on either side from over a hundred talented, accomplished, kind photojournalists who were there on their own time to help us grow. (Also, my face almost collided with Nick Ut's phone on his selfie stick while walking up said hill.) I didn't realize how overwhelming that would be and was literally shaking with excitement at the top of that hill. I just knew it was going to be an incredible few days.

John White welcomed us with his presentation, reminding us to always "Keep In Flight." The next few days consisted of lots of speakers presenting their work, shooting assignments and portfolio reviews. If you were lucky, you'd get two to three hours of sleep a night. It was exhausting and exhilirating at the same time. I was lucky enough to be on the mint team with a group of wonderful students and faculty, and got to spend my time shooting Agrarian Feast, an organic microgreen and mushroom farm run by Vincent and Luke, two kind souls who are very passionate about what they do.

The first day I was there, I was really feeling the imposter syndrome kick in as I was meeting people from all over the world who are currently covering conflict or working on timely long-term projects or had won some cool awards or shot regularly for high-profile publications. I've always struggled with not feeling good enough at what I do, and I was still wondering how someone like me got into a workshop like this. I had to remind myself that I am still growing (and always will be) as a photojournalist, and the work I do, though it may not reach nationwide like others', is still important to the community I serve.

Once I got over my own mental barrier, I was able to just relax and enjoy meeting as many people as I could there. I can't say enough about how incredible this class of students and faculty were. Everyone, no matter their status, made time for you and geniunely cared. We honored conflict photographers who had lost their lives in a memorial service, enjoyed a beautiful fireworks display, tried to make s'mores over a ridiculously huge bonfire, saw everyone's amazing work they created in a matter of hours over two days, and danced the night away (literally, like 50 people stayed up till 6 a.m.) on the last night together. The four-day workshop felt like it was two weeks long, but in the best way possible. By the end of it, you just didn't want to leave all these new friends who had become family. I hope to be able to go back to the barn in the future and give back since the workshop gave me so much.

I had only been back in Tyler a few days before I headed to Austin to shoot Austin City Limits Music Festival. I last attended in 2015 and last photographed it in 2013. I forgot how much I enjoyed concert photography. Yes, you can argue it's easy to get nice pictures because you have pretty people in pretty light, but you still have to work to get the moments, and that's something I feel I was able to do better this time after having a few more years of experience under my belt. Music has always played a huge role in my life through my lifelong love of playing piano and being a part of choirs through school, so I couldn't help but jam out in the pit as I was taking photos of these artists. They were long days but the energy of the musicians kept my energy high.

The following weekend was the 84th Texas Rose Festival, a festival steeped in tradition and A LOT of glitter. The four-day festival celebrates the rose-growing industry's role in Tyler's economy, but the event that rises above the rest is the Queen's Coronation ceremony. Over 50 young college girls walked on stage during the nearly two-hour presentation wearing unique, custom-made dresses that cost tens of thousands of dollars. This year's theme was "Celestial Wonders," so dresses were designed with planets, horoscopes, constellations, and mythological characters in mind. At the end, the queen was crowned and paraded around the stage to showcase her dresses' train, which was so heavy that two attendants had to help carry it. It's truly an event unique to Tyler and I'm intersted to see what the dress designers come up with next year. (They start designing in January when they go to New York to buy fabrics.)

My last weekend of October was NPPA's Women in Journalism conference and it was an inspiring weekend learning from ladies in the fields of photojournalism and broadcast journalism. My photo family grew even more as I met women from around the states and learned a great deal from them through their presentations and just chatting. The main takeaways from that weekend was to always be human in every assignment and to just get out there and DO IT, even if you are facing opposition at times. Because, quite frankly, nothing will get done if you don't get out there and use your skills to tell others' stories and use your voice to foster change in this industry.

I just tried to use a lot of words to express how meaningful and influential this past month has been, but I still probably didn't do it justice. I'm also happy to share I'm working on three stories I found and am writing/shooting, thanks to a large mental push from these two workshops to pursue the work you are interested in. A huge thank you to all of the people I met and learned from this month. I am forever grateful to have your friendships and am excited to see how our paths will continue to cross in the years to come. It's a small (photojournalism) world, after all.