Just to share, I've been physically manhandled in every way thinkable- pushed, pulled, shoved, nudged... and even grabbed! A photographer's got to do what a photographer got to do. I had to take the shot, and despite being told not to cross a certain boundary, I had to do it. I had followed the Flame on foot for two days, and had followed through most part of the rest of Journey of the Youth Olympic Flame on the media truck. I've never derived so much satisfaction from my job before, despite the fatigue I experienced, having only 4 hours of sleep every day while chasing the flame.
I had gotten to meet photographers from all over our nation, and I've formed bonds with men whom I've never met, and probably will never meet again, just because we stand shoulder to shoulder helping each other during the course of our work as media personnel. I'm the only girl standing on the media stand at an MM Lee event, being dwarfed by Xinhua's extremely tall Chinese guy with a 300mm prime lens (it's the f2.8 version, mind you, and all the rest are carrying one). I've also gotten to meet photographers from major agencies such as Reuters, AP, other foreign press- a Japanese dude, an Indian dude (from India, haha)- ST, Zaobao, TNP, even met CCTV's filming crew, and just today I chatted with a photographer from San Francisco who is working for ST just for YOG while I was getting a massage at the Main Press Centre.
Every day I will meet with failures some way or another, but new events always energize me, finding new satisfactions as a photojournalist. Not only have I gotten to know new people who volunteered their services for the YOG, I've also gotten to know a young ambassador from Trinidad and Tobago, whose warmth never fails to surprise me. (She hugged me!)
Taking pictures is easy. But being a photographer is hard. We face with new challenges everyday and some may even cripple us. We have to jostle with other people to get the winning shot. Truth was that after my third day chasing the flame, I wanted to quit so badly. It rained on the second day, and my camera and I were completely drenched. The third day, it was so scorching hot I had to douse myself in water. By the end of 7 days of JYOF (including celebrations at NUS), I was sun burnt and had slimmed down, complete with two blisters and a callus on my thumb for shooting too much. But the moment I knew my efforts did not go to waste was when the final product of the photo story was incredible.
Of course, I also got to hold the torch, after 7 days of chasing. (Though there was no fire.)
