I believe photography is not only artwork, but also a looking glass for people to view perspectives of events they might not have seen before. Photos paired with an enticing story enhance the readers’ understanding of what is happening in their day-to-day lives. As a photojournalist, I strive to capture news, sports and entertainment events for the student body and will push to highlight events by showing the plethora of emotions events can bring out.  

I like to think that photographers are storytellers, and their photos are the story, from shooting crowd shots of fans cheering for a favorite player to an action shot of that same player scoring a touchdown – from getting a wide shot of graduates at the Don Haskins Center receiving their diploma, to a close-up of someone’s mother crying from seeing their daughter walk on stage. My goal for this semester is for The Prospector photography to encompass events in their entirety and immerse the reader in the event.  

I grew up with such a supportive family and followed in my father’s footsteps as a photographer. I started my journey in my sophomore year at Burges High School when I joined the same yearbook staff my father joined. I immediately fell in love with shooting and knew this was not something I wanted to keep just as a hobby, but instead make into a career. Going into my first semester at UTEP, I applied for a staff photographer position at The Prospector and am grateful to have experienced events such as Beto O’Rourke’s rally for governor, meeting Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, covering a WWE event and meeting Dolores Anguiano, one of UTEP’s oldest graduates.  

As the new photo editor, my goal for the semester is to not only take photos that will showcase momentous events to the readers, but to also provide a unique perspective and angles that people might not have experienced themselves. With the help of my photography team, I also plan for this semester’s photos to be more artistic when doing photo illustrations and capturing the emotion in events. 

As an editor, I plan to encourage an artistic environment where my photography staff can feel free to be as creative as they want with their photography. As for other staffers, I hope to inspire them to also experiment with photography as well and even get the courage to shoot events on their own. Along with providing new perspectives, I also plan to collaborate more with the reporters and editors so we can create more multimedia content and put out more videos that we can post on our website or put into The Prospector Podcast.  

I am extremely grateful for this amazing opportunity and could not have done it without the wonderful people in my life. I would like to thank my family and boyfriend for always being so supportive of my passion for photography and to Alberto Silva Fernandez, current Editor-in-Chief for showing me the ropes of what this position entails and for inspiring me to always push for the best work.  

I encourage everyone to tell more stories through the art of photography, and to photograph moments that may seem ordinary and mundane to give it a new perspective. 

You can reach me on Instagram @photographybyannabella or through email at [email protected]