Hey world! When I first heard
that we had to do a thousand-word blog post, I sighed and rolled my eyes
thinking that this was just going to be another pointless class requirement. However,
after the first few weeks of class and learning more about blogging, I realized
that this was a direct connection to my biggest passions in life, photography
and multimedia. I am going to be writing about how collaboration, both online
and in person, has made me the person who I strive to be.
Now, you might be thinking what collaboration even means
in the first place. Well, one thing that is important to understand is that “collaboration
requires goals” (Hyde et at., 2012). People often think that simply sharing something
on social media would constitute collaboration, but that is far from true. I think
collaboration should be for people who share common interests, engage with one
another, and share knowledge. One way in which I connect with collaboration in
person is through a club that I am actively involved in here at the University
of Arizona called Sports Marketing Association (SMA). SMA is a unique club that offers
individuals an opportunity to learn more about the sports industry by having
bi-weekly meetings with guest speakers who have had experience working in
sports. After meetings, there are opportunities to sign up to volunteer or network
in a variety of events, which all improve your knowledge and chance of getting
an internship in sports.
Image via Wikipedia Commons
Getting a job in sports is arguably the most difficult
career to get inside. I felt that there was one topic from class that closely
related to this idea. It was stated that “communities
of practice are groups of people who share a concern,
a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen
their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing
basis” (McDermott, Snyder, Wenger 2002). SMA is a club that fits this description
perfectly because everyone involved in it has a deep passion for sports. We can
learn so much valuable information from our guest speakers just by attending
meetings. Additionally, volunteering relates to deepening knowledge as well
because we get the opportunity for hands on experience that is impossible to
get elsewhere. Our club also offers networking trips that offer a great sense
of professional development and a way to build worthwhile connections. SMA is a
community of practice because they fill the void of making a job in sports
difficult to attain. Every member has the opportunity to use these incredible
resources to their advantage, and that is exactly what I chose to do. I had a
mission last year to get an internship in the sports industry, and it was
because of SMA that I could work towards that goal.
Image by Geralt via Pixabay
In the beginning of last
year, the board announced there was a new group to the club who would be known
as honorary members. The honorary works directly with the board members to
establish networking trips, meetings, guest speakers and much more. I applied
after putting in numerous hours to my resume and preparing for the interview. After
over twenty people applied, I was happy to hear that I would be one of six
people who would be an honorary member. I would work directly with the director
of marketing, a position I hoped to be on the board next year. It was fantastic
to see how everyone on the board collaborated with one another for things to
make the club run so smoothly. I helped with taking photographs at meetings and
events, designing the website, and creating social media posts. There was not
one task that did not better me as both a person and individual.
Image by kvrkchowdari via Pixabay
I signed up for almost
every volunteer opportunity that was available to get recognized and gain
experience. I finished as the top volunteer for the first semester, and got
second the second semester. At the end of the year, we had a panel discussion
and meeting to discuss internships for the upcoming year. After going around
all the tables, I was particularly impressed with one internship with a company
called IMG. Out of one hundred applicants, I got
the position to work with photography and social media! All my hard work had
begun to finally pay off, and I could not be happier. While in person
collaboration is a great method, I have also found that online collaboration
has helped developed my personal interests as well.
Image via Wikipedia Commons
As I said before,
photography and multimedia are two of my primary interests. I began it as a
hobby in high school, but I really started to pursue becoming better at taking
photos over the past year. I had become obsessed with doing whatever was
possible to be able to learn more about photography, social media, and
post-processing. That is when I discovered this
website. I could focus more and develop my skills to another level by
finding this unique source to collaborate with. The reason why I love
meetup.com so much is that I can personally select which themes interest me the
most. For example, I am in lots of different photography, editing and hiking
pages because those are the best way I can improve my skills. This freed up a
big problem that I was initially worried about when I first got serious about
photography. To get the shots I would want, I would have to have access to a
car to get places. With meetup, we arrange places that are easy to get to and
carpool to cool locations. I had always wanted to get complicated photographs
or time lapses, like the one in the video below, but I seriously did not really
know what I was doing.
I started to attend meetings hosted on the
website on everything from beginner courses to learn specific ideas about how
to photograph different subjects. Initially, I was not so sure about meeting a
bunch of strangers from the internet, but there was more to it than that. We all
shared a common interest and I thought that was more important than anything. I
became more and more skilled by engaging with other members that had similar
goals as I did. My goal was revolved around a few different things, but the
main thing was to become better at photography. After attending about four to
five meetings, I was ready to get started on photographing the diverse beauty
that Arizona offers. In a matter of months, my social media drastically
improved. I went from forty followers on Instagram to having over five thousand
in roughly five months. As a result, my passion for photography has gotten me
to many places. I have been all over Arizona, Utah, California, and I have
plans to continue traveling throughout this year. After working in photography
and multimedia all summer, I went all in on improving my photography once
again. I bought a new camera (pictured below) and a new drone (also pictured
below the camera). I love everything about collaboration because it has been
the focus of both my personal interests and work career. If it were not for
these two forms of collaboration, I do not know where I would be in life, seriously.
Everyone can continue to follow up on my story by checking out my Instagram! Thank you for
taking the time to read my story and I hope to continue my travels this year! Stay
tuned…
Image via Wikipedia Commons
Image via Wikipedia Commons
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