"A picture is worth a thousand words." The cliché couldn't be more wrong.

In journalism, we always say that faces are the core of photography. The faces of despair and triumph at a sports match. The faces of fury and defiance at a demonstration. The faces of joy and celebration at a school spirit event. Faces are what make photojournalism, photojournalism. As photographers, we duck and dash to capture those faces.

But when I capture a face, I don't imagine a thousand words. A thousand words are nothing; that's a few pages, a routine English class paper, your typical science lab report. When I capture a face, I want to write a book about it: every little detail, the person's motivation and purpose, the encounters and experiences that brought them to this moment. Those life stories are why faces make photojournalism. Every scar and wrinkle, every twinkle in the eye: all of it tells a story so long it rivals the encyclopedia. 

I've always loved photojournalism, and I've long worked at honing my skills – but during my junior year, I found new opportunities. This year, as I served as the News Editor of my newspaper, and eventually Editor-in-Chief; I took on new challenges with my camera and sought out many new opportunities to take shots. In part, this was because we simply had more demand for photos to accompany stories; we had more writers on staff who needed more shots for their stories, and more events on and off campus called for student journalists to fill in as photographers. I jumped at these chances to cover sports, performing arts, school events, and events around the community that played out in a charged political climate. My primary goal? To capture the faces of my school, my community, and my city.

I've benefited from the mentorship of my editors and advisor over the years, who have taught me a lot about composition, lighting, and timing.  But there's only so much one can learn about photography in the classroom. Ultimately, you have to go out and do it. It seemed that every week this year I found myself at Denver's Capitol Hill, the school auditorium, or sprinting around campus or between athletic venues to find new shots and tell more stories through new faces. 

It is an absolute joy to work with my staff. Regardless of accolades, we have all developed so much as people and journalists. Each day my fellow staff members challenge me to perfect my craft. They each bring their own skills to the table, from artists to videographers to writers. Journalism has many parts, and photography complements the other instruments that allow us to tell our stories.

I spend a lot of time writing, and a lot of time photographing, and I appreciate the distinctive vantage points I gained as a photographer. Getting the chance to climb the stairs to a press box way up high to photograph a playoff hockey game, or covering the streets of downtown, kneeling and running to snap the best shots makes me remember each day how grateful I am to have the privilege to capture such complex stories – the stories that reside in every face.