Being kind to strangers
Treat others as you want others to treat you, the old saying goes. And that's fair enough. So when I was contacted by a man who recently moved to Wuhan who asked me to help him around a little bit if I had the opprtunity, I agreed. Because, who knows, maybe some day I will be new in a city and in need of help. Maybe the kind of help when I just need to meet someone to feel less alone and lost, rather than in need of practial help.
This man, Cesar is his name, turned out to be a former photo journalist, currently working at a regular photo studio in Wuhan. Furthermore, it turned out that he needed an assistant. As I told him that I wish to study journalism later on, he said: We should talk about this.
We met for lunch one day, and a couple of hours later I had a job. I told him that I have absolutely no photo experience, he said: You'll learn. I said I'm not fluent enough in Chinese to be a sufficient translator in every situation, he said: You will be. I asked how long period of time he will need me, he said: As long as you want.
I left with the feeling that he gave me this opportunity out of kindness, rather than that he really really needed an assistant. But none the less, I work about 20-30 hours a week. It's a Chinese company, so I get paied according to Chinese standards, and since I'm only working half-time, I only get paid half a Chinese slave wage. But I enjoy shooting with him, running around and fixing the light, and when we don't have any customers, he's teaching me how to shoot.
Cesar's a very nice person, and we work well together. This is a good experience for me, photographing is something I need to know when I work as a journalist. And hopefully it's a good thing to put on my CV when I start applying for journalist schools this coming winter. Perhaps the most important thing is that I finally feel like I've gotten started with it. I need more experience still, more jobs, more internships, things maybe more closely related to journalism. But I have started somewhere. I've felt so stuck and lost, having no clue where to begin looking for whatever it is I'm looking for. And then this job just found me. This is what I needed to understand how to go about this whole business.
Treat others as you want others to treat you. I guess it goes the other way around too, when someone have been good to you, you pass that on to the next person. I'll remember Cesar the day when someone completely unexperienced shows up and needs a showe in the right direction.
Alex
This man, Cesar is his name, turned out to be a former photo journalist, currently working at a regular photo studio in Wuhan. Furthermore, it turned out that he needed an assistant. As I told him that I wish to study journalism later on, he said: We should talk about this.
We met for lunch one day, and a couple of hours later I had a job. I told him that I have absolutely no photo experience, he said: You'll learn. I said I'm not fluent enough in Chinese to be a sufficient translator in every situation, he said: You will be. I asked how long period of time he will need me, he said: As long as you want.
I left with the feeling that he gave me this opportunity out of kindness, rather than that he really really needed an assistant. But none the less, I work about 20-30 hours a week. It's a Chinese company, so I get paied according to Chinese standards, and since I'm only working half-time, I only get paid half a Chinese slave wage. But I enjoy shooting with him, running around and fixing the light, and when we don't have any customers, he's teaching me how to shoot.
Cesar's a very nice person, and we work well together. This is a good experience for me, photographing is something I need to know when I work as a journalist. And hopefully it's a good thing to put on my CV when I start applying for journalist schools this coming winter. Perhaps the most important thing is that I finally feel like I've gotten started with it. I need more experience still, more jobs, more internships, things maybe more closely related to journalism. But I have started somewhere. I've felt so stuck and lost, having no clue where to begin looking for whatever it is I'm looking for. And then this job just found me. This is what I needed to understand how to go about this whole business.
Treat others as you want others to treat you. I guess it goes the other way around too, when someone have been good to you, you pass that on to the next person. I'll remember Cesar the day when someone completely unexperienced shows up and needs a showe in the right direction.
Alex