When someone asks me what my Harbinger position is I say I’m the Head Online Photo Editor. The question that always follows is, “So what do you do?”
My response: I don’t know.
The position was created by the editors last year just for me. This was the first time the photo editor position had two different categories, print and online.
The only responsibility I knew I would have was working with galleries– that’s what my editors told me when they gave me the position. It was up to me to decide what the rest of my duties would be.
I was spending hours in class helping staffers during class with one-on-one meetings and late texts and phone calls. But I still didn’t feel like I was pulling my weight as an editor.
I didn’t have to suffer trying to design the photostories, and I would give away my print and online assignments to staffers who were struggling to find credits.
I was spending so much time correcting mistakes in galleries, I began neglecting my duties as a photographer — oops. I only shot 20 galleries this year — 10 to 15 galleries less than my previous years on staff.
The whole reason I was given this position was because of my ability to post endless galleries and show up to any and all events to shoot. I would pull all-nighters every other night of the week just to get a gallery finished and posted in one day.
I honestly think I earned my position because my editors felt sorry for me because I gave up my social life in the name of posting galleries on time.
This year, I created a new way to track and organize galleries, defined the criteria for what makes a gallery good quality and created a multitude of resources to help staffers create their own galleries.
Harbinger gave me the chance to help people, share my passion for taking photos and make galleries with all of my photo babies. Now, every time I see a new gallery on the website, I feel like a proud mom.
I’m still not 100% sure what it means to be an online photo editor, but I am proud to say that I’m the first person to hold this position. The next online editor will continue to develop the position further and each editor after that will have a chance to leave a legacy for future harblings to follow.
The Harbinger wasn’t built overnight, and neither was this position.
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