Year 13 Student, Usman M. – who writes about his passion for photography
POST BY: Year 13 Student, Usman M. – who writes about his passion for photography
I’ve always enjoyed photography because I get to capture moments that serve as memories for me, whether it’s holidays, a birthday celebration or any other special occasion with my friends and family. However, I wanted to get more involved in photography by taking more candid photos of people during events. Eventually, my passion for photography evolved after taking the opportunity to be involved in covering events that the BSN Media Crew is involved in. Not only have I improved my photography skills but I have also learned some new media-related skills.
During this enjoyable and welcoming event, I took photos of the various stalls and uploaded them on the fair’s twitter page. This was my first time using Twitter and I have learnt how useful it is for the purpose promotion.
After this event, I volunteered to take photos at the BSN Green Day, International Festival, Summer Festival, Sports Day and the open day of the Organisation of the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). During these events, I took more candid photos of people and my photography skills would improve after every event as I was getting used to taking these photos.
I think taking photos during Sports Day has been the most challenging for me as I had to take photos of people doing sports and that required a lot of precision. However, most of the photos did turn out to be great and I was pleased with them as I never did something like that.
Finally, one of my best experiences -perhaps the best one yet at the BSN- was attending The Hague International Model United Nations (THIMUN) 2017 conference as part of their online press team called MUNITY Online. In order to be chosen, I had to write a letter of motivation and submit a portfolio of captured photos. Perhaps being selected for this team is one of my greatest achievements – as only 5 students from around 200 schools located in countries as far apart as Norway, Australia, China and Ecuador are selected to be members of this team.
Having attended THIMUN last year and various other MUN conferences in the past two and a half years as a delegate; knowing how the media teams in those MUN conferences function; and possessing experience in journalism from the event opportunities provided by the BSN, I felt I was eligible for the MUNITY Online team this year.
In addition to taking photos, I was assigned with the rest of the MUNITY Online team to make videos that cover 
all aspects of the conference, which included carrying out interviews, taking photos and posting the videos on our website, Facebook page and YouTube channel. I learned a lot of new video editing skills and techniques from my fellow team members that helped me substantially in creating good videos. The best part of my role was that I had the honour of interviewing the Deputy Director of Europol, where I was able to ask him important questions such as the aims of the organisation, how they relate to the theme of this year’s conference theme of ‘Boarders in a Globalised World’ and the toughest challenges that he faced with his role alongside the rest of the organisation. My other favourite part of this role was being granted access to all of the committee rooms and taking photos, especially of my friends who were delegates, and documenting the debates.
I applied to be member of this team because I not only wanted to fuel my passion for photography but I also wanted to show BSN students, as well as the rest of the outside world not involved, how THIMUN truly is, how it helps participants to develop skills that they will use to solve current and potential world issues and the grave urgency of solving them before more innocent people are caught in the crossfire.
I highly recommend BSN students who have not yet attended THIMUN to view the work done by the MUNITY Online Press Team and learn the importance of their roles – whether it is that of a delegate, administrative staff, Student Officer, or any other role, and fully immerse themselves in this important and exciting global event.
Getting myself involved in covering these events, I now have an idea of what I want to do in the future. For university, I want to do Business Management or Business Administration and I have taken a very keen interest in pursuing the marketing and promotional aspect of those degrees in depth.
