By John Hagen, CQS ‘99

In a crazy move, I decided three years ago to leave my post as a newspaper photojournalist and try to sell my work on a free-lance basis. It was a blessing and a curse.

The blessing was that I left my post before any layoffs were threatened. I never had to go to work with the fear that it would be my last day in the newsroom.

The curse was that I stepped into a competitive market that steadily got more competitive. Free-lance work was good to start off with, but my news-based client list slowly shriveled.

I realized that I had thrived better in a newsroom environment than a free-lance environment. I tried to get a job as a newspaper photojournalist and found that the market had changed. Newspapers were calling for multimedia skills that I lacked.

I made it to the final round of several newspaper hiring calls. But I didn’t land the jobs. The reason: The chosen candidates had more multimedia experience than I did, I was told.

I heard that line for the final time last fall. I decided it was time to teach this old dog some new tricks.

I enrolled in the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, N.M., in the program in new media arts. I hope to finish with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts. I am excited to learn about new ways of telling stories.

I wish I had known more about basic business before I embarked on my free-lance career. I also wish I had known more about multimedia.

But any ride I would have had at a newspaper would have been short-lived. All but one of the papers I had my name in the hat for ended up laying off the shooter who got job.

I still do free-lance photo work, but my studies are a priority now. I don’t know what my next trick will be after two years.

Looking back, I see that it has been a helluva ride. I am sure it will continue.

John Hagen is a free-lance photographer. Previously he was a photographer for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in Alaska for six years. A graduate of the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, he was a Summer 1999 Chips Quinn Scholar at the Statesman Journal in Salem, Ore.