A Semester Full of Passion

There is no doubt about it - this has been a crazy semester. Returning to campus after over a year of being online, having actual human interaction, and being forced to travel to get to class have all made the past few months very busy.

But, I wouldn't trade these experiences for anything. I have discovered so much about myself and what my passions are, and I've continued to explore and pursue previous passions.

Discovering New Passions

I never thought that I would be interested in video production, but after taking an introductory class, I quickly realized it is something I want to pursue for the rest of my college career.

The entire process excites me - shooting the video, meticulously editing the clips, having a final product, and showing it to my friends for us to enjoy. I will be taking a video storytelling course next semester, and I am looking forward to learning how to further edit videos and tell a story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpAVVNcRGo8

Video production is so fun to me that I have recently been watching many tutorials on how to improve my video editing, including this video by one of my favorite YouTubers, Peter McKinnon.

My favorite part of video production is indeed editing because it allows me to be a perfectionist and tell a story the way I think it should be told. Even though editing is complicated, I truly believe it is a lot of fun.

The above video is a news piece I created about my good friend Sarah Solver's favorite places on Loyola's Lake Shore Campus, and I am really proud of how it turned out.

A still photo I took of a blue jay in my backyard.

Next, I also discovered my passion for photography through my technology for journalists class. We had a unit on still photography using a DSLR, and because of that work, I bought my own DSLR camera.

Sadly, I have not been able to use it as much as I would like, but it has been a lot of fun going out to take pictures whenever I'm able to.

I will also be taking a photojournalism class next semester along with video storytelling, and I cannot wait. I am interested in learning how to really tell stories through photography, and it will be nice to have an official academic reason to go out and and take some pictures.

I took this photo a couple of weeks after I got my DSLR. It was definitely not easy keeping the camera still, but I am proud of how it turned out.

Keeping Old Passions Alive

Video games have been one of my biggest passions for as long as I can remember. Even though this blog was largely about technology, a few of the posts discussed video games and pretty much my entire Twitter account was dedicated to them.

https://soundcloud.com/ethan-roberts-123152610/playstation-5-the-highs-and-lows-with-jimmy-lynch

A few of my class projects were related to video games as well, including an audio wrap I did with my roommate, Jimmy Lynch, about the PlayStation 5. This audio wrap was fun to compile, and I am especially proud of my final narration with the natural sound of turning on a PS5.

I also decided to make an infographic about the popularity of the PlayStation consoles, and it was very interesting to see how many millions of people have used a PlayStation in the past few years.

This is the infographic I made about the PlayStation. I still can't believe over 20 million copies of "Marvel's Spider-Man" were sold.

Additionally, since I have played video games for such a long time and because I really enjoyed keeping this technology blog, I decided to take this passion to the next level and write for a video games news website, "App Trigger."

My favorite article I have written for "App Trigger" is a review of a new game called "Solar Ash." I spent a lot of time playing through the game, thinking of ideas to write about for the review, and putting it all together. This was my first time writing an official game review, and I believe I succeeded at it.

Finally, one of my favorite blog posts to write was "The Power of Twitter," in which I talk about video game developers and companies responding to me on the platform. It is always incredible to receive these responses, and, just recently, Drew Harwell of "The Washington Post" liked my tweet promoting his article about a Twitch streamer.

Video games have truly affected my life in so many positive ways, and I have loved exploring this passion even further this semester.

Final Thoughts

It would not be an overstatement to say that this semester has changed my life. I have discovered new passions that I truly believe I want to explore as future careers, and it has been incredible to take steps to further advance my passion for video games in the professional world.

Even though I will need a lot of rest over the coming break to recover from this semester, I had a great time and am truly sad to see it come to an end.