My name is Shayna Ede, a current sophomore at Fort Hays State University. I come from a very small town in southern Colorado where I lived for 19 years before coming to Hays. In Colorado, I was enjoying working on the family ranch and helping my father with horses and cattle. When it comes to free time, I enjoy relaxing outside, reading good books, and socializing with friends.
In high school I was very involved with band, so much that I came to FHSU to be a music education major and play in the marching band. However, I quickly found out that teaching band is not for everyone, so I decided to make the switch to journalism. In the future I would like to be involved with photojournalism. My lifelong goal (that I have had since I was around 12) is to get a photo and article into National Geographic Magazine. It may be a bit of a reach but maybe with a lot of hard work I can get there!
Living in the middle of nowhere Colorado (literally, I had 0 neighbors and had to drive 35 miles to get to school) I never really paid attention to anything except agriculture news, because nothing else really affected me. Now that I have moved to Hays I have started paying attention a little more, so that I can really get in on the world’s issues. I often see news articles of social media (I know, not the best source) and when I find an article I enjoy I do more research on the topic.
Here are some of my favorite pictures, I hope to take pictures like this for other cowboy and western magazines and newspapers!
That’s such an awesome career goal, let’s make it happen! Step One, what do you know about National Geographic and what it expects? 😉
Small towns are interesting. I enjoyed living in Glendale Springs, it was beautiful. But, the Wikipedia entry doesn’t even bother to mention population. I heard there were 100 addresses in the town, and the population doubled in the summer when the campers came to Racoon Holler.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glendale_Springs,_North_Carolina
http://raccoonholler.com/
Shayna, those are great photos. Keep at it. Your goal is doable.
Here’s a Hays High grad who went on to become a Nat Geo photographer: https://www.hdnews.net/news/20200527/soldiers-of-wwii. And here’s another who was from a small town in Nebraska, worked at the Wichita Eagle here in Kansas, and became a Nat Geo photographer: https://www.joelsartore.com/
Your ag background in the American west gives you a unique and valuable perspective, as well as an insider’s contacts into that world. Good luck with your dream! — Margaret