【推荐1】I got my first job at 12, as a waitress. I learned more as a waitress than I ever did in a classroom. When I went on to college, it paid for tuition, housing and, eventually, a camera. It allowed me to free myself. But best of all, being a waitress taught me to quickly assess and understand all kinds of people. Making small talks and quickly putting people at ease are great training for journalism.

From the moment I picked up a camera, I was hooked. All I wanted to do was take pictures for the university newspaper. The week I finished college, I was hired by the Globe, a regional daily newspaper. The two-year experience that followed was like a master class in photojournalism. Among the most important things learned there was that if you can make friends with a shy Norwegian farmer and be invited to his kitchen table, you can probably do well in any culture on Earth.

It was while I was working at the Globe that I happened to answer the phone one morning, a man's voice said, "This is Bob Gilka, National Geographic. I need a hail（冰雹）damage picture. You got a big hailstorm last night?" I overcame my nervousness and responded "Yes, sir." Thus began one of the most important relationships of my life, with the legendary Director of Photography Bob Gilka.

Bob was looking for talented photographers to join his team, and he was not easily impressed. Praise from Bob meant as much to most photographers as a Pulitzer Prize. My little picture of hail damage luckily won it, making me the youngest photographer in National Geographic.

I am deeply grateful for the amazing lessons photography has taught me. I have learned that language isn't always necessary, but touch usually is; that all people are not alike, but they do mostly have the same hopes and fears; that judging others does great harm, but listening to them enriches; and that it is impossible to hate a group of people once you get to know one of them as an individual.