A lot can happen in a year. I’m not writing this to explain everything that happened over the course of the past year, that would take way too long and be way too pointless. However, there is one thing in particular that means a lot to me. A year ago today, I won a photo contest for USF. The rules were simple: take a cool back to school picture and you might win an iPad. Long story short, even after a little bit of rule bending from other contestants, I ended up winning the contest and the oh so beloved iPad. Little did I know, that wasn’t even the best thing about taking part in the contest.

Stephon Nettles serving looks in the contest winning photo

Honestly, a photo contest really shouldn’t change someone’s life the way that it changed mine. Just a few weeks ago, USF actually ended up hiring me to take photos for some of their marketing because of the photos from last year’s contest. Cool stuff. Again, not even the best part.

Photography has opened so many doors for me, all of which I’ll eventually explain later down the road. Everything about this photo contest worked out perfectly. Here’s why. First of all, even just going to school in San Francisco and staying local gave me the chance to actually know some people who were going to the same school as me. One of those people I’ve known for years and now consider a brother: Stephon Nettles. He’s really one of the people that I know is rocking with me with anything that I do and definitely one of the best people I know. Being that he always supported everything that I did, I figured I would ask him to model for me for the photo contest. As the contest went on, there were tons of people supporting me, reposting the photo, etc. All of that meant the world to me. As I stated above, I ended up winning the contest. What I didn’t mention above is how I REALLY won the contest. Sure, I won the contest, the iPad, some USF apparel. But how I really won was definitely super unexpected.

CJ and I in the middle of nowhere on our cruise to Mexico with my family

Crystalin Jade. Without this contest, I actually may not have met my girlfriend by now. See, I stayed in San Francisco and worked with Stephon on this photo. Those are two of the most important decisions I made without actually even knowing it. CJ is actually Stephon’s girlfriend’s cousin. So, when everyone was reposting the picture, CJ was one of the people supporting. Out of curiosity as to who was liking the photo, I was scrolling the list. One person out of the hundreds that liked the photo stood out. I know, it’s weird that it wasn’t even in person or anything. Let’s just say, a couple months later, Jsquared used slide and it was super effective in the DMs. Saving that one for another time. That’s really what the best part of the photo contest was and all of the logistics of it just worked out and lined up perfectly. Like I said, a photo contest really changed my life more than a photo contest should really change anybody’s life, but I’m not complaining.

- JSquared

Journal

When Stars Align