A Memo -

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been an extremely passionate person with any activity or scenario life brings me. Whether it’s learning more about Christianity in required religion class, giving a speech in my required speech class, or speaking spanish in my required spanish class. You’re probably noticing a pattern here - requirement. While I’ve always been a passionate person, I’ve also been a directionless one. In fact, I came to St. Edwards University as the only undecided person in the whole grade. I knew something needed to change, and I went about it in a very painful way. In my first semester of freshman year, I joined a total of 10 clubs. Radio, Climbing, Chess, and Gardening just to name a few. I even signed up at a local boxing gym. It was all good, and I gave everything I joined 100%, but I still had yet to find something I could dedicate my life to. Not only was this process draining, but it caused lots of suffering academically. While I was enjoying my time in college, nothing really stuck, and my busy schedule was causing me to lose friends. In those rare days where I didn’t have any club meetings or classes scheduled, it felt like something was missing. On one of these rare days, I decided to go to a concert for an artist I had only known one song for. That concert ended up changing my life completely.

I showed up pretty early and was right in the front. The opener brought me on stage, the headliner sang the one song I knew with me. It’s not an exaggeration to say it was the best night of my life. That being said, despite being front and center, there was one person ahead of me. The concert photographer. Not only did they get to experience that with me, but they got to experience that moment every night, and were even able to capture it. After that night, the next day I pulled out my savings and bought camera equipment right away. I began sneaking my camera into big shows, then advertising to smaller ones that I had shot for the big ones. Everyone’s gotta start somewhere, right? Since that night, not only have I not paid for a single concert, but I’ve found purpose. Purpose in music. Purpose in photography. Purpose in that moment when your favorite song comes on, and capturing that moment so other people can look back on it. I’ve since picked up fashion photography, even leading multiple photo departments for clubs. Believe it or not, every Tuesday and Thursday I sneak into UT to lead meetings for aspiring photographers, guiding them on how to start their journey, and even reaching out to brands for press passes and sponsorships to fund photoshoots. I’ve helped get paid press passes for things such as West Fest, and King Gizzard and the Lizard wizards stadium show.

All that being said, I still have the same busy schedule. I still have my plot in the garden, and I’m even a coach on the climbing team! I’ve also found the right major for me… being photography. Surprising, right? At the end of the day, I truly believe that if you keep looking anyone can find purpose. Something I’ve come to believe from that required religion class is that everyone was put here for a reason. It’s up to you to find yours.

With love,

Cosmo Jannotta, 11/01/2025