* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
By Carlos Barria
A few weeks ago, as part of Thomson Reuters Global Journalism program, I was asked to help teach a week-long photojournalism course at Beijing's prestigious Tsinghua university, along with Greater China Chief photographer Petar Kujundzic and Greater China editor Barry Huang.
Although I've given talks on photography, this was my first time teaching at a university. It's unfamiliar terrain for me. I didn't attend university myself. Right after high school I started to work as a photographer at a local newspaper in my hometown. I have to confess I regret the missed opportunity, and I have great admiration for higher education. In fact, I hope one day I will have the chance and the time to go to college.
The participants on the Thomson Reuters programme came from different backgrounds and jobs. There were newspaper editors and professional photographers from some of China's biggest media.
One of the principal objectives of this program is to share Reuters values with students, as pertains to journalist ethics and principles, image manipulation, as well as explaining Reuters technology, how we plan coverage and how we edit stories.
Students had the opportunity to edit raw material from stories shot by Reuters photographers, including photographs from a night patrol operation in Afghanistan, and also to use technology like Paneikon editing software. As a final exercise, students photographed their own stories and edited them in groups.
I was personally impressed with the quality of the photography we saw, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to meet young Chinese talents who are telling their story to the rest of the world.
And it was nice, finally, to go to university, although maybe it wasn't the traditional route.
