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The moment I pinpointed why my position at The Trib is precious came in a stranger's living room. I was spending an afternoon with Lenore Wolfe (above), a lifelong educator renowned for her work with children.

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The moment I pinpointed why my position at The Trib is precious came in a stranger's living room. I was spending an afternoon with Lenore Wolfe (above), a lifelong educator renowned for her work with children.

She invited me to sit in one of her cozy chairs and started to share stories from her life. In the quiet stillness of that living room, she dispensed her wisdom and effortlessly made sense of a question I have asked myself regularly over 16 years: "Why do I love this job so much?"

It's not because I get to take a whole lot of pictures. Photographing is in my DNA: I always have, I always will. What's special about my position as a journalist is that it grants me the privilege of learning from people. I'm ushered into events that I never would attend otherwise in my vanilla, 30-something life of a father. The job isn't glamorous, but it is fulfilling.

I have an excuse to meet anyone and to show others photos of what I've witnessed. I knock on a door and ask those inside to let me observe. I know how politicians act behind the scenes. I've been there as a newborn took her first breath and as a family watched their daughter take her last. I've met hundreds of kind people who make a difference in our community.

My camera is always on. But through this job, I have the pleasure of seeing things that would otherwise be closed to me.