Millions of years ago, dinosaurs ruled the Earth.
But without social media and video games, they were eventually replaced by humans who, with said inventions, messed up the planet worse than dinosaurs ever could.
I bring this up because many things in life don’t seem to go so well, including my decision freshman year to be a food science major, only to later be met with the Grim Reaper that is CHEM 110, which forced my decision to change majors.
The switch from food science to photojournalism was obvious; I spent my entire childhood pestering my parents about how I wanted to be a journalist like my uncle.
Uncle Joey wrote a column, “Queen’s Queens,” that had become regular reading fodder from my Uncle Alan growing up. Photography had been an ongoing hobby, whether in my free time on my phone, shooting film back home in New York City or away in London. I had gotten an eye for it in high school, thanks to my baseball coach and first photography mentor, Bryan Ciminelli.
Joey Klein poses for a photo with Alex Achmiz and Caleb Soi on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023, in Altoona, Pa.
Courtesy of Joey Klein
Plus, entering the major junior year wasn’t all that bad, even though I was in a completely new environment and now two years behind the other photojournalism classmates, skill-wise.
I centered myself on one objective: catch up. With the help of everyone around me, I can confidently say I did, now having one of the top student awards in the topic.
It’s now time to leave and enter the “real world,” but these past two years were some of the best I’ve lived and I would never trade them.
Through my experiences, I’ve realized that I do have some mantras I use to push through even the most grueling insanity in college. Here are some of the ones that helped me, whether it be with a press pass or not.
Tip 1: Love what you do. If your heart truly is not intimate with it, it may not be for you.
Tip 2: Always push for access, even if you don’t think you will get it. Growing up, my parents always told me to ask again or ask someone else after being rejected, because you never know what’ll happen the second time.
Joey Klein poses for a photo with Alex Achmiz and Caleb Soi on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023, in Altoona, Pa.
Courtesy of Joey Klein
My junior year, I got turned down by every equipment desk on campus for renting a camera, until I asked Professor John Pendygraft after my first photo night, an event the photojournalism community has to get together, bond and learn. After hearing my story, he helped me in many ways to create my first photojournalistic portfolio, which allowed me to join the Collegian.
Tip 3: Always ask questions; too many are better than none. My first photo editors, Kate (Photo Goat) Hildebrand and Chris (Big Dawg) Eutsler, know this better than anyone. Even if it’s a small question that you think is inconsequential, such as reviewing a caption that you’ve written a million times before. In the long run, ensuring you follow the proper procedure is better than getting fired.
Tip 4: Don’t stay in your own comfort zone; get out of your lane. At the end of my junior year, I had decided to create a cooking column, which was insanely hard for someone who sucks at writing. Luckily, thanks to fate, I was able to meet Professor Walter Middlebrook, previously my uncle’s editor at Newsday, who ended up becoming what I think my uncle would have been had he been alive.
Joey Klein poses for a selfie with Malcolm Todd and Laundry Day at Champs Downtown on Wednesday, March 25, 2026, in State College, Pa.
Courtesy of Joey Klein
I say this with utmost honesty, but since my initial meeting with him, I have never seen so much red pen ink on paper. But thanks to him, “Klein’s Kitchen” turned out to be something I sincerely enjoyed creating both as a photographer and now as a writer.
Tip 5: Play and have fun! This is a lesson I learned in a high school film class, but it has shaped the way I approach everything. There’s no improvement without experimentation, but there is no experimentation without playing. The chocolate lava cake was created by a chef who was playing with chocolate sponge cakes, and both of the awards I have won in the past four years have been the result of projects that I played with nonstop.
Joey Klein poses with Kate Hildebrand at the top of Beaver Stadium during the Penn State football White Out game against the Oregon Ducks on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, in University Park, Pa.
Courtesy of Joey Klein
Tip 6: The only person you need to compete with is yourself. I spent the past two years looking at photographers like Alex (The Wizard) Antoniono, Nia (Master Class) Meyers and Esteban (The Goat) Marenco, whom I had only dreamed of being as good as. After spending time with the three of them during the Mountain Workshops in Kentucky, we had created friendly nicknames for one another. I realized that there’s no need for competition with others. The only individual who holds you back from being as good as they are is the past version of you.
Tip 7: Don’t let others shape you. Many people over the years have argued that I may not be cut out for photojournalism and that I should consider different careers. I took the criticisms and threw them back in their faces. People hate because they don’t want you to succeed, but when you do succeed, they don’t have room to hate.
Joey Klein watches Instagram Reels with Chris Eustler as the Penn State football team loses to UCLA on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in State College, Pa.
Courtesy of Joey Klein
Final Tip: Put your head down and run. My favorite comic superhero was Barry Allen’s Flash. I loved him specifically for one reason: He puts his head down and gives everything he has into whatever he is doing. I tend to come off as very vibrant and fast-paced, especially since I speak with a New Yorker’s pace. But, if you put 100% into everything you do, there’s nothing you can’t do, even if you tear your labrum!
Anyways, the actual point of making my way through college after switching majors went really well, and there were no real hassles in making my way from Point A to Point B because my siblings, Bubby and Alexis, as well as my parents, had my back through the entire ride.
Joey Klein poses for a photo with Brandon (Bubby) Klein during the Penn State football game against the Maryland Terrapins in Beaver Stadium on Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2022, in State College, Pa.
Courtesy of Joey Klein
To Zach Karpf, Caleb Craig, Sammy Oropeza, Aayan Hamdani, Alex Achmiz, Dustin Danckwerth, Madelyn Collelo, Rylee Weaver, Craig Dixon, William Yeh, Young Nam, Caleb Soi, everyone I have mentioned previously, as well as the many staffers I’ve had the pleasure to sit with at “The Table.”
And finally, to The Daily Collegian.
Thank you for allowing me to realize my end-of-sophomore-year switch to photojournalism was the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
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My life is straight out of Dr. Seuss’ book, “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!”
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