Moseman, from Bloomington, IN., developed an interest in photography during high school and continued that interest as a photographer for the Bachelor. But he had experiences along the way that helped shape his career thoughts.

He participated in the Present Indiana program during the summer of 2008

Moseman ended up doing a photo project about the Hoosier state. One of the defining experiences was a day spent with an Indianapolis Star photographer.

“I spent a day with Matt Detrich,” Moseman recalled. “I think it was helpful to see him do something that was an everyday activity. We went to a grocery store and he photographed a lady shopping for a story about rising food costs. I got more out of that seeing how you have to take something that is an everyday normal thing that you’d never think of taking pictures of and make it interesting. That was very helpful to see how he used lighting and how he thought ahead so quickly. I’m now trying to do that and I’m getting better.”

Moseman shot regularly for the Bachelor throughout his sophomore year then was working toward a summer internship in Indianapolis when he learned about an opportunity with the Dubois County Bombers baseball team in Huntingburg, Indiana. He applied and landed a job as the team’s photographer.

“I learned a lot about marketing and sales and how photography and images work into that,” he said. “Seeing how my pictures fit into the marketing plan or advertising has been interesting. There sometimes is a stigma about photography being artsy and sometimes it’s not functional and that experience really helped me to see how to shoot things in a functional way.

“I think about that when shooting a game.  ‘How is this going to work? How am I going to use this in some way to help the team?’  I was always thinking to take pictures of fans having fun or little kids at the park, grandfathers and their granddaughters and things like that.

“It helped me see things a different way. I learned a lot about sales and promotions. It was really interesting to see a team from the business side and not just the sports side. I’ve always been involved playing teams.  I’ve never thought of a sports team as a product as did do there.”

He also expanded his skills in layout and design and using his photo to create promotional materials for the team. Alex explains his other duties in the video clip.

 

Moseman credits the summer experience to his varied interests at Wabash. He not only is a photographer but track and field athlete.

“I’m still a political science major,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s better or worse that Wabash doesn’t have a journalism program because I think it forces you to be involved. You get a lot of good experience by writing or shooting for the website, the Bachelor. That’s where it translates into being able to get an internship like I had.

“I don’t know if that bodes well for me going to graduate school but I definitely have thought about photography much more seriously now. Maybe I’ll go to grad school for photography and maybe this is what I want to do.”

The path that led him to photography and the summer job was fun. That fun has Moseman pondering his future.

“I was surprised by my own energy level and excitement for the job,” he admitted. “I’ve never been a big people person, but when you’re at the ballpark every day you have to be. So my ability to interact with people has gotten a lot better. My ability to be motivated and energetic all the time surprised me. I thought working 10-12 hours a day, every day was going to run me down. I felt fine. I really looked forward to coming to the ballpark. I thought it would be more of a grind but it was a lot of fun.”