You might know him as the pizza delivery guy, but working at Domino’s is merely what Morgan Genser does when he’s not out on assignment. His career goal is to become a sports photojournalist and the 31-year-old Palisades native took a step in that direction last weekend when he finished second in the mail-in sports photo category and received honorable mention for on-the-spot sports photography at last weekend’s 50th annual Journalism Association of Community Colleges conference in Sacramento. This year was the third time Genser submitted entries to the annual contest, but this is the first time he left with a plaque. In fact, he left with two. ‘I was surprised,’ Genser admits. ‘And then they called my name again later. A classmate of mine took a picture of me with my awards afterwards and let me tell you, I’ve never smiled for so long in my life.’ Despite having earned his associate’s degree in computers at Los Angeles Trade Tech, Genser enrolled at Santa Monica College two years ago to gain experienceand his perseverance is paying off. Gessner first became interested in photography while training to be a computer programmer. He photographed a traffic accident several years ago and Palisadian-Post managing editor Bill Bruns published several of his pictures in that week’s issue of the Post. From then on, Genser was hooked. ‘Ever since then, I’ve known this is what I want to do,’ says Genser, whose work was judged by professional media members. ‘Winning these awards is a big deal for me because I was up against peers from 60 other colleges in California.’ Both of Genser’s winning photos were of college soccer, one of Genser’s sports beats at SMC’s weekly student newspaper, The Corsair: ‘I love shooting sports, but I’m open to whatever comes my way.’
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