CHICAGO — After graduating from high school in Wisconsin, Alex Wroblewski ventured to Los Angeles with hopes of becoming a professional skateboarder.
But he soon took a liking to photographing and videotaping the skaters instead, and that passion eventually led him to enroll at Columbia College Chicago as a journalism major in 2013.
Three years later, Wroblewski, 28 of Rogers Park, has been named Student Still Photographer of the Year by the White House News Photographers Association for his work locally and overseas, including a one-month stint photographing an anti-ISIS militia group in Iraq.
"To be recognized by the White House, I never thought I'd be in this spot, or at least this soon," said Wroblewski, who also has lived in Hyde Park. "This is pretty cool, I'd have to say. I'm glad being a skateboarder didn't work out."
This year Wroblewski will become the first member of his family to earn a bachelor's degree. His untraditional path to college included a multi-year stint as a truck driver who delivered metal engineering parts to companies in Wisconsin and Illinois; in his off time, he served as a freelance photographer for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Since arriving in Chicago, he's freelanced for several publications, including his project in Iraq for Mashable. He documented the militia group during a study abroad semester in Turkey, leaving Instanbul for a month to go to Iraq.
"It's a dangerous country to work in as a journalist," Wroblewski said. "Journalists are walking bags of money, in terms of ransom and as far as being a propaganda value to groups like ISIS."
Wroblewski said he learned his work ethic from his parents: Dennis, a 40-year factory worker; and, Theresa, a pharmacist's technician who died last year after an 8½-year battle with breast cancer. He said his mom was always supportive of his photography career, even during its beginning stages.
"She was convinced I would find a job at a magazine," Wroblewski said.
After graduating from Columbia College, Wroblewski will head to New York City for a 10-week photo internship with the New York Times.
After that, he said, it's "wherever I get the work."
"I enjoy shooting just about anything," he said. "Whatever gets me out taking pictures. Wherever the story is at."
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