At the Winter Olympics this year, I added a new title to my reporting job: credentialed photographer.

• 🇮🇹 The big picture: The gig gave me a literal front-row seat to history in Milan. Covering my third Olympics for Axios, it also dealt me a learning curve I had to navigate for more events than in past years.

🎥 Armed with some of the best gear on earth, I still felt like a novice — fumbling the focus, missing split-second moments, wondering if I was in over my head.

The surprise: The photographers around me were generous and encouraging, offering tips between plays.

• "You learn every time you pick up a camera," New York Times photographer Doug Mills told me as we shot side-by-side at the women's hockey bronze medal game. Like me, he was using the Olympics as a chance to step outside of his usual beat covering the White House.

🫶 Between the lines: What stayed with me the most weren't just the action shots I did or didn't get, or even the medal ceremonies, but rather the very human moments that came just after the formal festivities wrapped up.

• There were the expected scenes: flags draped over shoulders, selfies, athletes goofing off on the ice.
• But there were also quieter, unscripted ones, as athletes rushed to the stands to share the moments with family and friends.

Standing there with a camera, I realized the lessons weren't just about photography. They were about life.

My advice after the experience:

1. 🧪 Experiment.

• I tried different sports, lenses and angles whenever I could — a fisheye lens for players crashing into the boards; a giant zoom that required a monopod; shooting from ice level and from high in the stands.
• At hockey, the spot behind the net was thrilling — and occasionally put me on TV — but I eventually learned the side angle worked better for me. Trying things is the only way to find your lane.

2. 🎯 Go all in.

• I couldn't be everywhere. I chose short-track speed skating over a men's hockey quarterfinal that turned into an overtime thriller.
• The lesson: Embrace the moment you're in, not the one you might be missing — whether it's an event, a job or simply the seat you've got.

3. 🧠 Stay curious.

• Each day I tried to identify the one thing holding me back.
• Often, it was something simple — a technical setting I still didn't fully understand, even after owning the camera for a year. Progress came from asking for help, not pretending I had the answers.

4. 💪 Don't give up.

• Missed shots happen. The bigger mistake was dwelling on them long enough to miss the next opportunity.

✨ The bottom line: I came to Milan to write about the Olympics. I left reminded that starting something new — even in the middle of a career — is uncomfortable, humbling and deeply rewarding.

• Sometimes the best lessons aren't in the story you're covering, but in the way you choose to see it.

Go deeper: Photo gallery courtesy of Ina

🎿 A man cross-country skiing through Central Park yesterday after a historic blizzard dumped up to 30 inches of snow on parts of New York City.