Hi Everyone,
Okay I have fallen into the world of twitter and it is awesome. I will be posting photos and status updates on it. For example; when I am on different shoots and trips. So if you want to follow me click the link below and add me. Hope you are all having a great Sunday!
First off, I am an Aggie and I am proudest member of my class. With that being said I thoroughly enjoy watching a certain school in Austin lose. But as my mom has said recently, “One person who has made it easier to come closer to tolerating the Longhorns has been Colt McCoy.” I’ve heard stories about this guy and I know he came from a small town and that he lead his team to the national championship. His accomplishments are endless and well deserved. But this is not why I am writing about him. I am writing because a few weeks ago I saw a man get hurt during the biggest game of his current career and stand on the sidelines as his team lost the national championship.
A reporter went up to him after the game and asked him about his situation only to receive a silence. Colt didn’t know what to say. After waiting for a few seconds he congratulated Alabama and then proceeded to claim his faith in God, saying that He was in control and that He has a plan for him. I immediately put myself into his shoes and pretended to be in that situation. I love the Lord with all my heart, I truly yearn to be closer to Him but what Colt did on national TV was not easy to say. In the face of uncertainty he put his faith in Christ, something I pray to God I can do as well. Colt, thank you for being a role model, thank you for your boldness in your faith.
Also, Colt earlier this year was asked to be on “I am Second”. Colt is a role model; start this video to hear him speak his heart.
The photo from at the top I took after the A&M game against t.u. in Kyle Field this year. I ran to the middle of the field and snagged a shot of Jerrod and Colt together and then decided to keep following Colt. He stopped in front his fans and sang their fight song with the band. I really like how the shot turned out but decided that it was of no use in Aggieland until Colt got interviewed after the national championship.
This last Friday I had the absolute joy of revisiting the Dallas World Aquarium. Its located in an old warehouse in downtown Dallas near the arts district and if YOU havent been there it is well worth the money. One of the reasons I went to the DWA was to hangout with a few members in Brotherhood of Christian Aggies.
The moment we stepped into the building warm air hit my skin and I started to hear noises unfamiliar to the Texas. Chirps, rattles and water rushing. We made our way upstairs and walked through a hallway which opened up to a rain forest. The first thing I saw was three story waterfall. We walked in amazed and trying to capture everything with our eyes. Some of the animals were behind glass and some were literally flying around or hanging around. We walked and saw many animals some underwater some on land.
Amy, my sister, read that they were going to start feeding the sharks in the Mundo Mayan exhibit. So needles to say we all started rushing to the underwater glass shark tunnel. We made our way into the tunnel only to find that we had a lot of company.
I thoroughly enjoy this photograph because it looks like the shark is just floating behind this class of kids from Central Elementary.
After we watched many sharks including the saw shark seen above devour sardines(little fish) we made our way up over the water and towards the jaguar temple. This place is consistently my favorite section of the whole Aquarium, because of the jaguar.
The Jaguar walks around the glass cage and plays with kids and college students who walk up to it and every once in a while it will stop at one of the corners and just relax. I sat next to it for a while and then it started to stare off in the distance and I snagged one of my favorite shots of it.
After reluctantly walking away from the big cat we made our way around to different places. One of the stops we made was by a creek thing filled with flamingos and other birds.
And finally went back and took a BCA photo to commemorate our awesome trip there.
WHOOOOOOPPPPPP!!!! Alyssa you are super awesome and you are so much of the reason why we are receiving this award. To the staff who worked on this, “Ya’ll are awesome thank yall for all your super hard work putting this together”
Okay here is what I know, the Columbia Scholastic Press Association is one of the gives out one of the highest awards given out to yearbooks. I literally copied the rest of the info from their website.
“Crown Awards are the highest recognition given by the CSPA to a student print or online medium for overall excellence. Both Gold Crown and Silver Crown Awards are given each year.
A panel of Crown Judges assembles each year at Columbia University to view all entrants, whether they are newspaper, magazines, yearbooks or online media. Judges are experienced former advisers to student media, professional journalists who understand student media or professionals such as photographers or online specialists with particular expertise needed for the judging exercise.”
Here is a list of the finalist.
Aggieland, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX;
Agromeck, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC;
Arbutus, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN;
Cactus, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX;
Ibis, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL;
Royal Purple, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS;
Selah, Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA;
Sooner, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK;
Talisman, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY.
Some of you might recall the photograph of me in sheer terror on the front page of the batt a while ago, well i liked to explain. I had the opportunity the fly in a jet. What happened was one of my friends J.D. called me and asked if I wanted to cover a story this story with him. I heard the words “fly in jet” and told him yes before he could end his sentence. So J.D. and I went out to the the airport out by 2818 to cover the story. What was going to happen was the Texas A&M volleyball team was going to be flown by the Marine Corp but they lost a close game the night before, therefore they couldnt come. But regardless we got to fly. We flew in the plane for a good hour and it was a blast!
click on the pic below to see it bigger or click on the link to see the story on the batt
During the flight, we all got to go up to the cockpit and fly the jet. He told me to put on the headphones and from there I put my hands onto the wheel and then he took his hands off his. I was in complete control of the jet. It was quite an incredible feeling. From there he motioned for me to turn and I did and then he motioned for me to pull or to push and I did. I was blown away by the awesomness of the situation. When I was up there he asked if we wanted to do a barrel roll only to receive “Heck Yeahs”. So I sat up there and all the sudden the horizon started to turn until I saw nothing but ground underneath of me, my world was literally flipped upside down.
From my understanding when talking to the pilot, The Marine Corps Flight Orientation Program comes to Aggieland one week every semester. When they come anyone can go and fly in the jet, specifically people who are interested in joining the Marines. Once again, everyone thanks for keeping up with my photographic adventures. Yall are awesome.
Okay John David Swiger, a fellow photographer friend, told me to walk outside and look at the moon, so I did. I looked at it and there was this crazy circle thing around it. I mean this was really weird. I was wondering if any of you all know about it or saw it. Anyways finals are starting to come up and that means I need to study like crazy. So I hope you all have a great beginning of your December and once again if anyone can offer any explanation, please comment.
NOTE: I didnt photoshop anything and its not some crazy lens flare. I put it into black and white too here it is.
Once again thank you to everyone who has been keeping up with my blog and photography, yall are great and I really do value all the encouragement. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
—–JAMES UNTHANK FOUND THE ANSWER——
Okay its called a 22 degree halo and here is the wikipedia article about it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/22%C2%B0_halo
Thanks James
I walk into my house at 4:00 a.m. and put my camera equipment up, I think about going to bed. But I can’t. The moment I just experienced in my life was just to monumental for me to just sleep. What I experienced was an intense love for Texas A&M, family, and the values this university holds.
For those who didnt know, Aggies gathered this morning at 2:42 at the Bonfire Memorial on campus to remember the fallen from the collapse and to pay respect to them and their families. I started the experience when I drove through campus towards the memorial and I watched hundreds of Aggies all walking quietly and coming together. I got out my car and walked up to the candle lighting line and talked with a few people and watched people for a while all light their candles from a few candles on a picnic table set up. I walked up over the hill and what I saw took me a while to comprehend. I not only saw the entire inner ring filled with Aggies but a good portion outside the ring. We all stood in silence and I walked to the back to get a few photos. As I stood in the back a hymn broke out from the crowd and we all put our voices together and sang. From there we all said the Lord’s Prayer then the crowd lifted their candles and voiced the Aggie War Hymn.
After that had finished a man’s voice lifted over the crowd and he spoke for a few moments, encouraging Aggies, especially current students, to keep the spirit alive by showing up to silver taps, saying howdy, and living out the traditions at Texas A&M. These very things are what makes Texas A&M the greatest university in the world, and we need to keep them going. He finished his remembrance speech with this quote, “the Aggie Spirit built bonfire, the bonfire did not build the Aggie Spirit”.
I stood their in the cold wind and when I heard that, I didn’t shiver because of the temperature but because of the words. Aggies, this university has something very special and you don’t need me to tell you that. We have a heart and a family like no other. Live out daily the core values (Excellence, Integrity, Leadership, Loyalty, Respect, and Selfless Service) and be what makes this university so incredibly great. Tonight I felt like I was a part of something that was extremely loving and respectful, something that is strongly united. Be proud Aggies of what we have!
Okay everyone, I also made a video, something that’s a little new for me. I hope you enjoy it.
A few weeks ago I had the absolute pleasure of photographing Kameron and Taylor’s engagement. It all started early Saturday morning where the men(Kameron, Kevin and I) went out to the tree when Kameron was going to propose to Taylor. This was the tree that they had their first kiss, it was a perfect location. Kevin, Kameron and I set up a trial run and practiced different angles to photograph as well as setting up the remote camera in the tree. We grabbed a ladder and I climbed up and placed my camera, using a gorilla pod, on a limb that looked like it could support it. The plan was to have Kevin and I photographing behind trees as well as shooting off the camera in the tree. After getting the tree ready and installing the swing we all went back to home to get ready for the engagement.
Kameron, Kevin and I have been meeting up on Sundays for about little over a year now running an accountability/prayer group. So I have seen all the preparation that went into that moment. That whole day I was super excited. We met up and this time grabbed everything from his house and Kameron checked himself in the mirror. I especially love this photo because Kameron was just chillin there and the lighting was bouncing off the mirror onto him perfectly and the Texas Flag couldn’t have looked more manlier behind him.
Okay anyways we drove out there and set up the table and bible, prayed it out with Kameron one last time before they got engaged, and then Kevin and I walked to our hideout spots to photograph.
(Doug’s Perspective)
Okay so Kameron had been playing up the idea to Taylor that he was at BCA retreat until Sunday or late Saturday. The plan was to have Taylor and her friends to go out to eat at a nice restaurant. So the girls came down George Bush and stopped on the side of the rode, where Taylor saw Kameron standing there. I was told that she could stop saying “shut-up”, she was so thrown off guard. Finally she got out of the car and they walked together to the tree. While they were at the tree Kameron read her a passage out of the bible, sang her a song he made for her, and then popped out the ring. It was such an incredible moment seeing that happen behind the lens. I had met Taylor back in high school at Sky Ranch and Kameron through BCA and seeing both of these people I love so much, becoming engaged was just awesome.
Anyways we took some more photos and they headed to Square One restaurant in downtown Bryan, where Kameron had planned for both of the families to be waiting for her. Seriously Kameron planned this out perfectly and dinner was a great ending to the day. With all that being said I enjoyed being apart of this and I thank God for both of you, Taylor and Kameron. Ya’ll are perfect together. And I hope you enjoy the photographs.
So on my birthday this last Tuesday I had the pleasure of photographing the very first breakaway at Kyle Field. Breakaway, for people who dont know, is a huge bible study and worship that takes place on the A&M campus every Tuesday and has been going on for 20 years. Thousands of Jesus Lovers come to worship usually the Reed Arena but this year due to the construction, breakaway has had to jump around a few locations.
I came in early to the field and watched the band Aaron Ivey warm up and Ben Stuart get ready for the study. When everything was in place, the staff prayed it out and opened the gates. It was quite a site to see thousands of people flowing into the stands of the first and second deck of Kyle on Tuesday not to cheer and yell for the Aggie Football team but to Sing and Praise Jesus Christ. I have been to breakaway many times throughout these last two years at A&M and it is always rest for my soul throughout the week. Please go if you havent before.
Before the whole event took off, I ran in front of Ben Stuart and snagged this shot of him about to walk onto the field and start off breakaway. I love this photo because he is focused, but also how everyone else behind him is just hanging out. And or the photo below, Jeremy and I ran up to the second deck of the other side of the stadium. This was a blast because we tried to go unnoticed. To the people who attended: If you saw a black dot wandering around across from you on the second deck during breakaway that was me.
Overall I was very pleased with the photography and with an awesome night on my 21st birthday. I thank Christ for Breakaway and what their ministry is doing and once again if you haven’t gone please do.
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