2009 Quad Assault

Within the Corps of Cadets here at A&M is an organization called Rudder’s Rangers (named after General James Earl Rudder). It’s a group of cadets who engage in more advanced training than your standard Corps outfit, especially in terms of small unit tactics. Each year Rudders holds a recruiting event called Quad Assault in which they get to show off that which they have learned by staging a mock assault of an enemy position. The event include thousands of rounds of blank ammo, pyrotechnics and, in the past, helicopters.

I’ve shot it two or three times before and each time it’s been great. But, this year I wanted to do something different. The Rangers were kind enough to let me get up on top of Dorm 8 and shoot the group of cadets who would be firing from the rooftop. The guys on the roof were all very gracious about having their picture taken by the idiot non-reg who wore flip-flops.

There’s a few more on my Flickr page as well.
-fogg

fun with bokeh…

I spent a good deal of time last night clicking through this guy’s flickr stream and was blown away. So, I decided to play around a little tonight with some similar stuff and see if I could emulate things a bit. My picture is nowhere near the awesomeness of his, but it’s a start.

Andrew is a good sport.

-fogg

The Commander and the Quad

Each week this summer The Batt has run a profile of a student leader. This past week we featured Brent Lanier, the 2009-2010 Commander of the Corps of Cadets.

Storm cat!

A rather nasty storm came through College Station tonight, one which I weathered (rimshot) while at Chili’s with some friends (what better place to be during a tornado warning than sitting with your back to a large glass window while consuming chips and queso?). On the way back to the car Jonny and I heard the cries of this stray kitten who had taken refuge under the platform the dumpster rests on.

It was soaked and shivering so we dried it off, fed it, and I’ll be taking it by the shelter to get checked out in the morning. Hopefully we’ll find it a good home.

rain brings rainbows

Do you see the rainbow? It’s faint but it’s there. I think that there is no more beautiful time on campus than Sunday afternoons.

I’m starting up the blog again. Tomorrow: Harry Potter People.

Almost there…

Tomorrow brings my last final and then, as of Wednesday morning, I am off for two weeks that will (hopefully) be defined by a lack of school and a presence of free time. My last summer. How odd.

About this time every year I rediscover my enjoyment for nature photography and, thanks to some time spent browsing around Flickr, this year is no different. Hopefully, while I am home I’ll get up early a few times and catch the morning light around The Woodlands. Also, hopefully, I’ll be taking a day trip to a bird preserve with a few friends before summer classes start.

Look out, Heron. Here I come.

-fogg

Kinky in College Station

Texan author, musician and past and future gubernatorial hopeful Kinky Friedman visited Texas Avenue Cigars this past Friday evening. I’ve taken his picture there before and it’s worth braving the smell to do so. He’s quite the character; I wish we had more figures in the public eye with as much personality as he has.

-fogg

The Holistic Garden at Texas A&M

I stopped by the Holistic Garden a couple of times this week. ‘Twas great fun; here’s a few of my favorites.

-fogg

“Belief in Ben”

Continuing with my tradition of posting photos way, way after they have run, I finally put online a couple of pictures from the photo story I did recently on student body president candidate Ben Debayle.

A few semesters ago I had pitched the idea of following around a student body president candidate to the Batt. I thought it would be interesting to show all the work that goes on behind the scenes in these campaigns, as most of the student body sees little more than the scores of signs held around campus. The idea was shot down then because they didn’t want the Batt to appear biased. When this election came around the story idea came back to mind (probably helped by hearing Scott Strazzante speak at SWPJC earlier in the year). The Batt agreed to it this time and we decided to run it after the campaign, as to help negate appearance of bias.

So, I ended up following around Ben Debayle, a Yell Leader hoping to become the next year’s SBP. For a few weeks I shot Debayle and his campaigners at meetings, late night planning sessions, running from speaking engagement to speaking engagement and whatever else I could do. The group of people I ended up following around would have been hard pressed to be much friendlier or more open to having a camera stuck in their faces.

I won’t try to tell you the whole story here. Instead, if you are interested, please take a look at the audio slideshow I put together. It tells the story much better than the couple of pictures on flickr do alone. It was my first attempt at a soundslides presentation, so feedback is welcome.

The audio slideshow.
The set on flickr.

-fogg

Fightin’ Texas Aggie Ring

Friday was Ring Day here in Aggieland and I was one of more than 3200 lucky Aggies who received their rings. It was a great day with my folks and some good friends.

And, I now feel like an old man.

Thanks and gig ‘em.

-fogg