“Esther, We’ll Miss You!”
Esther is a Texas Fightin’ Aggie Class of 2012 graduating senior and also one of the founders for Texas A&M Epic Movement. She is like a mother to many and an excellent, shining example of what it means to be a wonderful person. I’ve come to envy and admire a few people here during my time at Texas A&M, and I admire Esther for her courteous attitude and generous personality. ”Esther, We’ll Miss You!” is a personal work of mine and graduation gift for Esther that I’ve been working on for a few days during the past week or so. The work involves attempting to express how much not only I, but the rest of her friends will miss her. The result is large 18 x 26 photo frame featuring digital art and signatures from as many people as possible. Hit the jump for a full gallery of her gift and to learn more about how it was made.
3ds Max, Day One
So I spent the past 8-ish hours experimenting with both Autodesk Maya and 3ds Max. After tinkering around with both, I have come to favor 3ds Max more. I feel that Maya is better suited for animation, but to each their own of course.
This is really just a small piece of work done on my first day of using 3D modeling. I spent about 3 hours creating the 3D work (though it would take probably take a skilled person 30 minutes tops) and another 3 in Photoshop. Not exactly super-excited about the finished product, but it’s a good benchmark to start at. Here’s to my future projects, cheers.
Lost photo collection
Over the past few days, I took the liberty of finding and uploading roughly 800+ photos dating all the way back to about 2004. These are photos that have either been sitting in the corner sectors of my hard drive or recovered from old cellphones and online photo-sharing services. There’s a lot of them, some more important than others, but they all bring great feeling of nostalgia. Taking a trip back into the past eight years, I’m having trouble concluding if I changed a lot or not. Some chapters seem to suggest it, others don’t. Regardless, seeing fragments of the past eight years getting pieced together is cool. If you’ve ever been in my life any time since 2004, there’s a good chance that you could be in any of these photos.
2004-2007
Cellphone Dump 2007 (and before)
Myspace Graveyard (Photoshops)
Friday Night Worship
2008
Cellphone Dump 2008
Post Fridge Transportation
Thanksgiving 2008
Sprint Ahead
Wataburger Run
2009
Cellphone Dump 2009
Shutter Shades
First time at Texas State
Developed Photo Scavenger Hunt
Birthday Photo Scavenger Hunt
2010
2011
Cellphone Dump 2011
Fall Getaway
Halloween RAVE
Epic Window Washing
“Oh man Ruiz, that photo mosaic looks so cool!” Thanks, there’s a larger version here.
For the Ladies
Last week, I took part in helping TAMU Epic Movement prepare our first Ladies Appreciation Night. It’s an event where the males of Epic take the time to serve and appreciate the women who help make Epic Movement what it is. I helped plan the layout and decor for the venue, while working with the photographer to create a photo booth. Others took care of cooking food, serving food, speaking, giving out awards, etc. The event was a great success and I’m glad to have been a part of it.
I didn’t take many photos unfortunately, the venue was far too dim, even for my indoor portrait lens. It may not be much, but here’s everything I have:
Here are even some more sweet photos, courtesy of a great photographer and friend, Matthew Wong:
OUR Big Event 2011
If I had to describe my time during The Big Event in one word, it would be: An amazing experience. Yes, it was so good that I had to use three words. (Technically, I could have just said ‘amazing’ and it would still have the same effect, but it really was that epic.)
The Kickoff
My day started off at 6AM. I was a bit groggy and whatnot, but it was nothing that a 3-mile bike ride to campus couldn’t cure. As someone who did an individual signup, I wondered what the group that I would be assigned with would be like. Were they nice people? Will I get along with them well? Will they be okay with me? I knew that I certainly didn’t need to ask myself those questions anymore after meeting each one of them: Meg, Michelle, Brandon, and Carlos. All of them were very nice and outgoing people. The kickoff event lasted roughly over an hour. Thousands of people in green were scattered outside of the Reed Arena parking lot getting their fill from free food, water, energy drinks, Muscle Milk, and frozen yogurts. With so much green, you would think that we’re all from The University of North Texas. After a few speeches and a bunch of thank you’s, the good Ol’ Fightin’ Texas Aggie Yell Leaders riled up the crowd to BTHO (beat the hell ‘outta) yardwork, University of Texas, and other random stuff. Soon after, the canon was fired and swarms of people ran to gather their tools. For a group of people, we were assigned one rake. ONE. That’s it. We knew this was gonna be fun.