A Saturday in Aggieland

A paradox of becoming a photographer means that the more you take photos for everyone else, the less you take photos for yourself. We often forget to capture the things that we want to remember about our own lives as it passes us by.

That’s why on a brisk fall morning in College Station, Texas, I decided I was going to explore an Aggieland game day alone with only a film camera in my hand.

With the intention of memorializing a game day as it is in 2024, I went to all the events I usually take for granted and frankly have skipped since my freshman year of college in 2017.

As a shock to no one, I was holding in tears all day. My first stop was watching the corps march into the stadium, but the surprise (to me) was the former corps members also marching.

Part of what makes A&M so special is what it means to those who came before us and assigned meaning to many of the traditions we still enjoy.

After watching the corps, I watched stopped to watch the Lil’ Wranglers and tried to see Kyle Field from a different perspective — as if I didn’t walk past it every day in college.

Feeling like I got what I could from Kyle Field, I walked to my favorite tailgate “Cuz We Can.” This tailgate is ran by some of the best, most friendly people and is a staple in every Aggie game day for me now. I was introduced to the big yellow bus a few years ago by some CrossFit buddies and I can’t imagine being anywhere else.

Then comes the exciting news — someone has an extra ticket and I get to go to the game. In that moment, I was especially grateful for the roll of film I brought. We were sitting right by the corps, which felt like a major full circle moment after watching them walk in. I felt like a kid truly taking in the pre-game and process how massive this stadium and operation truly is. It’s breathtaking when you aren’t taking it for granted.

The comes game time, where all the attendees trickle in and fight for their seats. As the cop who has helping said, “we’re halfway through the season, y’all haven’t figured this out yet?” Speak the truth, sir!!

Once that was figured out, the rest was history.