dallas

Kylon /  by Londen Wheeler

Photographing Kylon was one of the best times I've had as a photographer who sometimes photographs seniors. I absolutely cannot believe all of the things that this young man has accomplished in just his high school years. This guy is going into his first year of college as a junior. Yes, you read that right. He completed the first two years of his college coursework while in high school! Can you believe that?! When he and his mom explained why he had two different cap and gowns, I felt like I could run laps with excitement. I certainly was not that great of a student in high school, so when I hear about young black men accomplishing this, I can't help but feel an immense amount of joy.

Kylon, I've already said it once, but I'll say it once more. I'm very proud of you and what you have managed to accomplish thus far! Continue to grind and put in the work. The fruits of your labor will taste sweet when the time comes!

Anthony /  by Londen Wheeler

Another senior photo shoot in the bag! This time, I had the pleasure of shooting with Anthony. This time I found myself at the University of North Texas (UNT). I've driven past this campus millions of times but never stopped to ride and walk around their campus. It was a pretty cool place to be! Their facilities were nice and campus was beautiful!

This was the first time I've seen Anthony since 2018. The last time we were together, it was to do a shoot for one of our mutual friends. When he asked me to do his senior photos, I jumped at the opportunity! It was an honor to get a tour of the campus and to connect with him again after a three year hiatis.

I'm still booking shoots through the end of the year! Let's get together, everyone!

SMU Men's Basketball vs Wichita State /  by Londen Wheeler

What a wild ride 2019 has been so far in terms of the opportunities that I’ve had with my photography.  I’m still trying to figure out what’s next on my journey as a photographer!  I don’t know what the rest of the journey will look like but it’s been pretty sweet thus far.  You won’t find a blog post from the second basketball game that I shot at SMU, mainly because I got caught up with doing some other stuff and didn’t have time to make a post.  So, you’ll get this one instead!

The game against Wichita State was one of the best games I’ve seen in a while.  The intensity that each team played with was beyond amazing. These guys were going at it in the first half and at one point, I was hoping that we could take the game into a double overtime, jump start my excitement for March Madness! Unfortunately, the double overtime didn’t happen but it was still a great game nonetheless.

One other cool fact about this game was that it was their senior night and the last home game of the season.  President Bush didn’t show up to the past two games so I’m really lucky that I got a few photographs of him while he was there… Well, he could’ve been there but just not courtside like he was when I saw him.  Who knows.  Anyway, the senior night was pretty cool.  It was a packed stadium, intensity was there, the crowd was excited and all four seniors got to start together.  Being an athlete my entire life, I know exactly what it feels like to be playing your last home game and feeling how you’ll never go back to play there again as an athlete.  Wild, right?

Well, that’s all for now! Stay tuned for more to come this month! Lots of things moving and manifesting right now and I’m super excited to see where things will go.  Also, if you don’t already, give me a follow on Instagram to stay in the loop with what’s going on when I’m not posting blogs!

SMU vs Cincinnati /  by Londen Wheeler

What’s up, guys! Can you believe that it’s almost November?!  I swear it feels like we started October yesterday.  It’s all good though because we’re getting closer to my favorite holiday… THANKSGIVING!!!! Anybody else a big fan of doing nothing but eating and sleeping your life away?

So about two weeks ago, I applied for a photo credential on Southern Methodist University’s website. They messaged me and asked who I was shooting for and I told them that I was just shooting for my blog.  Per their policy, they only grant passes to people who are shooting for a media outlet.  Well, they messaged me back earlier this week and told me that they made an exception and that they will let me photograph their game against Cincinnati!  Super stoked?  Heck yeah!

I do remember when JMU came down back in 2015 to play SMU during their homecoming.  It was the first time I had ever heard of SMU but JMU came and managed to beat them in an upset!  Ever since JMU came to play them, I’ve been wanting to go to SMU for a game and check them out.  I must say that the school has amazing facilities!  I always drive past the football stadium but I never stopped to check it out.  Now that I’ve seen the stadium, I want to go walking around campus and see what else it has to offer.  Seems like a pretty cool school to be.

Londen&Steve.jpg

The best part about this entire experience was meeting one of the photographers who has been a Staff Photographer at the Dallas Morning News since 1989.  Steve is one of the photographers whose photos are always running through the DMN and I have always wanted to meet him and some of the other photographers.  Steve was so cool and talked to me for a few minutes about his career with DMN.  Right before the game started, I asked if he would take a selfie with me because he was one of the photographers who I look up to! So, we took our selfie, got ready for the game, and he told me that I have a great career ahead of me.  Talk about filled with joy.  It meant a lot to hear that from someone who has been in the field longer than I’ve been alive.

Moving to Dallas and making the connections that I’ve made so far is truly amazing.  I am forever grateful for the connections that I make and people that I meet.  One of these days, I’ll get my breakthrough and when I do, y’all will be the first to know! 

Leslie /  by Londen Wheeler

Leslie in Richardson, TX

Ok, ok. Listen, I know it’s been a few months since I’ve posted any new content but a lot has happened since the last post in June, and I’m pretty happy with where I am in life. I’ll write another post soon with updates on what’s been going on! With that said, I linked up with Leslie and Fredy in Richardson after work and crushed these photos! I was trying to shoot with Leslie for months but had so much going on that we couldn’t get anything done. After taking a few months off, I must say that I am pretty satisfied with how these turned out!