Every Picture Tells A Story
Meet Mary Dubuisson: wife, mother, Texas A&M employee,and one of the area’s most talented amateur photographers.
How long have you lived in College Station? What brought you here?
My mom and dad moved our family to College Station in 1969 for jobs in Higher Education (dad at A&M, mom at Blinn).
What’s your “day job”?
Financial Analyst at Texas A&M. Most days I write reports in our Data Warehouse.
What inspired your interest in photography?
My husband taught me the bare bones of film photograpy when we first got married (1988). I was not very good and seldom took photos. Then when the “point and shoot” digital cameras became common place, I started to be a more active photographer. Typically just photos of the kids.
When Cannon released the original Rebel XS with the detachable lenses I started to take lots of photos. Again primarily our kids and their sporting events. The turning point was my husband helping be buy a new Canon 70D in early 2017. A nice camera and nice lenses really encouraged me to just walk around and shoot my environment. Flowers, birds, people: I really started to enjoy myself and actually feel like I could take a “decent” photo. Previously I was very frustrated with the results (ie most were deleted due to over/under exposure or poor focus).
In August of 2017 Hurricane Harvey hit and Easterwood was the staging ground for a huge array of military aircraft. So out of a tragedy, I discovered a love for aircraft photographly!
What sort of things do you most enjoy photographing?
Airplanes, birds, sunrise/sunsets and kids.
As a College Station resident, what makes you most proud of the city’s progress and potential?
I love seeing the growth of our Parks and Recreation department and all their programs. My kids benefitted from this for many years and I still visit the parks and enjoy the concerts at Wolf Pen Creek. Especially meaningful are the LE memorial and the Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day events.
Below is a gallery of some of Mary’s favorite local photographs. Click on the images to learn the stories behind the photos.
I was really excited that we had a 68% eclipse here in BCS. I ordered solar film to cover my cover my lens and took the day off work. Hubby was supposed to work, so he helped me practice the weekend before with my camera settings. I’m more of the push the button and pray photographer and he is the technical genius in our marriage. We also were also able to bring eclipse glasses next door to help our neighbor’s kids look at the eclipse. The next eclipse for our area is April 9, 2020 and Waco will be the 100%; we already have plans with friends who live there to camp in their backyard.
CLL was the base for multiple aircraft and crew during the Hurricane Harvey relief effort. I absolutely love aircraft and Harvey was a very sad reason to have so many fabulous aircraft so close to my home. Every day after work I went to the airport and watched the crews and their aircraft takeoff and land until it was bedtime. I stayed every day until the aircraft returned to their home base. It was heartwarming to see the community bring food and drinks to the aircraft to feed the crews so they were not living on MRE’s. The young lady with the free hugs poster was also handing out homemade cookies to the airmen.
We had a forecast for approximately ¼” of snow. I was laying on the sofa watching TV and realized all my friends were posting snow photos on Facebook. I opened the front door and was shocked that it was snowing pretty heavily which is super rare for BCS. I went out with my camera and took lots of photos of my neighbor kids, my hubby and the street. It was mesmerizing and we had the best time playing outside primarily because of the kid’s exuberance! Also it was the first time I tested the “weather proof” features of my camera.
The city of College Station holds a Memorial Day remembrance event at Veteran’s park. It is always a touching ceremony to commemorate those that gave their lives for our country. Sadly it is typically attended by veterans and the elderly. From my perspective, the younger generation of Americans pay their respect to those that have made the ultimate sacrifice. The hardest part of this annual ceremony is trying to take photos while crying.
I’m always excited during the summer when we have fire school. I like to drive over and watch the firefighters in training. The steam, gear, apparatus, and the firefighters all make for intriguing photos. Firefighting is a dangerous occupation and I have the greatest respect for all first responders. This particular photo was taken during the annual TEEX fire demo where they invite the community to watch them put out fires. I love watching the firefighters, but crowd watching is awesome too.
This was an accidental photo shoot in a field south of town. I went to take photos of a friend, and instead spent almost an hour shooting the butterflies. Any little creatures are extremely fun to try and capture in focus. I don’t (yet) own a macro lens, so I spend my time with a zoom trying to narrow the focus on something very small from several feet away. It is fun and depressing: fun when shooting and depressing when I edit and see how many were out of focus.
This picture may be my most meaningful photo! For many years, we have had flyovers for home football games. In 2018, the Old Miss game had a flyover of F35’s which I had never seen in person. I took the magic photo of one of the Aggie pilots, Buck Stallard, giving a gig’em as he taxied. I discovered this, after the fact, when I was editing photos later that day.
When George Herbert Walker Bush passed away last December, there was a special tribute flight of VC-25 (militarized 747) which was titled SAM41: Special Air Mission 41. This was a flight to return 41’s casket and family to Houston on December 5, 2018. It was announced that SAM41 would flyover College Station on the way to IAH; it was a once in a lifetime experience to have an enormous 747 fly low and slow over the Texas A&M campus.
My husband and I along with thousands of students, faculty, and staff went to west campus to witness this event from the top level of the parking garage. It was so special to be there and capture some incredible photos of SAM41. The crowd was silent as the plane flew over as we paid our respects to George Herbert Walker Bush.
On December 6, 2018, George Herbert Walker Bush’s casket was brought by train to the Texas A&M campus for internment on the Presidential Library grounds. I remember taking the day off work so I could pay my respects to Bush as his funeral train progressed from Houston. Cold rain fell on me as I waited 3 hours for the train to pass my location north of Navasota. The crowd grew large with waving flags as we eagerly awaited the train. It was such a special moment for me as the train passed and I saw the 4141 engine and the funeral car.
Our oldest son is a police officer and a member of the TARNG. I try to attend all first responder and military events in the BCS area to show my respect for those that serve our country and our community. This event is difficult emotionally for me due to the ever increasing number of LE’s who are killed in the line of duty.
A local firefighter passed away recently and I attended the funeral to show my support to our first responders. I also provide free photos to the family for them to remember the service. A service with the full firefighter color guard, pipes and drums, taps, and patriot riders is truly a beautiful yet extremely sad ceremony. The ceremonial folding of the flag and presentation to the family is such an intense moment even for the onlookers. I was crying and trying to take photos at the same time. RIP Firefighter Norwood.
The BCS community holds an annual Veteran’s Day ceremony at Veteran’s park. There are hundreds flags surrounding the Veteran’s Memorial and it makes patriots proud to be Americans. The young man is a member of the Texas A&M Ross Volunteers and spent an hour in the cold rain standing perfectly still waiting for the rifle salute at the end of the program. The entire program made me proud to support our nation’s great military and the men and women who have served!
