In my teenage years I grew a real appreciation for photography, as my dad was always very good about recording the memories of all of our hunts. I have photo albums in my office dated from the ’50s to the ’90s with all the camps and animals we hunted in the Hill Country and South Texas. My father was very good at documenting the years and the places to give us really good reference to the evolution of our family hunting.
The pictures included all of our close friends and their deer. We even took pictures to include some of the processing we did in our very own smoke house. I love looking back at those pictures and cannot thank my dad enough for capturing that part of our lives.
I took the torch and carried it forward with my 35mm Canon and took it a little bit further with live animals and nature shots and scenery pics. I had tons of fun with my camera. With my dad’s automotive repair shop right next door to a photography store, I could get my prints back fast. But the ease with which we take digital pictures now is incredible and the quality is sensational. Our ease of sharing our great photos with others is at our fingertips and as quick as you can hit send. The social media aspect of all we do makes it fun and amusing, but can cause tension based on what you post or who you tag in a photo. It gets downright crazy out there with all we can share. I know in the kids’ world, technology is advancing so fast I cannot keep up with the social media platforms they target and post.
My adult son, Michael Dean Marbach, also carried my passion for videography, but photography has taken it to an all-new level. He graduated with a degree from Texas Tech University in creative media industries. He soon ventured on to filming for some outdoor televisions shows and then took a job in College Station at a media production company. I use him and another young man named Josh Sagraves to get some great photos of the various critters that roam the ranches we help with. These young men started out at a very young age developing their craft and are now taking it to all new levels. It’s fantastic to see these young men and take their passions and develop them into a career.
As you venture outdoors with your young children, it would be great to encourage them to start documenting their adventures. As we all know, this life goes by so fast, and it won’t take long before you look back and realize you have a treasure chest of documented memories. One my favorite outdoor photographers to follow is Wyman Meinzer. He has documented his travels and the beauty of Texas for decades. I often wonder how he got his start and can only imagine the types of products he used early in his career and how the industry has transformed what he uses today.
“Wyman Meinzer is the only official State Photographer of Texas, named so in 1997 by the Texas State Legislature and then Gov. George W. Bush, an honor he still holds today. He was raised on the League Ranch, a 27,000-acre ranch in the rolling plains of Texas. Since then, he has traveled to every corner of this great state and all points in between in search of the first and last rays of sunlight in its magnificent sweep across the Texas landscape.
“Meinzer graduated from Texas Tech in 1974 with a Bachelor of Science in wildlife management and was voted Outstanding Alumnus in 1987 by the department of Range and Wildlife Management at Texas Tech University. He also received the Distinguished Alumnus award in 1995 from the School of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. In August of 1999, Meinzer was honored to give the graduation commencement address at his alma matter. During his 12 years as adjunct instructor in communications at Texas Tech University, Wyman was selected as Agriculture Communications Teacher of the Year in 2005. In 2009 he received the Distinguished Alumnus award from Texas Tech University in recognition of outstanding achievement and dedicated service.” —courtesy wymanmeinzer.com
Who will be the next young person to carry the torch forward and follow in the footsteps of the Texas greats? I encourage all of you kids to do some research and get out and start shooting images that will be etched in history. What a grand time to be alive. Everything is at the tip of your fingers and just a short road trip away. I look forward to seeing your photographs and hope you will share them with at COA so we can help promote all the beauty God has created for us in His outdoors.
Michael Marbach is the CEO of the Christian Outdoor Alliance, mycoa.org; 210-827-9802. COA’s mission is to guide youth and outdoorsmen to a relationship with Jesus Christ through experience in God’s great outdoors.
