Antarctica’s Wonders Captured Through a Texas A&M University Libraries Camera
By Marketing and Communications | 02-20-2024
A camera phone wouldn’t be enough — the opportunity of a lifetime needed to be captured through a lens worthy of the immense beauty before her.
Thankfully, before embarking on Texas A&M’s first study abroad trip to Antarctica in November, Alyssa Schaechinger ‘24 heard about Texas A&M University Libraries’ Tech Bar. The advanced technology checkout service allowed her to capture the continent's picturesque wildlife and vast icy expanse through high-end photo and video equipment.
“I was able to get pictures with the library gear that there’s no way I would have been able to get on just my phone,” said Schaechinger, a Master of Science & Technology Journalism student.
“There was wildlife 20, 30, 40 feet away from us and I was able to get pictures that look like I was standing right next to it,” said Schaechinger, whose gear from the libraries included a Canon digital single reflex camera, a zoom lens commonly used for wildlife and sports photography and a GoPro camera.
The stunning landscape of white snow blankets and deep blue water created memories that she will cherish forever. She was happy to photograph and record them with advanced gear.
“There are very few places where humans haven’t had a major impact,” she said. “Seeing an area that was nature in its truest form was absolutely incredible.”
Schaechinger’s group included 36 students and four faculty members, who hailed from a wide variety of graduate and undergraduate degree programs.
“It was a unique experience for all these people with different backgrounds to come together and share this unique opportunity,” she said of the two-week trip.
The images she shot with gear from the Libraries’ Tech Bar were essential for her academic study abroad objectives.
“I was taking a photography directed study last semester that is part of my master’s program,” said Schaechinger. “The pictures I took in Antarctica were a big part of that class.”
On the trip, she also shot images and gathered information for an article she wrote on a group of oceanography students doing a citizen science project.
Schaechinger was glad she had the Libraries’ camera equipment to do it.
“Scrolling back through the pictures … I feel like I wasn’t there, I almost feel like I hallucinated the whole thing, so I’m really glad that I was able to bring a good quality camera and then be able to look back and remember the experience now because it was such a blur in an amazing way,” she said.
The Libraries’ Tech Bar, housed at the Sterling C. Evans Library Annex, is open to any Aggie student or staff member who wants to access the wide array of equipment available for checkout. There are cameras, zoom lenses, tripods, audio recording equipment, laptops, global positioning system hardware, portable projectors, as well as a variety of “everyday” items like phone and laptop chargers.
A portion of the Tech Bar's equipment is provided through generous funding by the Friends of the Texas A&M University Libraries as well as other donor support.
Written by: Richard Nira, rnira@tamu.edu | Media Contact: Matthew Kennedy, matthew.kennedy@tamu.edu.
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