SMA hosts photographer Michael O’Brien, names Wittliff STEM students

San Marcos Academy welcomed famend portrait photographer Michael O’Brien because the featured speaker for the Ninth Annual Wittliff Lecture Series on Wednesday on the Robinson Christian Center.

In addition to O’Brien’s presentation, the meeting additionally celebrated scholar achievement as 4 SMA college students have been named Wittliff Scholars: Greyson Russell, Melanie Irwin, Atticus Banks and Fallan Ervin. Each scholar acquired a scholarship to San Marcos Academy. Scholars are chosen based mostly on the power of their essays, educational advantage and their demonstrated curiosity in pursuing a STEM area.

O’Brien, broadly thought to be one of many nation’s premier portrait photographers, introduced a lecture titled “Seeing, Becoming: A Photographer’s Life.” Over the course of greater than 4 a long time, O’Brien has photographed a outstanding vary of topics — from U.S. presidents and celebrities to small-town heroes and on a regular basis individuals. His candid, empathetic model reveals each the dignity and humanity of his topics, with work showing in Life, National Geographic, Texas Monthly, the London Sunday Times and different distinguished publications.

Early in his profession, O’Brien made an impression by way of his documentary pictures. In 1975, he chronicled the lifetime of John Madden, a homeless man in Miami, a undertaking which earned him the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. He gained a second RFK Award in 1977 for “Culmer: The Tragic City,” a photograph essay on certainly one of Miami’s most impoverished neighborhoods. His assignments for National Geographic took him around the globe, from Appalachian coal nation to Australia. A 1989 National Geographic characteristic on Austin contributed to the journal’s National Magazine Award for Photography, whereas his 1985 portrait of Willie Nelson — later acquired by the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery — stays certainly one of his most iconic works.

O’Brien is the writer of three books: “The Face of Texas” (2003), “Hard Ground” (2011, with poetry by Tom Waits), and “The Great Minds of Investing” (2015). His images are held within the everlasting collections of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, the International Center of Photography, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University.

The Wittliff Lecture Series was established at San Marcos Academy to acknowledge and acknowledge the greater than 200 American and worldwide college students and analysis fellows who educated within the laboratories of Dr. James L. Wittliff, in addition to to have a good time achieved people in STEM-related professions. The collection has additionally attracted noteworthy scientists, clinicians, educators and thought leaders to campus, serving to advance the academy’s rising STEM program. Its intent is to reveal SMA college students to the profession journeys and accomplishments of outstanding people who’ve had a long-lasting impression on society.

“Through the Wittliff Lecture Series, our students are able to hear directly from individuals whose work has shaped fields of global significance,” mentioned Dr. Brian Guenther, President of San Marcos Academy. “Michael O’Brien’s career reminds us that both art and science play a role in telling the human story and inspiring future generations.”

Students, college and visitors responded with enthusiasm to O’Brien’s lecture, noting that his reflections on artwork, humanity and perseverance provided inspiration and recent perspective for their very own journeys.