Matthew TeBos-Final Essay.

Welcome to my final essay for photojournalism! 

Let's go! 

Let's start at the beginning of this adventure. So my first venue for my essay is my church! To be more exact, the children's ministry where I volunteer at the Saturday night service of our church, which is Ada Bible Church. I wanted to capture somewhat of the atmosphere of the environment. The people we work with are amazing. What my responsibilities are here is that I am the tech person and my mom is the storyteller. Actually, our whole family is involved in this service.

This next venue is a little different but still good.

Welcome to Apex Controls...aka my dad's company. Since I've worked here in the past I thought it would be a good place to snap some pics of the dudes and some of my cousins working. I worked here as my first summer job for 2 years back when I was in high school. It was a good job, but I considered finding another job when I realized that this particular job got repetitive quite fast. (I actually kinda like that first pic for some reason, even though it's rotated differently than all the others.)

Ok onto our 3rd venue. You like coffee?

 ...because our next stop is the Hudsonville Biggby Coffee. Actually, this venue and the previous one were shot just one after another (since this is like 1.5 mins away from my dad's office and I was running out of energy.) The two girls that are at the beginning of this said yes to me taking pictures of them and I went from there! This one was a little more chaotic and stressful for me since it is in public and when people see you with a big DSLR, they tend to run, hide or just try to avoid you all together. Or they could be curious or they compliment you on it.  But I liked this venue, it was fun and everyone there was really nice.

Ok, final venue. This final venue is actually right across the street..........

So, here's a tip. If you visit Fredrick Meijer Gardens on a Saturday, expect a long, long line. And yes, I had to stand in it. But it actually went pretty fast. (5 to 10 mins max.) The first picture shows you how long that line actually was. Luckily, my family has been members there for the past 15 years or so, and that meant I got in free. I was headed to one spot only since by the time your reading this, they have been gone for a few days now. I really like coming here and seeing the butterflies. The conservatory was packed since it was a Saturday and all, but I got around pretty easily. And no butterflies wanted to leave with me, so that's a plus!

Overall, this assignment was crazy since I started a bit too late but it was still fun driving around to the various locations. Luckily, I got what I needed and was successful in all the venues. And yes, I do have more pics of all the venues but these stood out to me the most. Thanks for viewing!!