Jenalee Alexander: Up, Up on a Plane: A birds-eye photo shoot.

Among my suicide seventeen hours I decided I could handle this semester, I'm taking Media Photography II - an upper-level photography course. When enrolling in the course, I did not know that I would also be a photographer for Focus - a local magazine; however, it gave me a new goal. I wanted to do whatever it would take to be published in Focus. So after class one day I told Rod, my teacher and photographer for the Waco Tribune-Herald, that I meant business. I think my exact words were, "Rod. I want to be published. Give me something good." Be careful what you wish for.

The next class Rod told me the concept of my story would be "Life on the Circle," referring to the famous traffic circle in Waco. I was quasi satisfied; at least it was something. Then he continued to ramble his usual routine..."how are you going to shoot it, when are you going to shoot it," etc. He looked at me with an already-forming grin and said, "What angles are you going to shoot from?" I sarcastically responded, "Well, I can't get lower than the street, and I don't have a plane."

"Wrong," Rod said...

"you'll be shooting from a plane."

Did he ask me if I was afraid of heights, or claustrophobic, or bothered by flying? No. The answer is "yes" to all of those, by the way. But it was a challenge. A big challenge. And God made me stubborn and southern, I don't backdown when I'm challenged.

Only focused on getting my camera settings right, I was hardly bothered during take-off. The small plane simply floated off the runway, like a bird taking flight from a tree branch, not like the giant commercial planes, which make you feel as if the apocalypse is coming during take-off.

Taking-off from McGregor Municipal Airport.

The feeling is incomparable. There was a serenity that took over my body as my earphones fenced silence in while the plane slowly floated; little did it seem that we were traveling hundreds of miles per hour, and without earphones the engine was overpowering. As we, the pilot and myself, approached The Circle, I thought to myself, "This is it. This is your chance. Don't screw it up." I am my harshest critic, except when it comes to editors. I saw Floyd Casey Stadium, the Baylor Bubble, and now, we're beginning to the first lap around The Circle. I let go of the handle I was gripping up until now, and began clicking. I snapped photographs as if my life depended on it (and it almost did). One lap, two laps, three laps. I finally had the nerve to pull my lens away from my face and ask the pilot - through my microphone, of course - if he could get closer. Boy, did he ever. He flew lower, and closer, and turned the plane inward to The Circle so I could shoot right on top of it. The only time I was scared was when I pulled the camera away from my face; that's when I could tell how vertical the plane was.

The Waco Circle: One of the last, functioning traffic circles in Texas.

In-the-air shot of me.

To make a long story short, I got the shot. Actually, about 500 shots. But one that will be featured in Focus as a two-page spread. My standoff with death paid off. Anything and everything can be an opportunity, so keep your eyes and ears open and don't let one pass you by. Did I mention I flew the plane?