Every year, fine arts students from the senior class submit their best work to various art galleries in the school. Throughout the year, thousands of students, faculty and parents can admire a culmination of hard work and effort, showcased here on campus.

The process for deciding which pieces to highlight in the gallery may vary between fine arts, but for the senior photography class, decisions were collectively made.

“We helped each other brainstorm for the best picture and help each other decide between two or three pictures, which one would think would look best,” photography senior Max Bean said.

Photography students can go to galleries for extra credit. During one visit, Bean was impressed by David Yarrow’s wildlife photography and inspired to recreate the photos himself.

“He has a lot of these super cool pictures of big, animal safari faces super zoomed in,” Bean said. “Those were really cool, and going to that gallery, I was kind of just shocked how cool it was.”

Wildlife photography is unique in that timing is crucially important. Capturing perfect moments on camera requires not only precision and skill but also persistence and determination.

“Ninety nine percent of the time there’s nothing happening. Things are sleeping, the light’s not right,” Bean said. “And so you have to be really patient.”

While on a trip in one of Africa’s safaris, Bean saw a cheetah, zooming in to capture a close up of the cheetah’s face beneath a cloudy sky.

“We were able to get pretty close, and then it yawned, right whenever I was taking pictures,” Bean said.

After Bean captured his close up photo of the cheetah, he shared it with other photography seniors. The class discussed which photos were strongest and most appealing.

“They’d probably pick, like, two or three (photos),” Bean said. “And then you would ask around, ‘Do you like this one? Which one do you think would be better on the wall?’”

Wildlife in Dallas doesn’t offer the same scenery that other locations do. The senior class travels to different locations in search of new places to take photos. A tight knit class evolves into a community of enthusiastic artists where photographers can bond while spending time taking breath taking photos.

“We’ll drive to some small town in Texas or something, an hour or something away,” Bean said. “Just being able to do something so cool like photography, and making art with such a good group of people — that’s really awesome.”

Exotic scenery like the savannahs in Africa show people a side of the world they haven’t seen before, which is part of the reason why Bean chose his photography. The dramatic image of a wild animal surprises passerby.

“I was just trying to catch (people’s) attention and do something that (they) don’t see every day,” Bean said. “Once they stop (to look), they see a deeper meaning behind it. They see this anmal that they don’t normally see.”

Senior Beau Bacon has done drawing and painting for multiple years, featuring his best work in the school’s art gallery in Decherd. Across the pieces he’s made throughout his career, many come from inspirations in his life.

“I like to choose subject matters and pieces that represent my values,” Bacon said. “A lot of my pieces are inspired by western films, country music and pop culture and music.”

One of Bacon’s most notable featured pieces was of Gus McCrae from the old Western movie “Lonesome Dove”.

“He’s a Texas Ranger with his buddy, and they travel across the plains and do everything together,” he said. “He dies with valor, a very peaceful death.”

Other inspirations for Bacon’s artwork come from artists whose style he finds interesting and admires. One such artist is the Chinese painter Z.S Liang.

“While (Liang) was on a trip to America, he was at a museum and saw all of this Native American culture,” he said. “That inspired him a lot. All of his pieces are based on the Native American way of life.”

Bacon finds Liang’s assimilation of a different culture fascinating and relevant to his own life. Mimicking artwork styles and ideas from other cultures can broaden an available skillset.

“I want to have that mindset, especially because I’m graduating,” he said. “You don’t just want to stay stuck and know your home culture. You want to find things that inspire you and continue to develop new ideas.”

Working on many pieces for long periods of time can quickly become tedious. Bacon acknowledges that he sometimes feels stuck and unsure how to continue with his work.

“When you’re working on something for multiple hours a day it starts to not be as cool to you,” he said. “I will look back on my reference image and try to put myself back in that place where I was first fascinated with the image, and that motivates me to keep working on it.”

After taking inspiration from artists like Liang, Bacon hopes to serve as a similar inspiration for others. As Bacon’s best work is featured in Dechard, the gallery feels like a culmination of effort and practice, selectively presented for everyone to see.

“I like being able to paint my ideas on a surface and make them come to life,” Bacon said. “I just hope people look at it and think, ‘Wow, that’s really cool.’ I’m super proud of having my work chosen to be in an exhibition.”