If you attend any Brenau sponsored events, you are likely to catch a guy toting a camera around and snapping pictures. Brenau’s own personal paparazzi is AJ Reynolds. I know we are often suprised to see men around campus, but I’d argue that AJ has become somewhat of a well-known and welcomed presence. Read along to become more aquainted with him.
Where are you from?
Okay, so, I’m from Pennsylvania, but I moved to around Atlanta when I was probably 8. I went to high school just north of Atlanta in Kennesaw, and then I went to the University of Georgia in Athens, where I worked for about 4 years before I moved here.
What brought you to Brenau?
Well, I knew Nick, the old photographer. I did some freelance work for Brenau when I was still working for the Athens newspaper and when he left, he just sort of reached out to me and said he thought it would be a good fit and it would be a good opportunity. I applied and I guess that David Morrison agreed. So yeah, I just kind of knew some people and fell into the job.
Did you see yourself doing something else in life or has photography always been what you wanted to do?
I’ve always loved photography but it was never the plan. I was an Econ major in college and most of a math major and I had these big plans to get an Econ PhD and do whatever it is that somebody does with that, which I’m not even really sure about. I never really wanted to teach. During my last 6 months of college, I got a job at the city paper and just kind of kept falling into different things. So I think at a certain point, I’ll do something else but I’m not sure what or when, or if I’m really qualified to do something else. Being a photographer isn’t always the easiest a lot of the time because you’re always hauling stuff around and on your feet all the time, so I can’t imagine I’ll be like 60 years old and running around as a photographer.
Have you met any cool people through your job?
I mean, I meet a lot of cool people. I’ve met a lot of people who I think are cool because of what they do around the community or how they approach the world. I’d say some of my coolest experiences are meeting regular people doing interesting things.
What’s something interesting about yourself that you would want people to know?
Uh, I have a dog. I like my dog. He’s a miniature Australian Shepherd, he’s awesome. He and I hiked up a mountain for fall break. He dragged me up a mountain, it was fun. He was pretty good on the way up because he was getting tired, too, but then on the way down he was just so excited that he would just pull himself to the end of his leash. To the point where he flipped himself over and landed on rocks. And I was like, “okay, are you good?” and he was like, [panting], and I was like, “okay, let’s go! One of us is tired. It’s not you, but…”
What’s your favorite Halloween candy?
You know, I’m not a huge candy guy. I try to stay away from the sweets a little bit, but I like Snickers or something I can have with coffee.
So what do you do on Halloween? Or do you enjoy when people hand out raisins and pretzels and stuff?
No, I’m not a monster! Although pretzels are awesome.