Trinity Velazquez

Viewpoints Editor

Lots of students may only know Christian as the guy who takes RSO photos, but anyone in new media knows that he is so much more than the man behind the camera.

Christian Boudreaux is a senior communications major concentrating in broadcast and digital media while minoring in photography. This is his second year as lead photographer and photo editor for the yearbook, the Potpourri.

“I love doing it, and it’s really fun,” he said.  “It all started when I was in Photography II, which was my first photography class I took here. I went to this event in Baton Rouge.”

That event was ULS Day in April of 2018.

“I took photos there, and I got photos of Vic the Demon doing the Fork ‘Em during the mascot competition,” he said. “I brought those into my class, and someone else who was in that class was a photographer for the Current Sauce. He really liked the photos and brought them to the Current Sauce. They used one of the photos for the front page.”

Christian’s photo that made the front page was Vic standing in front of the capitol building.

“Right under it, it said photo by Christian Boudreaux,” he said. “I thought ‘wow that’s really cool.’ I didn’t think my photos were that good.”

Right after his photography was published he applied for the yearbook. In the fall of 2018 Christian was offered the position of lead photographer. Megan Palmer, current editor in chief of the Potpourri, offered him the position. Palmer was editor in chief of the yearbook last year as well.

“When I first met Christian, I didn’t know he would become someone I would rely on,” Palmer said. “He goes above and beyond with any task I give him and even when I don’t. His thoughtfulness and passion on capturing the life of the campus has been one of the greatest things he has done for the Potpourri.”

Some favorite pictures that he has taken were not hard for him to list.

“There was Attack of the Bands of 2018, and it was one of the band’s drummers,” he said “It was taken at night, so the photo ended up blurry. The only thing that was blurry was the hands.”

The photo didn’t end up in the yearbook, but Boudreaux did win an award for it in the student showcase earlier this year.

“It was really crazy too because I had like, more photos than anybody else,” he said. “There was someone who was in one of my photography classes, and he was like, ‘Hey who is this Christian Boudreaux guy? He’s got like 15 of them.’” he laughs as he says this.

There are several football photos that he really likes.

“I didn’t really get good at taking those kinds of photos until this year,” he said. “My favorite assignment was the LSU game. It may be the wildest experience in college, just going out onto the field and taking photos out there.”

Christian took a photo of headliner Doja Cat at Demonfest last year.

“That could be in a magazine I feel like,” he said.

When it comes to the Potpourri, he thinks he has a lot more responsibility.

“I think this semester in general, I have a bit more control over the other photographer,” he said. “I’m taking more of a leadership role. I’ll say, ‘We need someone to go to this event’ or ‘Everybody just letting y’all know we need photos done in a certain way, and we need everything written down.’ It’s stuff like that, and I never really did that last semester.”

He’s more confident in himself and as a leader.

The Potpourri has taught Boudreaux something that you can’t learn in a classroom.

“I’m actually worth something, as a photographer and as an artist,” he said. “I feel like I have a lot more self-confidence about myself.”

Christian is proud of his work, and he should be, because people on the Potpourri staff certainly are.

“I’ve worked with Christian Boudreaux on the Potpourri staff for almost two years,” Rebekah Lorio, Greek Life section editor, said “As a fellow staff member, he’s always such a pleasant and dependable person to work with. As a photographer he’s extremely talented, and I won’t be surprised to see him go on to do amazing things in that field.”

Another lesson Boudreaux has learned is to always be prepared.

“You never really know, I get roped up in doing a lot of things,” he said. “Always be ready and be prepared to be tired, I guess, because I’m always tired.”

Something that Boudreaux hopes to take with him when he graduates is to just be good to other people.

“Coming here and being around other people has made it more clear to me,” he said.

Boudreaux was nervous as the deadline got closer, but the Potpourri turned out great in his opinion.

“Last year I got really nervous when the book was starting to come out,” he said. “I started to think ‘What if the book looks like crap?’ I wanted the photos in there to look good. I wanted it to be as good as it could be, and I honestly think it did. We did the best we could with it.”

Photography wasn’t the only reason the yearbook was such a successful product.

“I think also part of it was everything outside of photography. Just like the design of it in general, the writing and the overall direction of Megan,” he says.

He hopes to leave his work ethic behind for the Potpourri.

“I just wanted to do the best I could and be the best I could be,” he said. “If I were to leave anything behind, I hope it would be this want to be the best you could be and do the best you can do. Also have fun. I like to think that I take myself serious sometimes, but I know I don’t.”