Anyone who has seen Peyton Penuel driving his beloved Jeep Wrangler, camera in hand, American flag flying in the background, has seen Penuel’s true colors. He pursues photography as a career, but he also lives photography as a lifestyle.
Peyton Penuel, a junior digital media studies major at Union, has a passion for photography and a head-spinning schedule.
In the past month, Penuel has run sound for his home church, filmed a client’s wedding, photographed a close friend’s wedding proposal, edited his sister’s wedding video, served as a DJ for a fraternity party and a sorority party, created rush videos for Alpha Tau Omega and Zeta Tau Alpha and worked part-time making videos for West Jackson Baptist Church.
“I do all these things because I enjoy it.”Penuel said. “It is what I know. It’s what I’m good at.”
While going to class, working on digital media studies assignments and pursuing graduation, Penuel said he has found that his education and his life skill are quickly merging.
“Photography is what I do for fun,” Penuel said. “And it is what I do for class. It’s great.”
Penuel said editing his sister’s wedding video was a meaningful endeavor for him.
“She is a big part of my life, and the fact that I could use my skills to help on her special day was an honor,” he said.
Penuel has served numerous organizations, friends and classmates along the way, including his fraternity, Alpha Tau Omega.
He worked for the fraternity for three years without asking for payment.
His ATO pledge brother and junior marketing major,
“I appreciate the work Peyton has put in to make ATO a better fraternity,” said Dalton Deluca, Penuel’s ATO pledge brother and a junior marketing major.
Kate Lawrence, Zeta Tau Alpha’s recruitment party planner and a senior marketing major, said she is thankful for the work Peyton did for the sorority during recruitment.
“Peyton was so willing to help us with our rush video even though I knew he was really busy,” Lawrence said. “Even though Peyton knows us all as friends, he was so professional when he was working on our video.”
A valuable lesson Penuel said he has learned from his professors at Union is to “embrace your own style and to bring everything together in the final product.”
As a result, Penuel has found his own style, and it has defined who he is as an artist.
“I’m funky,” Penuel said. “I have a funky, natural style. My work has to have some spark to it, but I don’t want to have too much flair.”
