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Meet the former national park tour guide now leading Navy football

By in Photography

Meet the former national park tour guide now leading Navy football

  • Pete Thamel, ESPNAug 25, 2023, 05:00 PM ET

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Brian Newberry, the first-year head coach at Navy, reads a meditation from Marcus Aurelius every day. His summer reading list included “The Inner Game of Tennis” — long endorsed by Pete Carroll for the thinking football coach — and he’s a devout follower of John Wooden’s sporting philosophy.

With a bushy white beard and a résumé that includes amateur photography and being a tour guide at Glacier National Park, Newberry’s background isn’t from the academy handbook. After all, he’s from a landlocked state (Oklahoma) and once left the football coaching profession for six months and pondered applying to the Rocky Mountain School of Photography.

Newberry’s affinity for photography, nurtured from his time at Glacier, has taught him that light can often change perspective. And while he doesn’t fit the buzz-cut portrait of an academy coach, he has the opportunity to deliver Navy football into a new light.

The country will get a high-profile close-up of Newberry on Saturday. His debut after being elevated from Navy’s defensive coordinator comes in Dublin, Ireland, against No. 13 Notre Dame, the highest-profile game of Week 0 of the college football season.

While his look may be out of the military school paradigm, his hard-earned path to this spot and mentality will resonate with Navy fans.

“My philosophy and mentality is the same as when I was a defensive coordinator,” Newberry said. “We’re going to be super aggressive. We have nothing to lose.”

Newberry’s path here came after a modest playing career at Baylor was curtailed by injuries. By earning his degree in education there in 1998, he became the first member of his family to graduate from college.

His first job was at Glacier National Park in Montana, giving guided Red Bus tours in vintage 1930s convertible buses. Newberry would drive a nearly 35-mile road through the park, through the Rockies, over the continental divide and deliver a Going-To-The-Sun Road Tour.

He had about two weeks to prepare, which is a short time for a park with a long history. He admits to fumbling his first few attempts. “I was a horrible tour guide,” he said. “I got better as I went.”

He also picked up photography, joking that he joined Instagram back in 2011 when it was more of a place for photographers to showcase their work than a social media platform. His Instagram features snowscapes, skies with a kaleidoscope of colors, rustic farms, beaches at sunset and the occasional breathtaking mountain landscape, along with portraits of his family, including his wife, Kate, and two children.

He still has a Nikon 750 that he fiddles with in his free time. But he began experimenting in and around Glacier, where the area near the Many Glacier Hotel remains his favorite.

“The way you look at light and the way it hits things, and it just changes you,” Newberry said. “You’re more perceptive of your surroundings a little bit.”

The hobby shines a light on Newberry’s coaching style.

“I think I’m a little more Type B than the Type A, which is probably unusual for coaches,” Newberry told ESPN in his office this spring. “Most of them are pretty organized, and that’s not a strong suit for me. It hasn’t been, and I’ve had to develop. So I think the creativity piece is something that I may be pretty good at.”

And Newberry realized after dabbling in teaching that he could perhaps apply some of that creativity in coaching. He was recruited to Baylor by Grant Teaff, who helped him after Newberry sent letters to nearly every coach in the country.

Southern Arkansas coach Steve Roberts answered, and Newberry began a bootstrap career in Magnolia, Arkansas. While the surroundings and pay were modest, the experience was invaluable.

Roberts’ program ran the wishbone, as option football in some form has wound through Newberry’s career. And he soon found out how to operate as an underdog.

“We didn’t have the biggest budget, the best facilities,” Roberts said in a phone interview. “We did a lot of that ourselves — painting the fields or building meeting rooms or making 125 lockers for a locker room. We did it all. Brian was a part of that.”

Newberry’s path includes nearly two decades at lower levels before his first FBS job at Navy, which hired him as the defensive coordinator for the 2019 season. He bounced through Washington & Lee, Lehigh, back to Washington & Lee, Elon, Sewanee, Northern Michigan and Kennesaw State.

Newberry is appreciative of his long and winding path.

“I needed to be a GA and get beat down and cut grass and paint fields and clean bathrooms and locker rooms and do all that stuff,” Newberry said. “But it was awesome for me because as a GA at Southern Arkansas, I had a recruiting area. I ran a room early on. Most don’t get to do that. In retrospect, that was the best thing that could possibly happen to me. ‘Cause I got humbled a little bit and I did a lot of groundwork, which I needed to do.”

Newberry worked as the defensive coordinator for Ken Niumatalolo, the former Navy coach for whom he holds a strong appreciation. Newberry’s team will have some traits of those Navy teams and also new twists: an aggressive defense under new coordinator P.J. Volker and some new wrinkles in the option offense under new offensive coordinator Grant Chesnut, who comes from Kennesaw.

“I’ve coached a lot of places where we had to do more with less, so to speak,” Newberry said. “And that’s certainly the case here. The players know that we have to be the closest team in the country. We have to be the most disciplined team in the country. We got to be tougher than everybody else. We’ve got to play harder than everybody else.”

Whether or not those intangibles come together will unfold in front of millions on Saturday. Navy is a 21-point underdog to Notre Dame, as Newberry has a grand stage to unveil the new-look Midshipmen.

“In the right light at the right time,” Newberry said of the lessons from photography, “everything is extraordinary.”

And on Saturday in Dublin, Navy will try any way possible to deliver a memorable picture in the first snapshot the country will get of its first-year coach.

Indigenous youth connect to land, elders, and careers in the outdoors in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks

By in Native

Indigenous youth connect to land, elders, and careers in the outdoors in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks
image

A group of young Native leaders reconnected with their ancestral roots through a week-long adventure trip to the Teton and Yellowstone National Parks this August. The trip blended environmental education, intergenerational storytelling, ecological knowledge, cultural preservation, and outdoor exploration.

Thirteen youth from the Wind River Reservation and the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota came on the expedition as part of the Indigenous Youth Voices youth group. They were joined by five traditional elders and teachers from the Lakota, Dakota, Northern Arapaho, Eastern Shoshone, and Blackfeet Nations.

The trip was the first of its kind for the group, which partnered with Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and Teton Science Schools. It included kayaking at String Lake, whitewater rafting on the Snake River, and a wildlife tour through Yellowstone.

Lynnette Grey Bull is the leader of the youth group, which she started in early 2022. The group aims to expose young people to connections with the land and to leadership opportunities with conservation and outdoor recreation partners.

Grey Bull said she hopes these kinds of trips help support the next generation of Indigenous environmental stewards and create pathways into jobs and leadership positions in outdoor education, climate change and conservation.

“I want to create more spaces where our Native youth feel comfortable being out with the National Park, with entities like the Teton Science School and other groups out there that work on the great outdoors and work on environmental protection and climate change,” she said.

Grey Bull, who is Northern Arapaho and Hunkpapa Lakota, said there’s an overall shortage of people working in conservation and climate-oriented fields at large – and that Indigenous peoples’ stewardship-oriented traditions and worldviews are especially crucial for meaningful environmental work.

“We are taught at a young age that we use our medicinal plants during our ceremony times – cedars, sage, red willow and other elements – and every tribe has their own elements of what they use for medicinal and ceremonial practices,” Grey Bull said. “So we understand at a young age how important the earth is, we call animals our relatives.”

Even over the course of a few days, Grey Bull said she saw a noticeable change in the group.

“I hear them talking about ‘How can we get jobs in these areas? What kind of school do we have to go to learn more?’ All of them have told me, ‘Make sure you’re calling me on the next trip, you know, make sure to include me,’” she said.

Indigenous people used to inhabit and manage the spaces that have become National Parks and what are now called “public” lands. Yellowstone National Park is no exception – many different tribes interacted with the lands, waters, plants and animals of the area prior to being moved onto reservations by the U.S. government. Their long-lasting legacy of stewardship of the area was also removed from the park’s narrative for many years so that it could be marketed as “pristine” and “untrammeled.”

But despite this history of removal and erasure, Native peoples today continue to have long-lasting and powerful connections to the area – Yellowstone National Park recognizes 27 tribes with historical and contemporary ties to the land and Grand Teton National Park recognizes 24 associated tribes with connection to the lands and resources of the area. An article by Dr. Shane Doyle (Apsáalooke/Crow) on Indigenous place names in and around Yellowstone National Park speaks to a long and rich connection still alive today, and Native artists continue to highlight their contemporary presence in the space through art exhibits like Yellowstone Revealed.

Grey Bull said that, during their wildlife tour in Yellowstone, the group was able to share some of their own knowledge of the area with their wildlife guides in an act of cross-cultural learning.

“It wasn’t just them teaching us – we learned a lot from them, but we also were teaching them that this is our ancestral lands. This land, particularly Jackson and Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park, was our ancestral homelands for the Dakota, Lakota, Eastern Shoshone, Northern Arapaho, Nez Perce and Flatheads and a whole plethora of other tribes. We all have ancestral ties here,” she said.

Throughout the week, the elders and teachers on the trip told traditional stories and emphasized the importance of the oral storytelling tradition. Dr. Tarissa Spoonhunter, a professor of American Indian studies at Central Wyoming College, spoke to the students about the intersections of traditional ecological knowledge and careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math.

Dr. Spoonhunter, who is an enrolled member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe and a descendant of the Blackfoot Confederacy, also led the students in an activity practicing spoken and signed words in Arapaho.

Grey Bull said that creating the space for knowledge to be shared between the different generations who came on the trip was invaluable.

“Not only do we share our language and speak our language, but we also share things that they [the students] probably haven’t learned and won’t be able to learn in school. Some of our traditional and oral knowledge and historical knowledge, as many people know, is not told in the right way,” she said.

Grey Bull said she hopes the trip can be the first of many more opportunities for connections across generations, lines of work, and walks of life.

“I think it’s about time to build those bridges and build those educational spaces so that we can cross-educate and cross-knowledge share,” she said.

See How Photographers Reimagine Old Master Paintings

By in Photography

See How Photographers Reimagine Old Master Paintings
Double Mona Lisa (Peanut Butter and Jelly)

“Art About Art” features photos inspired by old masters, such as Double Mona Lisa (Peanut Butter and Jelly) by Vik Muniz.
Vik Muniz

As the Princeton University Art Museum undergoes renovations, its old master paintings remain behind closed doors. Still, even in storage, such works are the inspiration behind a new show, which opened on August 19: “Art About Art: Contemporary Photographers Look at Old Master Paintings.”

“As we rebuild, I wanted to remind the students and community at large that we have wonderful old master paintings in the collection that we can’t show at this time,” Ronni Baer, a curator of the exhibition, tells the Observer’s Casey Epstein-Gross.

“Art About Art” features 13 contemporary artists’ reimaginings of old master works. The show will be on view at the museum’s Art on Hulfish gallery while the main museum is closed for construction.

Lavatory Self-Portraits in the Flemish Style

In two photos from Nina Katchadourian’s Lavatory Self-Portraits in the Flemish Style, the artist uses toilet paper to mimic features of the attire of a 15th-century Flemish couple.

Nina Katchadourian

“This exhibition reveals how vital the art of the past remains to many artists working today,” says Baer in a statement from the museum. “The selection will encourage viewers to consider how contemporary photographers respond in various ways to famous compositions, seek to explore emotions as expressed in historical paintings, address issues of identity that were as pressing then as now and apply new technologies in surprising ways.”

Photos on display include Vik Muniz’s Double Mona Lisa (Peanut Butter and Jelly), inspired by Andy Warhol’s prints from the 1960s. The piece recreates the famous Leonardo da Vinci twice over—once in peanut butter, once in jelly.

Also on view is a diptych from Nina Katchadourian’s series Lavatory Self-Portraits in the Flemish Style. The artist poses as both the man and woman of a 15th-century Flemish couple, using toilet paper to portray distinctive features of their attire.

In another work, Ori Gersht crafts an arrangement in the style of European still life paintings. He then destroys the fruit in it, capturing the exact moment of explosion.

Pomegranate (Off Balance)

Pomegranate (Off Balance) by Ori Gersht captures the moment a pomegranate in a still life arrangement is destroyed.

Ori Gersht

The show is part of Princeton’s mission to “assure that works of the past can still be understood as living, breathing objects that were contemporary in their own time, and thus still have the capacity to spark inquiry,” says James Steward, the museum’s director, in the statement.

The exhibition explores centuries-old themes such as “identity and the fleetingness of life and … how we choose to live,” Baer tells Artnet’s Taylor Dafoe. For example, Jeanette May’s Dot Matrix, from the series Tech Vanitas, plays on the vanitas paintings of the Netherlands in the 17th century, which juxtaposed the inevitability of death with the trappings of affluence. However, rather than silk or ornate goblets, May’s photos feature obsolete technology thrown to the side in the pursuit of the next big thing.

Dot Matrix, Tech Vanitas

Jeanette May’s Dot Matrix, from the series Tech Vanitas, puts a contemporary twist on 17th-century Dutch still life paintings.

Jeanette May

“I think the exhibition provides inspirational teaching opportunities, raising questions about identity and iconicity and how and why artists engage with the art of the past,” Baer tells the Observer. At the same time, however, the show is designed to have a wide appeal, offering explorations of existential questions alongside “moments of fun and whimsy and discovery.”

“Some of the art is serious,” says Baer to Artnet. “But I hope people come and laugh.”

“Art About Art: Contemporary Photographers Look at Old Master Paintings” is on view at Art on Hulfish in Princeton, New Jersey, through November 5.

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Natives run the night at the Venue Shrine

By in Native

Natives run the night at the Venue Shrine

TVLSE, Oklahoma – Natives lined up to see Sten Joddi perform at the Venue Shrine in Tulsa. His set list included DJ Lonewolf, Frank Anthony, KickdHopeless, WOTKO, and Frisco featuring HV and MadMatt.

According to Sten Joddi, he carries a relationship with the Shrine organization after hosting the event last year.

“They were really excited with the diversity that I brought to their establishment,” he said. “I brought Indigenous vibes to the venue.”

After the first year, he learned that something was missing. That’s when he called Okie Podcast host/Sun Eagle Media CEO, Russel Sun Eagle to emcee the event, bringing a little comedy to the show.

The first artist Sten Joddi reached out to was WOTKO (Ryan Barnett) to book him for the show.

DJ Lonewolf was the next person Sten Joddi contacted. Sten Joddi uses Lonewolf Entertainment for services every time he is in Oklahoma.

The Shrine added KickdHopless to their set last year, this year he was brought back by Sten Joddi. WOTKO introduced Sten Joddi to Frank Anthony, who was also invited to come perform for the event.

Sten Joddi Visits New Prosper

A few days prior to the show, Sten Joddi visited the Mvskoke reservations’ first Native-owned recording studio, New Prosper Studio.

Sten Joddi booked two hours of studio time to get himself and a fellow artist from Oklahoma into the studio. During that time, Sten Joddi also freestyled with Frisco, HV, and MadMatt.

It was the story released by Mvskoke Media that caught his eye and piqued his interest to work with the New Prosper Studio/400 Waves label.

Sten Joddi during his visit to New Prosper Studios. (Courtesy: Mason McClellan)

According to Sten Joddi, he was impressed with the outcome of his track produced by HV, and even left the young musicians with recorded lyrics they could use in up-and-coming productions.

Originally, the three were not on the set list to perform that weekend. However, as the universe would have it, a spot became available. Sten Joddi called his new friends, asking them to perform.

“It was just the universe, all the good energy, and being home that kind of put all those things in alignment for me,” he said. “It wasn’t a big stress, it was all good vibes.”

According to the artist and emcee, the event, the night, and each performance was a seamless success with little, to no interruptions or problems.

“It was great to see all those Indigenous faces,” he said. “Even the non-Indigenous faces who came to check it out and to see them falling in love with all the different music that was presented to them.”

Each artist is different in their own way with one thing in common: each performer was Mvskoke.

As Sten Joddi has reached his current age of 40 years old, he sits back and looks at all the years he spent as a young rapper trying to be a voice for those coming after him.

“I didn’t have anybody to put me on until Sterlin Harjo and Rez Dogs gave me the platform to hear me,” Sten Joddi said. “I want to be able to do that and reciprocate those things to hip-hop and Muscogee people. “

According to Sten Joddi, Native entertainers are the least-paid entertainers in the industry.

“We can’t be afraid to ask for what we’re worth,” he said.

With sold-out shows and hotels across Tulsa that night, the local Native rap community set high standards with mainstream artists.

“We went up against some good competition that night and we packed the house,” Sten Joddi said. “At the end of the day, we are at the same level as other entertainers and we deserve the same opportunities.”

Sten Joddi has been in the music industry for over a decade now. He has won many awards, and recorded seven albums, amongst other accomplishments.

He has come to a point where he can truly enjoy himself and wants to help young artists succeed.

Although Sten Joddi is not sure of what is next, he is currently back home preparing his family for a new back-to-school schedule, producing tattoos in his shop, and making music in his studio.

‘Crank it up!’: Photographer opens new Bethlehem studio, offering inspired youth sports portraits

By in Photography

‘Crank it up!’: Photographer opens new Bethlehem studio, offering inspired youth sports portraits

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – A seasoned Lehigh Valley photographer is offering new services, including professional youth sports portraits, at a new studio in Northampton County.

Timothy Gangi, known for his wedding and engagement photography, in early August opened New Street Studios at 823 New St. in downtown Bethlehem.



New Street Studios

Lehigh Valley photographer Timothy Gangi in early August opened New Street Studios at 823 New St. in downtown Bethlehem. The studio offers sports portraits, headshots, commercial work and more. It is an expansion of Gangi’s existing business, Gangi Photography, which has specialized in wedding and engagement photography since 2013.


Ryan Kneller


The studio is an expansion of Gangi’s existing business, Gangi Photography, which has specialized in wedding photography since 2013.

At the new studio, Gangi is focusing on sports portraits, headshots and commercial work.

He’s especially excited to dive into the sports arena and capture images of talented young athletes in their best light.



New Street Studios


New Street Studios


Posts on the studio’s Facebook page invite parents to book a session for their “little champion” and “future pros.”

“Why settle for the same old cheesy school photos!” the post continues. “Let’s crank it up!”

“When I was growing up, kids’ sports photos were pretty basic with cheesy backgrounds of lightning bolts or not-so-great bleachers and stadiums,” Gangi said.

“But today, with more advanced technology, we can really capture a kid’s grit and determination in crisper and more creative photos. So, I’m looking forward to offering parents unique, lasting images of their kids, while also helping boost the kids’ confidence levels as well.”

Gangi, who graduated from Penn State University with a fine arts degree in 2006, has been a creative individual his entire life.

Before focusing on photography after college, he devoted much of his time to painting and drawing. He also enjoys playing the guitar.



Gangi Photography

Gangi Photography has specialized in wedding and engagement photography since 2013.


Gangi Photography


With his wedding photography, he captures small details in both candid and posed shots.

He utilizes creative photographic techniques, including various lighting methods, to capture vibrant and artistically composed images.

He also enjoys taking advantage of picturesque landscapes and breathtaking scenery at regional wedding venues, including Folino Estate in Greenwich Township, Woodstone Country Club in Lehigh Township and Glasbern Inn in Weisenberg Township.

“My strengths come from my strong creative background and pursuing the arts my entire life with a constant appreciation for the beautiful world around us,” Gangi said.

Gangi Photography has associate photographers to elevate clients’ experiences.

Two photographers bring “twice the lense power” and make sure that no fleeting detail is overlooked at your wedding, Gangi said. They also bring a diverse range of artistic styles and perspectives.



Gangi Photography

Gangi Photography has specialized in wedding and engagement photography since 2013.


Gangi Photography


“Our collaborative efforts will leave you with a timeless treasure trove of memories to relive and cherish for a lifetime,” Gangi said.

At his new studio, Gangi also is looking to expand his services to include pet and family portraits and more unique offerings such as iris photography.

“The iris is the colored part of the eye, and every iris is 100% unique,” Gangi said. “So, I could capture close-up shots of every family member’s iris and arrange them together. It would be more artistic and definitely a talking piece for your home.”

To book a consultation or for more information on photography services, visit newstreetstudios.com or gangiphotography.com. Info: 609-577-5532.

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