One Quarter Down...Seven To Go

Hey guys! Well the first quarter of grad school is officially over. Before I get to all that happened at my final presentation critiques, I'll go ahead and fill you all in a little update of other things. First of all, thank you to all of your prayers and support for my Father. To those who didn't know, Saturday night late, my Dad was feeling pains in his chest and my Mom took him to the hospital. At first I thought it was a heart attack, but luckily his blood work and tests came back ok. They then identified it as an intestinal issue that might have been causing the pains. Then, they found a few lumps on his lungs. The tests from those came back ok, and my Dad was released! :) Praise the Lord! He has to go back in a month just for a brief checkup, but he is in fine spirits and sounds like Dad :) It was such a weird feeling because I picture my Dad as this indestructible Superman. He still is! Thank you, Jesus.

My roommate Eric and I decided to rearrange the living room of our townhome apt. I know that sounds really "metro" of us haha, but we wanted to let more room in. And it worked well. Moved the flat screen TV to a different wall and arranged the furniture differently and now there is enough room in there to move around when we jam out to Rock Band on Wii or whatever.

I got rid of my Verizon Wireless account a week ago because I had had issues with my new Blackberry that I bought. It wouldn't let me check email, and when I called to get support they didn't really have any advice except to send it back to them and let them fix it. And I need my phone. Of course I tried to get a deal sorted out since it wasn't my fault and I just got the run around. So a fellow classmate was telling me about AT&T, so I checked their plans and rates out on my way to the Verizon store. It turns out, I can save $20 a month by switiching to AT&T and keeping my number and all my options. So I switched and got a new phone. But not just any new phone, mind you...the iPhone!!!!



Yeah it's pretty much the best thing EVER!!! It has GPS, Games, I can check up to 10 different e-mail accounts, find local cheap gas and restaurants, check my bank account, check my Facebook, watch videos, Instant messenger, make a grocery list, manage my calendar for weddings and other events, make restuarant reservations, monitor my health, etc. It does everything but brush my teeth and bathe me pretty much. I love it! The best part is a lot of the options are in an Application format that work super fast, so I rarely have to use my internet...even though that is fast...but more time consuming. I can check movie showtimes and order tickets. Just so much. I don't know why I didn't do this to begin with. Plus I'm saving $20 a month! My Blackberry couldn't do all of that. So yeah, needless to say I'm excited. Thank you, Apple iPhone haha.

This weekend I'm going home for Christmas break. Second Quarter doesn't start until Jan. 5! On my way home, I'm stopping in Greenville for the weekend to hang out with Andy, go on a "date" with my friend Meredith, and shoot some engagement photos for my friend Brittany. Then I'll keep driving North on home to Virginia on Sunday. YAY! I love home...plus we need to go get our Christmas tree. I think I've been listening to holiday music since Halloween.

Without further wait, I'll now go over my grad school critique. My Photography one was Monday night and it went really well! I think I made a great impression. I was kinda bummed though I had to go first of the seven of us. Oh well. They wanted to start out with an awesome photographer I assume :) I'll try and post all 12 of my final shots on here so you can see my final results. Some of them you have seen, and others you haven't. I think the favorite ones they seemed to love the best were my murder scene, fruit bowling, my roommate shot of him playing the guitar in the middle of the street and definitly my WWII widow shot. My professor actually said "I absolutely love this!" for that shot. :) My Writing critique was last night and it wasn't bad but not great either. I have a lot to work on as far as keeping the reader engaged and writing with deeper emotion, etc. But its ok. They could tell I was used to blog writing and also editorial writing in college. I'll post the photos in the next day or so. To those of you who have Facebook, you can see my work there. Or on my grad school photo page on my website www.redbulbphotography.com. Enjoy!! We won't find out our number grade for our work and critique until we get back in Januray. Which kinda sucks.

Keep praying for my sister Rachel as she prepares to leave the US Jan 12 for missionary training in Germany before heading to the Phillipines. I'm so excited for her! Also, I've been in talks with the International Mission Board regarding freelance photography assignments that maybe I can be involved with overseas on breaks from school. I'm waiting to hear back of any opportunities. Until then, I'll be keeping all of you in my thoughts and prayers and hope the holiday season is off to a great start. God Bless!

More to come...

Giving Thanks & Getting Prepared

What a nice battery charge I received at home this past weekend for Thanksgiving break from life in Atlanta. (Not that I'm not loving it down here). But I'm pretty sure about 85% of the people out there will agree that there is just nothing like going home.

I took the Amtrak train home because A it was cheaper, B I didn't want to deal with traffic in this crazy city and C I could sleep. A normal drive home to Virginia is about 8 hours, but the train took 10 due to stops and stuff. The train left Wednesday night at 8p but didn't arrive in Lynchburg til a little after 6a Thanksgiving morning. The train ride up there was not pleasant. It was so crowded because of the holiday I take it and it made it almost impossible to sleep the first several hours. I sat next to some guy up until the stop in Charlotte and then at that point this African-American man sat next to me and he was quite an interesting character. He decided to use his cell phone and drop the F-bomb to his friend about everything imaginable. When he hung up, I noticed the wallpaper of his cell was a naked black chick hahahahaha. I literally started laughing out loud. Luckily, I was watching Fred Claus on my laptop so he probably assumed I was laughing at that. Little did he know... So yeah he finally moved to his own seat once the train cleared up, but by that time it was already 3a and I couldn't fall asleep. The ride back overnight Sun into Mon morning was much smoother.

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorites simply because my whole family is together. With five children my parents had a hand in creating, it's hard to get us all together a lot. There was about 20 people at the table Thursday night. My immediate family including siblings-in-law, my brother-in-law's folks, my aunt, three niece and nephews, a friend of my sister's and three friends of another sister. Yeah it was crazy but that's why we love it. Not to mention it's the time of year when we make chocolate eclair cake, but that is a blog in itself. Also that Sunday morning I was thrilled to be in town at the time of my sister's commissioning service in front of the entire Thomas Road Baptist Church. She is leaving in January to be a missionary for two years with Wycliffe and the church took up an offering and also had a moment of prayer over her with all of us on stage in support. It's weird to think that she won't be with us until 2011. I'll be done with grad school by then, or maybe even married. Weird indeed. This Christmas and New Year will be bittersweet. That same Sunday was also baby dedication, and my nephew Gavin got dedicated! I was very fortunate to be in town. Gosh, I love my family! We also haven't had an updated family photo since last Thanksgiving, so I provided my Nikon D700 to the cause of a new family photo we took at the church. Here are a few for you to enjoy. (More photos from the weekend are on Facebook).


These were our formal family photo and then of course our signature Hampton sense of humor. Here is one of us 5 siblings...and us picking on the youngest.


Yeah, the Hampton sarcasm and humor is something in itself to be thankful for.

This week is Studio Week here at school. It basically is a week of no classes so you have immense free time to work on your due projects. I think I expressed the whole critique and deliverables thing in the last blog. I have 15 total final projects to show for critique, and of those I have 11 completed. Just 4 to go! Tonight I finished my mailer for Photoshop class which is basically a mock postcard for your business front and back. It looks really nice I think and I'll post it on here next week when all assignments are done. I also finished the window assignment for Photoshop class. We're to take a photo of any window we want on a building and then place a separate photo within that window. I captured a window at a church and then placed a sunrise picture in the window. You'll see that soon as well. Finally, I finished my "Up High" assignment for Photoshop class where we were told to shoot something up high in the sky or at a certain vantage point, etc and then place stuff in that photo to make it look like it was already there. My original idea was a photo of Atlanta skyline and then I would put a dozen planes in the sky. Then I thought of a better idea with this Abercrombie billboard near my apartment. I shot the billboard and decided to put my head on the guy's body to make it seem like I was on the billboard hahahaha. I just have to show it to you now...


Hahaha I think it turned out pretty well. I hope this at least brightens your day if nothing else does.

I got my critique presentation times and I ask that you keep me in prayer for those. My Photography critique presentation is Monday Dec. 8 @ 6:30p and my Writing one is Tuesday Dec. 9 @ 6:30p. After that I'm finished for the quarter! I'll hang around Atlanta several days before going to Greenville that weekend of the 11th to shoot Engagement Photos, see some friends like Andy and Meredith, and visit the school etc on my way home to Virginia for break. Then second quarter begins Jan. 5.

Last thing, keep mentioning my business to any friends you may know getting married. I'm up to 13 weddings now, including one in Houston, TX. It's really going well. How I'll balance school in the summer with wedding season will soon be revealed. www.redbulbphotography.com. That is all for now. I hope everyone is doing well and keeps me posted on their own life's chronicles. God Bless!

More to come...

The End is Coming...School, not the World.

So it's been a while since I've actually updated about school life and how things are going for me. And quite honestly, I couldn't be more thrilled! At the start it was a little hard to find my place and to get in the flow and get over personal hurdles I needed to. But here I am and I am absolutely loving it and feeling blessed that God has brought me so incredibly far. Looking back over this last year seriously just floors me. I'm so encouraged.

School has been terrific. I can see why people have said Portfolio Center is the best part of their life. It's not just that I'm getting valuable training here for my future, but I'm meeting some amazing people and making great friendships...even with teachers...that I know will last forever after these two years here in the program. I'm really enjoying the challenges and obstacles certain assignments create. I'm doing my best to rise to the challenge too. For one class one assignment (which I have yet to shoot) is "motion." We basically have to capture motion in our shot. A lot of the students in the class seem to just be turning in this abstract-looking photographs. And thats really fine and their stuff looks great, but really all that's going on is they are opening their shutter speeds for a long exposure and shaking their camera in the process to get a blurry photo. And the stuff looks cool, but Im just not that abstract kind of person. So I've been coming up with an idea for mine to try and have a story. So this weekend I'll be shooting my friend Eric at the train station and I'm hoping that he will be in focus while people walking around him and on/off the train will be blurry. And I'll have him listening to an iPod or something. My other shoot went really well! We were assigned a year and told to shoot a subject with natural window light. I got 1945 and chose to shoot a WWII widow. Here is the final result...

I really love this shot idea too. I got all of these props from online and shot it at my apartment. Unfortunately I have to reshoot because I'm an idiot and didn't pay attention to certain detail, but my professor really loved my concept and idea and composition. So I'm looking forward to nailing it even more at the reshoot in a week or so. For one of my other classes we had an assignment called "Fruit" and we are to make fruit be something else. I chose to do bowling...

I made the bowling alley out of graham crackers, the bowling pins are summer squash and then I used a watermelon as the bowling ball. My professor for this class really loved my concept and idea too. A lot of the other students had really awesome ideas for theirs too. One student had radishes cut and painted to look like sperm and then a tangerine as an egg hahaha. It looks awesome!

Critique week is kinda like finals week and it is coming very fast. We're pretty much done with this quarter. Once we come back from Thanksgiving that week is called Studio Week where we finalize all of our projects and make sure everything is perfect and then that following week is Critique Week where you are assigned a time and you go in a room in front of a panel of outside professionals in the industry and they judge your work, or "Deliverables" that you present to be judged/critiqued. Sounds intense, I know haha. Of the four classes I have, I have 16 total Deliverables to present. 12 of which are different photo assignments and the other 4 are writing assignments from my writing class. Of the 16, I have roughly 3 of them completed and ready to print. A lot of the other work for the other deliverables is shot and stuff, it's just a matter of tweaking and adjusting to perfection. So crunch time is upon me.

I met with the head instructor for the writing dept. this morning just to dicuss my future goals regarding my magazine and my long-term dreams and vision I have. He was really amazingly supportive and encouraging about it and had a lot of great advice. It's something that blows my mind getting used to the fact that all of the instructors here are really here for us at any time of the day and they seriously bend over backwards to help us out. He was basically telling me they may have to create a separate curriculum for me because they have never had a Portfolio Center student want to do something that I want to do. Which is really cool to hear, but at the same time a little nervous knowing I'll be a guinea pig in a lot of ways. But I'm very open-minded about it and looking forward to what these next quarters have to offer. I have a feeling these two years here is going to fly by! Continue to keep me in your prayers as I know you will be. 1 Quarter just about over and 7 more to go haha.

I'm really looking forward to going home for Thanksgiving in two weeks! I'm taking an Amtrak train home because it's actually cheaper than driving. So that should be fun. I can't wait to see my family and my niece and nephews! I freakin' love my family and the holidays! This year will be a little bittersweet because my sister Rachel will be leaving us at the New Year to be a missionary for two years and we won't really see her until she returns. Weird feeling. I'm so proud of her though. It's weird to think that when she returns, I'll be done with school and working Lord knows where! Awesome! The Hamptons are taking over! Hahaha. But I'm very much looking forward to the holiday season and recharging my batteries. I really want to find work or something over the break to make a little cash. Hey I can always "wrap" presents at the mall haha. Luckily wedding season is upon me. The first one in January. I have about 12 weddings in 2009 so far and I'm very blessed that is going so well. If you guys havent checked out my site, www.redbulbphotography.com please do so. I keep some other grad school shots on there also.

For now I think thats about all the update that I have. Keep me posted on how all of you are doing and I look forward to seeing you all soon! God Bless and thanks so much for your continued prayer and support!

More to come...

A New Dawn: Where is My America?

Well the election is over. That fact is the only thing I was praising. Somehow I had no doubt that the people in this country are a big bunch of idiots. It was just proven more accurate when they elected Osama Obama as our 44th President. And yes, I'll say that I think it's awesome to witness this historic event of our first Black president. (Don't any of you dare correct me and say "African-American" or I'll start making you refer to us crackers and whiteys as "Caucasian Americans"). I think it's so cool to see how far we've come as a collective race of people. So I do applaud this new dawn for only that reason. But that is only so cool for a while. It's just like saying, "Oh look, a rainbow!" and so you pull over to look at it but eventually you have to keep driving and get back to the real world. That's what this "race card" election is to me. One big amazing rainbow. Now let's hope that rainbow has got a mother load of good solutions.

I can't help but think that I'm scared. This whole election race has irritated the crap out of me. First of all, if I hear one more person speak about "change," I'm going to hit them in the face. I'm also sick of all of the Obama supporters with their "Yes, we can!!!" Well friends you very well could've been ALREADY. It's called respecting your country and leader and doing your part to support. What exactly "can" "we" do? I'm waiting for the first person to enlighten me on this. I'll get to my opinion of what we all can do in a moment. Right now I'm just venting before the air gets sucked from the sky and the world blows up. Black people say they aren't voting for Obama just because he is black. I apologize for this, even though I do know a few friends who gave me good reasons why they voted for him, but as a majority I'm going to call out a big BULL to that one. Of course you voted for him based on his race. The moment he won all I could see online and people's away messages among my black friends was "We did it! The first black President!" and similar anecdotes. Well, yes you did do it. You got so blinded by the change in history that you forgot about the more important changes for our children's history. Like I said...a rainbow is only so beautiful...and then it disappears.

I'm not happy about this at all. I've had to say goodbye to a lot in my life. But seriously the funerals are going to get worse! We will be saying goodbye to our freedoms. I don't mean freedoms you think you should have. I mean freedoms that were guaranteed to us by our founding fathers and by the good Lord in scripture. Homosexual marriage is no freedom. Abortion is no freedom. I'm talking about freedoms that matter. Like keeping our faith in this country without fear of persecution. (Hope you enjoy your final Christmas before we can't call it that anymore). Like keeping our well-earned wages and not having them deposited to the trash living out there milking the welfare tit who don't need it. I'm talking about our right to free speech! Now if some of you guys love Russia, then you're good. No need to worry about life in the U.S. By all means, get settled for that lifestyle. But for the rest of us who aren't dead from the heart up, we need to fight for our freedoms and the rights we have come to believe in.

You have no idea the change we're all in for. None of us do! I'd like to give Obama the benefit of the doubt, but I just have far too many doubts and not enough giving spirit. You might as well write down abortion kits on your grocery list because that's what its going to come down to. Over the counter baby killers right next to the Tylenol. But don't mix those up we wouldn't want to hurt you. Just the living...breathing...healthy baby living inside of you. I do support a woman's right to choose, and that choice should be to keep your legs closed! And if you can't do that, give that baby to someone who will love it in the adoption world and not the leftover Sunday dinners in the garbage can. And while I do respect all of my homosexual friends, I do NOT respect their lifestyle. I know some of them from back home and some new ones here in Atlanta at school. They are all very terrific people and very excellent friends. However, I just don't think their lifestyle should become a part of law. Yes, love them, be friends with them, but by God don't say "Hooray for gay marriage!" I do recall God crying with happiness in scripture when he created woman out of man. Because he had given us a gift. I'm not trying to start a gay debate, nor am I lighting a pitchfork and taking matters into my hands. I love my gay friends (and if you have problem with the word gay, then get over it.) The one thing we have forgotten is we are all people. ALL of us were created by God to do His works and wonders for His glory here on this earth. The challenge has just increased ten fold.

We just welcomed a new dawn. But how many dawns will we greet in the days to come? I don't know if this is the end of the world, and I don't quite care. I don't know if Obama is the anti-Christ and I also don't quite care. All I know is we as believers have been given a task. It's the reason we all still breathe. In my personal opinion, the church has gotten just as backwards as the government, but what a time for the church to take this opportunity...come together...and we have this moment to be helping steer this hand of change in the right direction. If there is one thing that angers me more than anything it is casual believers. I can't stand it. A lot of them are my friends. After the results came in last night, I heard a lot of people telling each other "let's calm down." Calm down?! To me this is just like 9/11. I want rage! Rage for what was done in this country. I'm not saying let's bomb the capitol haha I'm just saying we are allowed to be upset. God got upset before. Remember the flood? This is a time for us to pray. To live. To fight. To be on the forefront of this new dawn and guarantee our future. Help those who don't believe to guarantee their future. It's so hard, but we can do it. Don't you dare tell me to calm down. As believers, none of us should be calm.

Here at school is such a hard adjustment because I'm in a vast minority. A conservative. I think I tend to be more moderate in my politics, but everyone is saying Obama this and that and how "cool" he is. Which is fine. You're supporting your candidate and it's allowed. "Cool" is when you can save money, or get to the next level on a video game, NOT give an inexperienced man a brand new job. That's like promoting a known struggling alcoholic in the office as the new CEO. What I will NOT tolerate is the Bush bashing, the name calling and the childish pointing of fingers. I have to listen to people at school go on and on and on about this new age, peace in the world bull crap and it's like hearing a constant ringing in the ears that is ok at first but after a while it's like "PLEASE SHUT THAT NOISE UP!" So I have been told by a few people to be careful what I say at school. I'm sorry, what?! Be careful? Why in God's name should I be concerned with treading softly? If you'll recall, Jesus was a radical! All I can promise is, if people at school boast about crap and rant and rave about this, they better be prepared to hear the opposite comin from the tall, dimpled, skinny kid in the glasses. I'm just not one of those Christians who wants to let the tide wash over them, smooth them out and dull their edges. We are called to be like the Solid Rock not a smooth average pebble. We are all allowed our opinion...for a while at least. If I'm not getting respect for mine, don't expect me to scoop out respect for theirs. We need to be drawing our swords and fighting for His glory til the trumpet sounds. I'm just not one of those people who relies on prayer alone. yes, by all means, PRAY! Sweet Lord was I praying a lot this week. But you need to realize God instilled in us everything we need to act ourselves while we wait for His answer to our prayer. If you want to be on your knees in prayer, awesome, but at least be praying with an alert attitude! And I apologize if this is offensive, but if you are a believer who plays it safe and flies under the radar, you need to WAKE UP!

I'm not happy about this new dawn, but I will say this. I am a man of God. I am a loving person. I do my best to love everyone around me and respect them as God's creation. As much as I don't agree with our new President-elect, I will do my part to help him in this new day. We all have a part to play. And it's not a job description that requires sitting down. Get up! Fight! Live! Breathe! Do all things for His glory and in His name. What did God say about love? Among all things He created, the greatest of these is love. Here are some lyrics to a terrific Josh Kelley song, "More than love"

It's never been a simple equation
To figure out what we believe
And its far from a celebration
Were all searching for relief
Theres a world beyond the mirror
But sometimes all I see is me
Getting lost in my reflection
Losing touch. falling out of reach
It really is a wonder
How weve come so far
It seems that all we really care about is who we are

What if love is not enough to keep the world from breaking up?
If we're all out of touch will we ever know what is enough?
Whats more than love?
Whats more than love?

Its an empty ambition
examining philosophy
falling for the inqusition
of what its all supposed to mean
theres a dream around the corner
but no one goes down that street
its not an obvious decision
But it can lead to everything
It really is a wonder how we've come so far
Searching for a better way to play our part

What if love is not enough
to keep the world from breaking up?
If we're all out of touch
will we ever know what is enough?
Whats more than love?

As blind as we are. The truth can still be seen
Beneath all these scars youll find a heart that still beleves that

Love is enough to keep the world from breaking up
If we're all out of touch will we ever know what is enough?
Whats more than love?
Whats more than love?

As much as I rant and rave about this I will do my part. I will fight with love. I've really got nothing against anyone, just sheer disbelief that we were blinded by someone's cool factor. I could care less if my next president knows cool hand shakes with his wife or can relate to the youth of the country. What I care about is that the youth of the country still have a country we can leave to them in one piece. Like I said, I have my doubts. Where is my America? The one I used to be proud of. The one I used to be allowed to sing about and take pledge to in public schools. The one that used to care about me in return. I have a feeling we are in for a long haul. Any of you fellow believers not up for the challenge? If that's the case, sit back down let the tide smooth you over. It's time to be rough. It's time to be bold. It's time to be more like Jesus than ever before.

Final Class Day

Ok, so this will probably be the last post for a while. You're welcome for this little reading break after this. Today was my last day of new classes and all the experiences that come with the "first day." I, once again, got up around 6:30a to shoot the sunrise. (Hopefully you guys saw the last post and my photos I put with it.) I decided to ride my bike, again, down to Piedmont Park and shoot some photos but at a different area of the park than the other day. And this morning was the first cold morning so I had to put long sleeves on. I'm thinking I can sleep in another 15-20 minutes each day simply because I get to my destination and then I feel like I have all this time to kill before the sun actually shows its ugly face. If you are dying to see the photos from that, I guess I can be a nice guy and show them to you. BUT, after this, no more previews. I dont want anyone else to see these shots that could go to my school. Im not even sure Im allowed to post them. Oh well, so this is the last time. These are my sunrise shots from today.



Yeah so those are the five top picks for this morning. Not bad really, but not as great as yesterday. So then I peddled my skinny tail back to my apartment in downtown to get ready for my class at 9a. This class was Intro to Photoshop. I was afraid I would have to get bumped to a intermediate level class, because I felt I knew a lot of Photoshop already. But most of it was self-taught and I did end up noticing that the syllabus mentioned a lot of areas we would cover that I wasn't 100% on. So I decided it best to stay in the class for a good refresh of the memory, plus get to learn new ways to do things and new things all together. I think it will be a really fun class! I then had maybe 45 minutes at most to go back to my place for some lunch before my 1p class started. This class is Emotive Writing. It's basically a creative writing class. There are only 3 of us in the class. Me and two girls. I think it'll be an incredibly helpful class. Definitely help me brush up on my creativity and be more descriptive with writing the surroundings and descriptions of places and characters. We did a few in-class assignments. Our homework, believe it or not, is to actually go to a type of bar this weekend, take in the surroundings and what we see, touch, feel, etc. Our homework is to write a personal essay, very descriptive, about our experience. Hahaha it sounds interesting enough. So I'm goin to drag my roommate with me to this "bar" partly so I'm not completely alone like a dork and also so we can get away from the school some and relax, even though I'm "on assignment." It'll be a fun class.Who am I kidding? This whole experience and all my classes is going to be amazing, and has already proven to be true.

After class I went to the Professional Photographer's Resources place and bought a tripod, which came highly recommended. It came to about $240 with a student discount. Yeah, it hurts my heart too. But its a great brand and top-of-the-line. I'm sure through the years it will pay for itself and then some.

Tonight those of us in the Natural Light class were given an option to either shoot the sunset or attend a lecture at the High Museum of Art. The lecture was being given by Gregory Heisler, www.gregoryheisler.com He is the photographer that actually is freakin' incredible. DO check his site. He is speaking at the school tomorrow for our weekly seminar. He has shot 73 covers for Time magazine. I mean the things he has shot blows my mind. The lecture tonight was about a great photographer, Arnold Newman. Mr Heisler was Mr. Newman's assistant for 10 months, who has since passed away. So it was a whole lecture about who he was, his style and his legacy. It was amazing! I couldn't help but sit there and think about how in the future, there could be lectures about me and my work I left to the world. It's crazy to think about, and yet, just as possible of happening. He touched on a little about the importance of individuality in your work and how it is sort of like your true personal style. Where someone will look at a shot and be able to say "That looks like a Hampton original" or something like that. It was good to hear, because my whole purpose is to really shoot things other people might not have seen normally themselves, or other photographers might not have seen themselves for that matter. To really stand out among the crowd. Like a specific needle in a stack of needles. Like that needle I need to be sharp, and leave my creative mark forever. Definitely something to be keeping in mind as I'm going to be shooting everyday.

Thats about it for my first week of grad school. Tomorrow is just seminar, so I doubt I'll be updating with how that went. This weekend I will be trying to find some great places to shoot and some creative places and angles to do that. I was thinking maybe the airport for some reason. We'll see. Use my resources and don't ever settle. Keep pushing the envelope and break the seal. Thanks so much for all of your prayers and support. I can't wait to see some of you soon.

More to come...

P.S. - I got my school photo I.D....what do you think? Haha

Another Day...

Ok guys, I promise not to keep these updates every day and bother you. I just had another report for my second day of classes, and my first official day on my sunrise/sunset photo shoot. I got up around 6am...let's all let out a sad groan together, ok?...I grabbed a bite to eat real quick and rode my bike about 20 blocks give or take a few to Piedmont Park downtown Atlanta. It was a really nice bikeride and my calves and thighs of thunder thank me right now. (Shots of the day at the end of this post).

My class was right after my morning ride/shoot. I was able to grab a shower to wake up more and head across the street for class. (Not having to drive is freakin' awesome!) The class today was Introduction to Photography. I absolutely love it! The professor is really enthusiastic and really nice. He is a white guy from South Africa and also a believer from what I'm told. Which is cool. But the assignments are going to be really cool for that class and a great opportunity to push the creative envelope. One example to be done by next week is "Worm's Eye-View." We have to shoot all shots from the ground looking up or just from a low point, putting ourselves in the mind of a worm. Sounds exciting...and challenging, but Im set for that challenge.

The shoot tonight was at Centennial Park downtown, but I took the Marta for that. I mean, I bought a city pass, might as well use that bus ticket. The sunset location was not as great as I had hoped. I forgot there were building on both sides, completely blocking direct sunlight. So I had to try my best to improvise. Here are the shots of the day: They are a little mixed up. Five of them are sunrise and the other five are sunset. The first four are sunset as well as number seven with the olympic rings. The ones with the dew/fog and the good orange color are sunrise. Dont get used to seeing my work, but I thought you might want to see first day attempts.

Photoshop class tomorrow. More to come...

Day One Report: Survived!

I'm in a state of being overwhelmed right now. Not in a bad way really in the slightest, but more so just like one of those things where you are running really fast and I am in that moment of catching my breath after a long sprint. Like the running was good for my soul and body, and now I'm just trying to take it all in and recharge my batteries. We had orientation this morning for Portfolio Center at 9am. Eric and I, being the enthused and eager beavers we are, got there like 30 minutes prior. Rolling stone gathers no moss, my friends.

It started out pretty basic. Here you will learn this and apply it to that and it will help you become him/her. It was honestly really deep and informative more than what I'm making it seem. I think one of the things Eric and I are discovering is that everyone there truly cares about your success in the program and in the career field after words just as much as you do yourself. And that feels good, because it's not like these are people who are just getting paid, and want you to do it a set way so you can be this type of cookie-cutter creative arts person. Not at all! They encourage you to push the envelope, to never settle, hit the ground running, get to know your peers because you will know them forever, etc. It's a really welcoming and calming feeling. One of the staff described it best saying that they take care of each other there just as much as a family would and should. Everyone is there to help you figure stuff out and make sure you are doing what you need to be doing. Like honestly this morning you could just feel the creative juices flowing through everyone and there was like an anxiety to begin. An anxiety that will never dissipate from here on out I'm sure.

We got our schedules...here is mine:
* Mon 9a-12p: Natural Light. This is the Photography course I was talking about already where one assignment is shooting subjects with the lighting at sunrise and sunset everyday for the next 8 weeks...weekends too!
* Tues 9a-12p: Intro to Photography. I really hope this isn't a class that won't teach me anything new. I really want to be pushed in this class and maybe even drive my passion from the start.
* Wed 9a-12p: Intro to Photoshop. Same applies with this course. I really hope it helps me harness the skills in this program that I already know and also learn and adapt some awesome new ones
*Wed 1p-5p: Emotive Writing/Grammar Boot Camp. I have honestly no idea what to expect of this class except that my Wednesdays will be PACKED!
*Thur 10a: Seminar. This is required of all students where people from the industry come in and share. Much like "Chapel" at my undergrad.

But thats my schedule for the first quarter. I know it might not seem like much, but I'm pretty positive my butt will get kicked. I actually had a class today. My Natural Light class met. We got to meet the professor for the first time. He is really cool, Jerry Burns. www.studioburns.com to see his work. He is one of the most well-known photographers, as I understand it, in the Atlanta area. But he seems like a really genuine guy. I know he expects a lot out of us and our work but I can also tell he genuinely wants to help us become a better photographer than we thought possible. It's exciting. In class, we had to take photos of each other. There are 7 of us in the class. The girl I took photos of had a really good sense of humor. She was totally hitting on me too. Kidding...or am I? The professor went over the syllabus, requirements and some assignments to come in the next few weeks. Oh the excitement! Tomorrow is my first day for the Intro to Photography class. I hope that goes well. Be praying for me.

Eric and I went and checked out a church on Sunday. Buckhead Church, www.buckheadchurch.org What an amazing place! I loved it! I will seriously keep going back every week its just a matter of work for school but more so if its a place where I can get connected and really get to know people my age who are also Christians. Especially since I've noticed A LOT of the students at PC are not what Im used to. But this is a fact I have already expected. It's just going to take getting used to. But this church was phenomenal! The worship was great! The message was awesome, and really spoke to me. It was about how God uses the negatives in life to grow us in our faith, and immediately I started thinking about this entire last year with my ex, and Nashville and the job struggle and it really showed me where I've come from. It just made me smile. Knowing that God brought me here on faith alone to PC and Atlanta. That I put my faith fully in Him that this is the route He had prepared for me, and today I started walking it. Like I said...overwhelmed...and I love it! I'm hoping as each day goes by I'll survive it like I did today. With this wit, charm, dimples and faith of course I can hahaha.

More to come...

P.S. Thanks to EVERYONE for their birthday wishes! 25 was a great one!

It's Been One Week...

Well, a lot has been going on this week as Eric and I have gotten settled into Atlanta living conditions, walking non-stop, waiting on city busses non-stop and praising the fact that we now have our cable and internet...non-stop. The first thing I need to get off my chest is a funny, sad-but-true story. The other night we were decorating our place, and by decorating I mean hanging up the 47 NYC things we have. I decided I was going to take the opportunity and meet a neighbor. She lives right next to us. To be honest, the only reason I said I'd go meet her was because we knew it was a girl living there and we wanted a closer look. No, that isn't the sad-but-true part. So she opens her door and I'm standing there talking to her for a bit. Her name is Connie. She goes to State. She looks as if she is a rocker-type chick who can kick my tail, but then again who can't? She mentioned she works a lot so, naturally, I asked her where. She is a stripper at Tattle Tales hahaha. Now that I know that, we have tickets to the VIP room there and she is planning a special show for my 25th birthday on Sunday! Only kidding...or am I? (insert evil laugh here).

But yeah, on a more serious note. We have mostly been spending the week getting to know our way around Atlanta. Figuring our good routes to get to where on the Marta, finding the library, post office, learning back roads, walking around downtown. I went by myself to the aquarium which was really cool. Feel free to file that into the sad-but-true category also if you desire. I don't, however. Our apartment is completely finished with the set up and that makes us officially moved in as Atlanta residents. This time last year I was saying that for Nashville. Weird how much difference a year makes. Tomorrow is our last official day of "freedom" before grad classes/orientation starts on Monday. We are going to Buckhead Church tomorrow morning (www.buckheadchurch.org) Looks pretty awesome and Eric has heard a lot about it. Also I'll be doing a little something I like to call....CELEBRATING MY 25th BIRTHDAY!!!! Man I cant wait to hit my VIP seat at Tattle Tales! Or is it "tails"? Hmmm...I'll leave that one to question forever. (Don't worry, mom)

I got a syllabus for one of my classes. I take 5 classes (what the other 4 are I wont find out until Monday at orientation). I guess the professor decided to get an early jump. The class is "Natural Light." One of our assignments is every day for the next 8 weeks we get to shoot subjects at both sunrise and sunset. Sounds pretty cool, but to those who know me know the sunrise is going to be a huge adjustment. I'll find out if my clock actually does show anything other than double digits in the morning hours. Im up for the challenge though. We also have to read "Girl With A Pearl Earring" for artsy reasons. I was joking with Eric how it would be funny to take that book out with me places to read like at bus stops, and other embarrassing public outlets.

I got to shoot some photos of our apartment. There are about 24, and if you have Facebook, I suggest you look at all of them in my "Atlanta Living...So Far" album. There are also photos in that album from all over Atlanta and the aquarium too. Here are 4 photos: Living Room; Dining Room; and two photos of my Bedroom.



We are anxiously awaiting the start of the quarter. www.portfoliocenter.com is the school site if you want to look it over. I'm looking forward to this new beginning...with a little bit of excitement and a whole lot of nerves. I'm sure the two will balance out as the week progresses. At least I hope so. I'll let you know how Monday goes, once I survive it :)

More to come...

A New Chapter Begins...

For some reason when I just typed that Blog title, I thought of As the World Turns...weird. Anyways, I made it to Atlanta!!! Just spend my first night last night in our apartment ("our" meaning Eric and I, who was a friend of mine from NGU, also going to Portfolio Center). My parents, who love me dearly, moved me down here from VA on Friday and we moved everything in Saturday morning. Two flights of stairs can take a toll on you when you're moving furniture. But we're living in a townhome apartment right in Downtown Atlanta near Buckhead. We love it so far!!

Last night we made a much needed Wal-Mart run to get the essentials, wall hooks, groceries, etc. Everything is pretty much set up in our apartment. I decided to paint horizontal stripes around the circumfrance of my room...hard to explain, but Ill post some pictures when its done. We just have wall decorations left. A LOT of NYC themed stuff.

Today we went to the Atlanta Braves v. New York Mets game. It was a lot of fun and Im glad we decided to go. Eric had won free tickets that ended up being in pretty good seats out in the outfield. We chose not to drive, but instead, took a city bus and metro to get there. Helped us become more well acquainted with our home city for the next two years. After the game, we headed back and decided to walk back to the apartment instead of take the bus, because we wanted to see how long a walk would be from our apartment to the metro station. So basically, after an hour had passed we finally arrive at our place haha.

We're currently at Panera Bread a few blocks over using the internet and ordering Comcast cable and internet. I was really hoping for some free wireless internet off of a neighbor, but oh well. But we are loving it so far. Im a big city guy at heart for sure...it became evident in day one. We're both very anxious to get started at Portfolio Center. But classes dont start until a week from tomorrow. I just want to know my schedule, meet new people and form new friendships. I just hope Ill be outgoing and everyone will be very welcoming and not intimidating. Cause Lord knows I'll pop someone's big head ego like a balloon. :) Dont give me that WWJD, because He would use humility to teach a lesson I know it.

I dont feel overwhelmed just yet. Nashville life definitely prepared me for larger cities and living on my own. Im not going to be looking for a job until Jan/Feb when our rent special is over. Right now we get half off the first four months (about $250 each) and then it'll double after that. About $1,000 a month total. Ugh! Hurts my stomach, believe me. But we're in a great location! There is one of my banks, Chick-fil-A, Kroger and many other places all in walking distance. Yay for saving gas! Im not sure if we are going to Six Flags this week because they are only open on weekends and I doubt we will do that until friends or family come for a visit before the park closes Nov. 2nd.

Thats about all of an update for now. Tomorrow I think I might go with Eric and his mom who is coming for a visit to Ikea and some other places. Also I need to work on painting my room so that headache can be over. But now Im headed off of this Panera wifi spot, putting my crumbs of the Roast Beef and Cheddar in the trash, and headed home. 25th Birthday in a week, and I saw a Cheesecake Factory not too far from me...Im thinking I might treat myself to some birthday cheesecake...yes? Indeed! Photos are on the way once we get all settled.