I can't believe it's 2009. I don't know why every time the new year rolls around it's something completely hard to fathom. I look back over 2008 and I really am amazed and blessed with God's provision and guidance in my life more than ever before. I went from having no hope in myself to now having endless hope and possibilities for the future road. I'm incredibly thankful! And definitely thankful for friends like you guys who support me and pray for me through each and every hurdle and curve in the road. Thanks so much for staying with me on this journey. :) As Winston Churchill said, "History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it."
I got back to Atlanta from a terrific break at home in Virginia this past Saturday night. Yesterday was a nice day to just relax and get prepared for another quarter of work. This morning I went to the school to pay my tuition and get my schedule. At first the lady told me I owe $4,200 for the quarter. (Yeah, this school is expensive haha) But she forgot to factor in my financial aid, so luckily I only had to pay a little more than a grand. Talk about dodging a bullet. I then got my schedule for this Winter quarter. Here it is:
Monday: NO CLASSES!!
Tuesday: 1p - 5p Writing Workshop
6p - 10p InDesign
Wednesday: 6:30p - 10p Printing
Thursday: 10a Seminar
1p - 5p Art & Commerce
6p - 10p Still Life Photography
Friday: NO CLASSES!!
There you have it. No morning classes except the usual Seminar on Thursday mornings. So it will be a huge change of pace from last quarter when I had all morning classes. Crazy! I'd tell you about each class, but I honestly have no clue what I'll be doing in any class. Except maybe InDesign, which is the computer software we used in undergrad to put the newspaper together. But rest assured, I'll be keeping you updated on the classes. Feel blessed, it's ok haha.
I also finally got my critique scores for last quarter on all of my work. They give you a grade between 1 and 10. I got the same overall grade for both Photography and Writing. And that score is...... 8.6 out of 10! Not bad at all. It's just where I wanted to be first quarter. Not perfect and not crappy. Just above average and a little under radar so where I can gradually build from there and amaze everyone at the end of my time here at Portfolio Center haha. At least thats the plan. On the critique sheets, each person who was on the presentation panel leaves comments about each photo or writing piece so you know what you have to work on. I got a lot of great feedback. Really encouraging and nothing like "this sucks!" haha. The general notes from each person is that I have very strong work and an eye for photography, great variation on my perspective and all of my concepts have terrific potential and I just need to push them a little bit more. So I'm very pleased. It seems like their favorite photos were the bowling fruit one and the WWII widow shot by the window. (I'm not entirely sure why my shot of my head on the Abercrombie model didn't make the grade, but whatever hahaha). I'm very much looking forward to seeing what I can do this quarter.
Break at home was very great! There is nothing like being at home. My sister Rachel leaves a week from today (Jan 12) for two years, so the holiday break was a little bittersweet. Definitely a tear fest this past weekend when we all had to say goodbye. I was also able to take a few photos for some friends in Greenville on my way home. First here is a few of my friend Whitney's portraits.
The others of Whitney are on my Facebook. Then I got to take Engagement Photos of my friend Brittany and her man.
While I was at home I had a nice time doing nothing productive at all. I went and saw a bunch of movies. Seven Pounds with Will Smith...cried both times I saw it haha. Really really good. I saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and that was so beautifully amazing and well done. I would love to see it again. Then I went with all the guys in the family to see Valkyrie and that was actually very awesome as well. I had no idea that happened in real life. Movies didn't disappoint this holiday. We didn't get to celebrate Christmas until New Year's Eve because we were waiting on all of my siblings to be in town. So we actually celebrated two holidays in one night. Pretty cool. Our family is too big, so for Christmas we always draw names for gifts. My sister Hannah drew my name and she got me the new Fall Out Boy CD, and a few older movies on DVD which I didn't have copies of. Clear and Present Danger and Mrs. Doubtfire. As well as the first season of Burn Notice which is a show on USA. We got to also set off illegal fireworks (Virginia has stupid rules regarding fireworks so my brother bought some on their way from SC to see us). Here are some photos from New Years.
(It was sparkling cider we drank)I have more photos from home on Facebook (including our 15ft. tall Christmas tree) I love our big trees every year! I leave you now with a photo of all of us Hampton kids and siblings-in-law and babies. I love my family and miss home already! Real life calls now and I can't wait to see how it turns out in March when this quarter is over. Thanks for the prayers and God Bless!
More to come... (update on school this first week as well as my first wedding of '09 this weekend, Reo Hoots and Shawn Tripam)
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