I passed my MPR. During the online portion of the presentation the fire alarms went off in the AAU Building. They evacuated for 10 minutes.
It did shorten my presentation time but I had a concise presentation so…no big deal.
I passed. More on this later. Yes I know I’m behind in postings. It’s been a crazy Summer and Fall is even crazier.
A tilled bean field shot while I was NOT enrolled in Summer classes.
I’m so happy I didn’t take Summer courses. I may take some next year and I may still do one of those wacky 15-day intersession courses.
There are few things I’m happy about.
Being able to travel and shoot for myself. This included starting up a workshop and scouting locations in the beautiful Northern Nevada high plains.
Saving up money for Fall tuition is important.
Not having to constantly switch between being a student and being a pro-photographer as I do when I’m working and attending classes.
I have to go back to my days in grad school where my friends and I would look forward to starting the next year of school. The break makes me a bit nostalgic for going back to school. If I had taken Summer courses I would still be excited about the classes I’m heading for this Fall semester but it might also be some continuation of the grind of schoolwork.
There is some unneeded rationalization here that follows the line of taking it slower makes me learn more and learn it deeper – that may be true, or not.
I will not be qualified as soon as I originally planned (as I need 18 hours in my subject field to teach at a collegiate level), but for me, plans are just that and subject to change.
Overall, it’s a good thing to take a little more time for me, save up a little cash, spend a little more time with friends (which actually means spending more time working as most of my friends are out of town on vacations) and get excited about Fall courses at AAU.
I've been busy shooting donuts...oh, and finals for three classes too!
So this the first post following a crazy semester where I completed 3 classes. Two were very valuable and one was a waste (of everything).
Expect a lot of posts over the next few weeks as I prepare for a single Summer class. Yes, my blue-sky schedule needs some serious rethinking. I’ll post about that too.
On top of all getting 3 final projects out of the way I am probably getting my first ‘B’ grade. But then it’s from a very uninspiring class what was made so by the person teaching it (expect a post about this too). I’ll also write about a couple great professors and those courses. I’m debating if I should name the person that taught the loser course. hmm…. you can always email me if interested. Of course, with a little investigation in a few weeks it should be easy to figure it out. A post will done on whether to name the person.
What else…
I’ve been out shooting donuts and donut shop all over the greater Austin area for a price that isn’t sustainable. I guess the money is still there and the economy still sucks unless you are cleaning up the BP spill in the Gulf.
time to go…I’m starting to ramble.
More soon.
(I just like this image. I don't think it has anything to do with this post.)
Now that I’m done with my first online semester at the Academy of Art University I decided to see when I would get out and that requires some math…Let’s go!
63 hours needed to graduate with my MFA
2 classes a regular semester and 2 classes for Summer (it’s been highly recommended that you only take 2 summer classes max!) That’s 6 classes a year at 3 units/ class = 18 units/hours
63/18 = 3.5 which means 3 years + one semester with 2 classes + one semester with 1 class. So it’s more like 3 2/3rds years. I already have 2 classes done I still have 3 years + one semester to go. That seems like a really long time.
Now if I take 3 courses during regular semesters and 2 courses during the summer = 8 classes/year =24units/hours. That takes it down to 2.625 years. Since I already have those 6 units I would be done at the end of the Spring Semester in 2012.
Now I just need to see if I can afford this.
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Gearing up for Fall 2010 – Buying Books
August 23rd, 2010Its’ been a busy Summer, between working (very) full-time for myself and shooting lots, taking on even more work with a busy part-time job, traveling to Midas, Nevada to spend time shooting, teaching and planning more future workshops…whew.
Yes, I need to organize them!
I ordered all my books for my 2 classes last week and 3/5ths of them have arrived. The printer is working great, monitor is calibrated (as usual) and finances are in place for 2 classes. All that is left is to clear off some table space and give the studio a second Spring cleaning!
Here is where I buy my books:
Amazon – they are fabulous for providing textbooks and other photobooks at a very reasonable price. They also offer an extensive network of resellers. I buy used books all the time via Amazon.
Half.com – a great place that offers books on the cheap and also has a good reseller network.
I also use FatWallet and Bing Shopping to add a few pennies to my paypal account by checking for book deals there first.
Locally I find that Half Price Books is quite hit-or-miss for texts but I do try to stop in there first to see if I can find bargains – which I have!
What’s that!? The instructor wants the 34th edition of the book and it costs $200 but the 33rd edition is available for 3 bucks? I’ve found that my instructors are pretty reasonable about using the current or near-current edition. Often the editions don’t change a lot. If the book is updated every 2-3 years then the older edition works for me. If the last edition was 10 years ago then I’ll get the newest version.
Don’t forget about classmates. That’s right! Even if you are doing (most) of this online there is a good chance that your fellow classmates have a book you need and you have a book they need. Media mail is cheap and swapping books is a very effective way to save money and a way to know your classmates.
One more note about photography books. This program is allowing me to add a lot of photo books to an existing collection of art and photography books. I have found that all but a few of my business (MBA) books are outdated or basically worthless and have made there way to the recycle bin or to Goodwill, yet I cherish and re-read photo books periodically and have no desire to get rid of any of them. I wonder if that says anything about studying photography or business?
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