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No Summer School

July 21st, 2010
A tilled bean field shot while I was NOT enrolled in Summer classes.

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.

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Woot! I’m done with my second semester!

May 20th, 2010
This is what it felt like to finish the semester!

This is what it felt like to finish the semester!

Yippee!!!   I’m done with my second semester at AAU.  I took three classes this term.  WHAT WAS I THINKING???

I work F/T for myself as a photographer.  I take 3 graduate classes.  I have a P/T job to pay for school.

For 15 weeks all I did was work, sleep, eat, and study.

Grades: A, A, B+ Not too bad.  Overall GPA 3.86.  Not too bad.

I’m not taking any summer classes due (mostly) to financial reasons.  I am only taking 2 classes in the Fall and I’ll entertain a Winter Intersession so I don’t prolong my program.  The MFA schedule listed above gets modified in a few days.  The old schedule will remain so you and me can see how it changes over time.

Time to go work downtown.



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Posted in Courses, GS 625: History of Photography, General Comments, PH 608: Lighting, PH 613: Color Theory

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Thinking about the Spring 2010 Semester at AAU

February 19th, 2010



Thinking

Thinking

I’ve been busy this semester and posts do fall off during school terms because I’m busy doing school work.  Some highlights from the 3rd week of this semester.

History of Photography GS 625 is kicking my ass.  In order for me to do better and do well I need to kick it back harder.  This class takes up more time that my other two classes combined.  I easily spend 25+ hours a week working on papers and reading for this class.

My Lighting class (PH608) is somewhat challenging I look forward to some of the more difficult assignments.  These will take up some more time but with good planning and some working ahead in class I think this course is very manageable.  This class is an elective for me.

PH 613 (was Color Theory) but the course title changed to ‘Color and Light’ during the third week.  This course has a lot of overlap with my lighting class, so far.  This makes sense as photography is all about light and light is about color – even if doing black and white work.  The instructor and I agree that the assignments later on in the semester will be more interesting for me.   BUT, it is really important that I don’t get jaded and do work to just get by for the first few weeks.  This is an opportunity to spend more time of creating a photograph for an assignment where I’m already well versed in the foundation that is being taught.  Don’t slack!

So that’s the update during week 3 of a 15 week semester.  I’d like to posts weekly but I find the workload of school (esp. History) and my day-to-day work to consume almost all my free time.

It is an adventure for sure!

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Posted in Courses, GS 625: History of Photography, General Comments, PH 608: Lighting, PH 613: Color Theory

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AAU Reviews

January 27th, 2010
Reviewing

Reviewing

There is little data on MFA (Graduate) dropout and completion numbers, however there is undergrad data.  Since you need an undergrad degree to apply for the MFA program I will let you interpret the data and opinions – I’ll add a little :-)


There are some interesting numbers over at the US Dept. of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences.  These are bean counters where most of the beans are first time undergrad students.  There isn’s much graduate data but it does provide some insight.  Without other data available you can assume that the graduate programs are probably similar within a few points.

http://www.nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=ACADEMY+OF+ART+UNIVERSITY

That written, I’ll also write that it could be completely different.  The undergraduate population is diverse and the graduate student population is even more diverse. I had statistics back in MBA school and my head and my gut tell me the numbers might not similar between these groups.  If I get some solid graduate data I’ll post it here and republish the post.

There isn’t a lot of data on AAU when compared to other institutions.

Some input from students here:

Some basic info here:

Non-productive searches as of 19-January-2010:




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Posted in Courses, General Comments

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Working Ahead

January 18th, 2010
Stay a step ahead

Stay a step ahead

I may do a post on this every semester just before classes start.

This is an online course.

  • I am responsible for my work.
  • Turning work in late is unacceptable.
  • The window to turn in work is about a week wide.

Turn in assignments as soon as possible after it is finished.  This gives me the most amount of time to redo / update the work if it somehow fails the assignments.  If I turn in work on a Monday with a Sunday deadline I can then

  • Work on the next module
  • Get the flu and not be worried about turning in work (this happened in Fall ‘09)
  • Plan for the final
  • Never be in crisis ‘deadline’ mode
  • Give the instructor and other students the maximum amount of time to critique the work and if necessary I can redo or create different versions – all of which help my participation.

There is a ‘whew’ feeling when I turn in work.

I treat class work as if it were customer assignments.  The faster I get it done the more work I can do AND customer satisfaction increases. The faster I get quality work completed the more time I have to do more quality work!  This means customer assignments or reviewing other classmates’ work.

Some instructors may change the assignments on the first day of a module, others will stick with everything that was available on the first day of class.  Reading assignments don’t seem to change.  Why not read the whole book before classes start and the review the chapters that are assigned? Talk to your classmates from prior semesters and ask them if they have taken that class and what was required during the first week or two.  Better yet, get a full course module copy from a classmate (I don’t think that sharing my personal copy of all the course notes/handouts/webpages with another student that is enrolled in that same course violates anything), besides students do this all the time in the non-online world.

I’m taking these courses from AAU because they allow me flexibility.  I don’t and should not take all that flexibility.  If I get sick or in a car wreck or my proverbial dog easts my proverbial homework, I still have time to redo it.  Making excuses to my instructor is like making excuses to the Boss for incomplete or late work.

OH WAIT!   I (mostly) work for myself.  I hate getting incomplete and late work so I better get it all in before the deadline.  I try to get work to the boss as soon as possible.  Sure, if it is raining and I can’t do the location shoot or I need another day to process work I still have that time available to me.

What I’m saying here is turn work in as soon as possible during the window when that session is open.  You’ll be happier.  You will do better work, you will leave better reviews, your grades will improve and you will do more work too!

BTW: The Boss is pretty happy with my output.

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