And life resumes its order...

..or at least that's how the saying goes...We'll see about that!

I began school Monday afternoon. In some ways I was excited, but in others I was a bit worried, as any student is on the first day of a new semester. I was mostly wondering if schedules would work, if teachers would be cool, and if there would be many friends in the classes I had chosen.
Well, yes, to all of the above!

This 1st semester, of Junior year, I am taking :

1. Studio II, with my favorite teacher at Columbia, and it seems like this will be a rockin' class!
2. Photojournalism I - with Steve Liss, former staff photographer at TIME, with an awesome 43 covers, over the time he worked there! *Wow*
3. Photo History II- with Carol Elhers, a Chicago gallery owner
4. Nutrition - with Dr. Anthony Sikora, a private practice chiropractor and RN at Mercy Hospital
5. Honors: Vietnam War Literature - well, this class is interesting, a history class and literature class combined, both teachers are nice and qualified - Mine, the literature teacher, is pretty cool and he was a Marine, so yeah, qualified.

So, if I haven't mentioned this before, Columbia only employs working industry professionals. I will forever sing Columbia's praises for this, because frankly, it is what makes it such an awesome school. This fact is one which really pushed me into studying here, not to mention the film into digital background(a whole 3-4 semesters) which they require and the positions which many of the college's grads hold (Sr Vice President of CNN, Oscar Winning Cinematographer(for Avatar), and a pulitzer prize winning photographer, just to name a few, thanks Forbes..)
No matter the annoying, hoity toity, holier than thou treatment we often get from the staff, especially in the photo dept, I am very proud that I chose Columbia.

Also, I am very optimistic about this semester and all of its potential. With the excitement of the Gonzalez Gorman tasting still fresh in my mind, I have already started thinking about my Studio final. This is a huge step for me, because I don't like to get ahead of myself with school, but as the idea continues to formulate, you all will hear more. For now, all I will say is, "vintage!"

I received the WPPI preview edition of Rangefinder, yesterday, and I'm just itching to go! Of course, that's not possible with school, but it is definitely a goal of mine in the near future. I would so love to really become active in the Chicago wedding photographer network, but so far have not been brave enough to attend a PUG (Pictage User Group) meeting or any events here. Eventually, I know I'll work up the guts, I am just afraid that because of my age and not yet knowing any Chicago wedding photogs that I'll be shunned, or something. Totally my imagination, I'm sure, but still..

Updates: I am still working on images from the tasting for the Oprah bride. I am so pleased with the turn out of all the images and the amount of positive feedback I have received. I cannot tell you how awesome and inspiring that whole experience was for me. It was amazing! These are some more artistic, "for me" images from the tasting, below:

Anyway, thanks for sticking with me this week and reading! Hopefully, my babbling made some sense :)