Semester 12

Well, it's been just about a year from my last post. That's how busy the 3 classes a semester has kept me.

It turned out that I was only able to work a year and a half at my temporary position, due to their internal company policy. Because it was a call center, but they were kind enough to have me only do data entry, no open positions were available for me to become employed there. I can't complain, however, since they did allow me to get in a good year and a half of school.
Prior to my departure from that company I had a dream that I had died. It was very heartbreaking, and oddly (plus terrifyingly), real. When the last day at that company came all of those feelings came back in sickening detail. Leaving that job, although it was intended to just be temporary, really did feel like dying. I had a lot of good friends that I had made there. I loved the low-stress and no-demands atmosphere. I did my work every day to the best of my ability without anyone micro-managing me all the time and I loved it. In many ways it felt like home.
The other odd shock was the work load began to diminish before my official time was up. They began to send me home early just because there was not enough work for me to do. As it turned out, they decided to have my last day be almost 2 months earlier than expected. The good news was it allowed me to put my focus on my school's finals right when I needed it. The bad news was that it really hurt us financially.
That was just the least of our concerns, though.

When I went home to give Donna the bad news that I would be leaving work 2 months earlier she had even worse news. We had been living in a small, 3 bedroom apartment on top of her dad's workshop for the past 7 years. Because the apartment was very run-down her dad only charged a minimal amount. Even though our ceiling collapsed on us due to years of dripping rain, constantly broke down in various aspects, and allowed the heat to escape in droves it was still our home. Well, not anymore.
Because the building required constant repair dad was unable to pay the property tax for 3 years. Without his knowledge, it went up for auction. In the same day we learned that I no longer had a job we also discovered that also didn't have a home.
Miraculously enough, I felt strangely calm. In time, my wife and her family did, too.

Dad's building and our home were purchased by a group of people who made all kinds of promises, none of which were upheld. In the end, they gave us a time frame in which to leave. To make a long story short, my parents provided the miracle we needed. As we were hunting for an apartment my mom suddenly called with the news that she found us a house in my old home tome to rent for the same price of an apartment in Salt Lake. It is a very cute little place with a basement and upstairs. We had quite the adventure moving down here. Dad started hauling his big load, only to find the trailer unhitch from the truck as he was getting onto the freeway. Gratefully, no one was hurt, although both her parents and my wife's aunt could've been killed.
In the end, it took several smaller trips to get everything moved.

Until our situation changes for the better my family is living on the generosity of others. My parents are paying for the monthly rent on our house and allowing us to eat Sunday dinner at their house every other week.
The building my wife's dad was working out of was such a money-pit he gained a huge amount of money from the finalized sale of his building to the buyer's group. His lawyer, a customer of my wife's dad, made sure that he was (and is still) not taken advantage of. Now that he no longer has to deal with the tremendous responsibility of trying to upkeep a 50+ year old building he has money in his pocket. As such, my wife's family is kind enough to pay our bills. They also supplied us with funds for this year's Christmas. Aside of that, we are living on food stamps.
Despite our desperate situation, we are quite well provided for, for which I am eternally grateful.

The drive to school is my one complaint. It previously took me 15 minutes to get to school. Now it takes me 45 minutes and I have to get up at 5:45 AM. I have to get up that early in order to beat rush hour. I've actually been getting to school at hour early, which I spend by catching back up on sleep. When I first started out I was getting up 6:00, only to get stuck right in rush hour. It was very stressful and I'd get to school right before class started. I found it amazing that with an extra 15 minutes I could get an hour's worth of sleep.
The stress of it all has had an impact on me physically, as well. Every Tuesday night I've had a very difficult time in falling asleep. I've tried warm milk, mental exercises, and finally had to rely on taking a quarter of melatonin. 

I still have all of my classes on Wednesday. I've been doing that for the past 3 semesters, I believe, going on 4 went school starts again in January. I just finished a semester and looking forward to spending a long, 3 week Christmas break before the stress starts all over again. In that time I'm aching to get some more project done and posting my school work online.
As I've also been working to get my game created I finally sold my first one to a nephew who is a big fan. We played his version this last weekend at my parent's and he is pleased to have won his very first game on his own copy, as well. He's been playing for years.

I just finished my Digital Prepress, Concepts in Motion Design (Animation), and Organizational Psychology classes. I learned a lot.
In Digital Prepress we used a handy website to make books: blurb.com We made them with InDesign and had to go over all of the aspects used in printing; RGB vs. CMYK, line quality, text color, flesh tones, and moires. I was not allowed to create a rulebook for my game so I did the next best thing: a visual tour. I received the final book copy in the mail and opened it today. It really did make a difference to see the printed copy vs. on screen. It was cool to see all my hard work in a physical version, as well.
My instructor for the class told me that after this class I was not allowed to work on anything for my game as a class assignment. She said I needed to have stuff for my portfolio that was not my game. I told her I agreed. I have my next portfolio class already lined up for next semester.

In my Animation class I was the only Graphic Designer student among the 30 or so Photographer and Animation students. We learned how to use Photoshop and Illustrator to do simple animations used in web graphics, such as banners and ads. On our first assignment I spent 9 hours doing a simple animation. I learned all too quickly that animation is a time constricting project!
We we started to use AfterEffects I thought I was going to loose it. I didn't get it, I was having trouble all over the place, and I was going to go bonkers. Gratefully, the instructor was kind enough to give me some serious one-on-one coaching that helped me to pass the assignment. From there I had to come back to school on Saturday to work on assignments since I didn't have AfterEffects at home.
For the final I downloaded the trial version. It took me the whole of the 3 weeks to complete. It was nothing but suffering and stress. I had to start over several times and at one point I'd accidentally deleted all of my important elements. We were doing a Kinetic Type animation and I'd deleted the words!
On the last day I hunted down the school's tech guru 3 times to try and get it to work, to no avail. The necessary Quicktime upgrade was not available for the school's CS6 and we could not get it to play the video segments I had included. I was finally impressed to save it in a CS5 version, open the program, and render it from there. After that it took close to 30 minutes to download it onto Vimeo and have it be available for presenting.
When the instructor came into the class he could see everyone hunched over their machines, still working like I was. Because of everyone's busy scrambling to get the final assignment done he was kind enough to decide to not have the final test. I had been trying to study between fixing rendering errors so I was grateful.
Only 5 kids had their animations ready to show at the beginning of class. When he showed them, we could see why. One kid complained that he'd spent 5 hours on his and didn't want to mess it up so he didn't do anything else. One girl did a fantastic job, but limited hers to only 90 seconds, which was the minimal time requirement for the assignment. None of theirs had pictures, graphic elements, or additional video segments, which the assignment required. The others were equally disappointing, with the exception of one. It was a full song and had some great elements in it. However, as I said, no video or graphic elements.
Once the students showed their finals they were allowed to leave. I was able to show mine next, 30 minutes after the last animation was played. By then, the completely full classroom only had a small handful of working students left in it. The instructor was telling some of them that he still required previous assignments from them, as well as the final. So, many of the students showed up for class, watched the animations that were shown at the beginning of class, and left. It just blew me away.
Upon seeing my animation, the instructor had plenty of good things to say. He showed me which parts he liked the best (particularly the winding road) and I caught him toe-tapping to the music. He also thanked me for taking the time and effort to complete the assignment. He immediately then asked if I'd like to see my final grade. I rushed up and looked over his shoulder to be greeted with an "A+." It made me feel really good, knowing that I was the only Graphic Design student among so many Animation students and since I'd had such a hard, hard time with it.
As I was looking at my grade I inadvertently caught sight of the grades for several of the students listed under my own name. Without even trying to count I took in at least 4 'D's.' Again, I was shocked. I could only hope they were for students that had yet to turn in their final and were still working hard to do so.

In my Organizational Psychology class I learned what I felt to be some of the most important information, exactly when I needed it.
First, I panicked a little in the middle of last semester when it came time to register for classes again because I couldn't find my 3 classes all on the same day. Alan Murdock, the Academic Adviser who had been helping me for so long, already had the solution in hand. For my 3rd class he was able offer me the choice of an independent study class. With the independent study the class requirements could be negotiated between me and the instructor. So I chose Organizational Psychology since I was taking Cognitive Psychology at the time and liked the instructor. She agreed so we met for only 30 minutes in the library after Animation class.
She was very relaxed and chill, which made the difficult concepts of psychology better to enjoy. Her requirements included reading 2 extensive chapters a week (30 pages each) and answering 2 of 5 provided questions on the chapters. This required me to keep track of what the questions were and what they were on. I also had a final paper, midterm, and final test. Both tests were open book at took about 4 hours apiece to take.
Organizational Psychology is the study of psychology within groups, specifically jobs in businesses. I felt it was the best class I could've taken while unemployed. It taught how people should act and why while employed in a business so that they can advance. It taught the reasons and benefits of working freelance. It also taught me the pros and cons of a business that does or does not follow moralistic values. It also verified my emotions and feelings regarding some of the treatment, or mistreatment, from my past jobs. That helped me to feel very good.
All in all, it provided some serious instructions on what to do when out looking for work and even more importantly, what to do when you finally get in one.

For this last semester, I've been trying to have my classes be on Wednesday so that I would be able to take advantage of the Life Drawing lab. As it turned out, the lab was to be held on Tuesdays, so that would not be an option. Instead, like I said, I went straight to the library to meet with my Organizational Psychology instructor.
I finished the big Life Drawing picture I'd been working on at the end of the last semester, one of the reasons for taking the lab. I posted it on my Life Drawing class site and even sent a copy to the model at her request. I now needed a new project and decided to focus on my own characters. After discussing it with my wife I was starting to feel that I'd learned just about all I could from the class and lab. I was ready to focus on my 3 class instead and do my action figure drawing projects from home - without a live model.

The good news about starting school again is this will be my last year! Alan Murdock helped land me another independent study for the next semester so that all of my classes could be on Wednesday again. He also outlined all the rest of the classes for the next year that I would need to graduate. As I mentioned before, 3 of those semesters will include portfolio classes.
He also told me that now is the time to start looking for an internship. When my assignment was to end at my last, big temp job I had already been thinking about it. I've been applying to as many internships as I could up to this point without any worthwhile results. Now, the school's Academic Adviser is telling me, 'now is the time.' So, I'll keep looking and applying. Here's hoping something can turn up soon, since an internship is required to graduate.

So we've been living the past 3 months or so in my old home town. Our little house it very comfortable, with the exception that it has no insulation and holds heat as well (if not worse) than our previous little apartment. The garage was constructed with old, military ammunition boxes. There are a few places in the wall where pieces are missing and you can see the old boxes.
We love the room of the basement which allows us to have a make-shift gym, music nook, and playroom. During our time here, we are unable to visit sensai and my beloved karate classes. So, instead, I've been focusing on workouts/training/therapy to try and overcome some of the major areas of pain that have been holding me back from progressing for so long. I've had some great results so far but I can tell I still have a long way to go.
I was able to organize a fantastic study/office/project room upstairs and my wife has her own small room for sewing (she has a small sewing service she does). Our son's room is adequate for his needs and we love the bigger kitchen space. I, personally, love having a tub in the bathroom. I also love being able to work and keep our car in the garage. I love having a fenced yard, cement driveway, fruit trees, and storage areas.
I add all of this because my mom says she keeps needing to hear that we like our place. Part of this is because she needs to know that their hard-earned money is being appreciated. Another reason is because we all miss living in Salt Lake.
Being back in my old home town has put a lot of stress on my nerves. I've already run into a handful of people from my past, a few I'd have rather not have met the first time around. I've spent the last several years working myself to be who I am now. The last thing I need and/or want are any reminders of who I no longer want to be. Being at home is just that: home. Stepping outside, however, is just... hard.
One good thing about being back here is my wife. For years I've been telling her stories about my upbringing and the overall mentality of this place. She's been a good listener but reluctant to believe all of my words. Until now. Unfortunately, she now is having first-hand opportunities at seeing what I've been talking about. 
Another reason I bring this up is for this the situation of my wife's grandpa. He is not doing well and is not expected to be with us for too much longer. He owns his own home, which is in my wife's parent's name. When the time happens that he is no longer with us it has already been arranged that we will be allowed to move in. His home is smaller than the one we are renting. It is also missing the usable basement, a fence, a fruit trees, and an upstairs. But it won't cost 2 arms and a leg to be in and it will be back in Salt Lake. With that possibility comes the option of being closer to school and (*knock on wood*) and karate/internship/job.

Semester 8 & 9.10

The miracle came with the preparation I didn't know I already had. It turned out the Life Drawing lab had been mentally preparing me the whole time for being able to take that third class. As I am now halfway through this semester, I can tell how taking the 3 classes has worked out so far. First, all of my classes are on the same day, Wednesday. So, I only travel to school once and that helps cut down on gas bills. Also, the semester before I was missing some hours to get to school. As a result, I was not getting full time hours even though I was working extra hours to make up for the loss of time. So, having all classes on the same day has given me the opportunity to get all of my hours in (10 hour days) and make more money than the semester before. Another big miracle has been the homework load. That was my biggest concern regarding taking a third class, since my time consisted of being at work, being at school, or doing homework. I didn't have any free time, at all. As previously said, I was taking time off from work, karate class, and church to finish my homework. This semester I'm taking 2 general classes that are taught by the same instructor. He is so laid back he really works with us to help us get our work done, including time in class to work on assignments. Also, I've been working hard this semester to jump on assignments early. Usually, my presentations are so big I'd been going all out to include as much as I could. While they ended up fantastic, it did take a lot of time to get ready. At the end of last semester's Marketing Design class I felt like Peter Jackson, working on the assignment right up to when I was to present it. So, trying to avoid that, I've been working to pace myself and also start as early as possible. We just past midterm and so far, so good. Not only have I been able to spend time with my family but I've managed to take Quinny almost to every karate class this semester, which he enjoys thoroughly. It's our daddy-son time together and gives my wife a chance to breathe each week. Here's hoping we can keep it up.

Semester 8 & 9.9

At the middle of the previous semester I was feeling the impression that I needed to go back to the Life Drawing lab. I'd been feeling it for a while but was unable to for the last 2 semesters. Finally, the opportunity opened up. I had my doubts but I still felt that it was important. Because of my current school schedule I was able to leave my temp work assignment on Wednesdays early to go to school. However, I had night classes on Wednesday so I was able to take advantage of the Life Drawing lab, which I'd been trying to get back to for the past 2 semesters. I'd been missing the simple pleasures of just drawing - no computers or digital graphics. Plus, I'd kept up my figure drawing and had developed plenty of questions that only an instructor and real life experience could answer. I learned from these experiences that, like any talent, it is something that does need to be kept up or the talent cannot progress. And my projects have lots of figures that need help being created. There were plenty of new models that came in each week; not a lot of familiar faces that I could recognize from my Life Drawing class over 2 years earlier. Some were fantastic and some were not. Either way, I learned something from each. My goal was to build up my practice to the point where I felt I could break out the good paper and creat a completely finished piece that I could be proud of. That was last semester; we just hit midterm and I've officially now upgraded to the good paper. When midterm hit during this semester I was in Group Production Team Layout class and the instructor told us that he'd give us extra credit if we enrolled for the next semester on that day. He was part of the Graphics Department so it meant less paperwork for him. So I went in to see the Dean on a 15 minute break, hoping simply to get the extra credit. What I got, instead, was a whole lot more. Mr. Dean Murdock (no relation, although we'd been in close association in the past. He has a great open-door policy) threw a curve-ball surprise at me. The school (across the nation, not just the local branch) had a big policy to only allow so many part time students. According to their experience the longer a student remained in school, the more likely they will drop out without graduating. In order for them to retain their reputation of being some of the best they needed to keep the number of their graduating students high. As a result, they needed their students to be graduating as soon as possible. So, the dean was requiring me to increase my number of classes per semester by 1. Otherwise, he and the board of people-in-charge could not approve of my school schedule fot the upcoming semester. I was floored. I had already been spending every teeming waking moment that was not associated with work to either being in class, getting to class, or doing homework. My family was already being more neglected than I would have prefered and the guilt for that was pretty much a constant companion. In this last semester alone I took off 3 days from work just to work on homework and I missed a lot of church. Often times I would only go to sacrament meeting. Once, close to Finals, I didn't go at all. Not to mention the multiple martial arts classes I skipped for homework instead, too. How on earth could he expect me to take one more class?

Semester 8 & 9.8

We had a Christmas miracle, as well, when my day job assignment was willing and/or able to keep me on through that semester, as well. I was very worried, as they had previously said that our assignment would be ending. I was very much relieved to find out that they were able to keep me on through to the end of Christmas.

It has been a semester-by-semester thing. That has caused some certain amounts of stress, for sure.
During that time they announced, that for the first time ever, they were allowing temps to officially apply for permanent positions. I asked if they had a place for me, since all I am doing is catagorized as simple data entry. The positions the others have are customer service phone positions. I still have not regained the full use of my voice and it still taxes me to talk for too long face to face. On the phone a full conversation is painful and almost impossible for any length of time.
Unfortunately, they said they did not have any full time positions for someone just doing the data entry I was doing.

Again, the miracle of working here was extended through this last semester, and then again through this one. However, they did let us know that their company policy does not allow temps to work here any longer than a year and a half. So, at the end of this semester this assignment will end.
I've been very gratful for the chance to be there. It's a wonderful atmosphere, with great, professional people, with a very easy, no-stress work load. I will miss being here.

After talking it out with my wife, we've come to an agreement. For my degree I need to have an internship in order to graduate. Since we thought I'd be unemployed at the end of last semester we started talking about how we'd make things work. We based a lot of our decisions off of our situation 2 Decembers ago, where I didn't work at all for the whole semester. We came to the comclusion that with some help and taking advantages of programs available to us that we could make it. So, with this semester and assignment closing I'm applying for internship positions now. Our hope is that perhaps it can turn into something better and permanent later on.

That's our hope, anyway.

Semester 8 & 9.7

I gave it to my mom at Christmas during our family's big Christmas party. We had just gone through the whole tradition of making gingerbread houses, Christmas program, and opening presents. My parents have been giving us items for our Emergency Prepardness for the last several years. So, this year we have been working to add to the lists.

We were preparing to leave so I smuggled it downstairs and worked to take it out of it's concealing garbage bag. I quickly took some photos for my portfolio before I gave it her and never saw it again. I took it back upstairs and turned its back away from her. I then went and got her, bringing her into the back room. I picked it up with my back to her and turned it around to show it to her. Her eyes didn't blink at all as she tried to register what she was looking at. Once I handed it to her and did some quick simple explaining she ran off like a, well, a kid at Christmas with a new toy. In very fact, she way. I heard her calling to everyone in the front room, "Look what Kerry made for me!" I didn't see her again after that so I had to hunt her down and explain how the lights worked and show her the comparison between the original photo and the finished piece like I did in class.
I wish I had my camera just for the expression on her face. It was priceless.

When I painted a picture to commemorate of my dad for his seminary experiences he fought to supress some tears. My mom's reaction was sheer excitement. On a scale of emotional reaction, I'd consider that a Home Run. :-)

Semester 8 & 9.6

when I presented it to the class I brought it in a box to not only protect it, but so I could have that 'surprise' element. The messages that others had used had some serious 'doom-and-gloom' aspencts to them. As the school as drilled into their heads, one student's was barely decorated, afraid to add too much and clutter it up. However, the one critique was that it needed more.

I presented mine with all the theatricallity I could, complete with a built-in lighting system. We had previously talked about brainstorming everything that everyone could do for a project and then pulling back to avoid the clutter; finding what the project could do without. I confessed that with this particular project I insisted that I keep every idea. I further confessed that if I were to add anything to it, I would have had a mini-music option. I said I knew was possible but I didn't know where to find the mini-disc players. I felt bad because the other students did.
I further confessed that up to that point I had been trying to entertain with my projects instead of trying to communicate, as a Graphic Designer is supposed to. And I said that the stage was why; that was my upbringing, where I had come from. With my previous assignments, that was what I was trying to recreate.

The theme was intended to uplift, encouraging people to stand in the 'center stage' of life and not in the wings.
I got nothing but proud approval from the class. They said they could almost hear the kids singing from the stage and the colors pulled them in. They went on and on about the color, detail, and layout. I showed them the comparison with the original photo so they could see the extensive Photoshop work I had to do to recreate the missing figure's pieces, which they were impressed with.
When I showed them the lighting they ran to turn off the classroom's lights. The reaction envoked a surprised but excited "Ah..." from the group.
The one critique I received was in reference to the fonts I used, which I couldn't argue with. Over all, it was a very positive experience.

Now I just had to present it to my mom...

Semester 8 & 9.5

The second assignment was to do a diarama; a 3D box of something with a message or design that could be hung on a wall as a decoration.
My first thought was to make the arena of the Tournament but I didn't like what direction my mind was taking me. After talking to the instructor she said something to stimilate my creativity. I then came up with the idea of recreating one of my mom's stage production pieces from a photograph. I wanted the mini-3D stage to look exactly like the picture but have all of the people/characters pop out and overlap each other.
I then had the extra idea to give it my mom as a Christmas present.

The first step was to ask my mom for a large photograph of her favorite show. I was not surprised when she provided me with a photo from her own, "Beauty and the Price," which is her musical theater take on the story of "Sleeping Beauty."
I was hoping she would have something from "Beauty and the Beast," as it was her last big community theater show. I was hoping my diarama would be a trophy/reminder of all of her many years of doing such big, fantastic shows. I guess it only makes sense that the subject would be her favorite instead.

Semester 8 & 9.4

The other class was Environmental Design, which was taught by the influential teacher who taught the Copywriting class. I originally dreaded the stress of similar, previous classes with 3 super-tough assignments. But she might have been paying attention to what some of the students were saying and other teachers were doing because we only had 2. Although, thinking back now, that doesn't remotely compare with the dozen or so mini-projects that made up the one big project I had to do for both Corporate Identity and Media Design in the same semester.

Our first assignment was to rebrand an existing local company. I chose a local farm in the middle of a big city that is a tourist attraction. With my previous photography class, this was an excellent excuse to go to the location and take my own pictures. To this day, I am still amazed how each class builds on each other, even when last night my last class' instructor told me to my face that it's supposed to work that way. I guess it's still a relief.

That project wasn't so bad, comparing. I drew dozens of mini-icons/mascots for the updated map of the location. In the end the hardest part was the layout, which my instructor was kind enough to walk me through, step by step.

I got to do a big presentation at the end and once more she told me that I had a knack for it. As she did in the Copywriting class, she reiterated that if people could learn to do sales they could make a lot of money.
It wasn't until the end of this last semester I finally realized what she was saying: with my 25 years of theater I'm good at doing presentations. I also enjoy it.

The big thing about that class was I finally, after 2 years of schooling, got my displays mounted on the hallway's walls for the next semester.

Semester 8 & 9.3

I studied hard and in the end, I had a great final and a great presentation. I worked hard with my volenteer friend to get the last bunch of shots I was hoping for for my final presentation to no avail. I only learned in the very end what I had done wrong to not get the images I was looking for. Because of my other class I was given the tools I needed to prepare and have a great presentation. As always, I was the only one that dressed up for the presentation.

It was a hard semester but as I drove away from my camera class I found myself crying. It's then that I realized how much I really enjoyed that class and how much I would truly miss it. I saw it as the subtle, humble beginnings of what I REALLY want to do: direct films. It finally gave me a chance to be involved behind and with a camera in a performance-type setting.

One of the reasons I wanted to pursue the direction of my photo's final was my previous semester's web class. I was hoping that with some seriously cool photos of my wife's costumes I could use them to build her a website.
She still has a lot more costumes. So I guess that gives me a reason to keep right on shooting.

Semester 8 & 9.2

For extra credit our class took a Saturday field-trip as a way to make up for lost time, due to a holiday earlier in the semester. We went to an army-surplass store that ended up being more like a junk depot on the outside. Our little group was thus so due to the poor weather. However, by the time we got there we were all shedding layers. I ended up taking over 200 pics.
A lot of them was just trying to catch the right angle or timing of the subject, like the water dropping. I did have a hard time narrowing down the small handful of pics to show for class, though. I had a good handful that I was wanting to show off.

On the way back we got into a discussion regarding the majority of the school's attitude towards responsibility, homework, and due-dates. I was very relieved to hear that my own personal gripes were not just my own and that an official teacher of the school felt the same way regarding the lax behavior and "I-don't-care" attitude among many of them.

I really enjoyed that class and spent a lot of time after class to ask questions. She even let me borrow some of her own filters to play and experiment with. The presure came on when our instructor told me that she was looking forward to my final. I had some good ideas but I'm not sure if her excitement helped or hurt.

Semester 8 & 9.1

Wow... It's been two semesters and I'm only now getting back to here. I thought that if I'd have a 3 week break then I'd have plenty of time to catch up on stuff like this. No. It took me the 3 weeks to catch up from the previous semester alone... and that included rest. The end of the year is the busiest time of the year for us, starting in September, which is my wife's birthday. October is a big deal for us, especially with my wife's costume and sewing at-home mini-business. It's also the month of our anniversary. That leaves November to recover from Halloween and prepare for Christmas, including my school's finals.
Sometimes it seems like we'll never get a break. But we're always glad when we do.

This last set of finals had me running around, firing off final's shots for my photography class.
My theme was using shutter speed adjustments to create special effects for costume movie photos. I grabbed my wife's costumes and wore them, using what we learned in class to create special effects for them.

For the first set of pics I asked my photography friend to help. I had a handful of shots I wanted to get. With his help I was hoping we could nail down at least 3 different costumes. I had no idea how technical it was for real professional-grade pictures and that's what he brought to the table.
I only had so much time and he was not only feeling sick but had a performace to go to that night. He was feeling so ill he ended up not going. Fortunately, his cast was able to pull off the performance without him. It helped that it was a singing choir performance and not an acting-theater performance.

We met at our local church and used the stage's lights to get the color we needed for our lighting. It took us half an hour just to unload the stuff from his car. It took another 2 hours just to set everything up. His new wife spent the majority of the time steaming the backdrop I'd chosen to get the creases out.
Then, the actual work began.

I started with what I considered the lamest of the costumes; a hodge-podge of black clothing pieces with some of the weapons from my collection to create a type of ninja garb. At one point, for the picture to actually look good, I had to stick the back of the sheath in my pant to hold it in place. As a joke, I mentioned to the pair that was the reason why no one becomes ninjas anymore.

The first shot had me throwing sharp ninja shirken (stars) at the camera. I just lobbed them onto a small trampoline so that the camera would hopefully capture them as they fell. It scared my friend's poor wife to death, who was standing behind him, holding a mirror so that I could see what I was aiming at. She finally solved the problem by holding the trampoline in front of her for protection.

When my friend ran out of time I was paniced: we had only gotten through 2 costumes. Following inspiration, I ran around the building until I found a member of our ward who was willing to help with the last costume for the night.
He actually ended up helping me through all of the rest of my shoots and was a great help to me and my wife.

I thought I was mad at my friend for all of the technical mumbo-jumbo he made me wade through until I was able to compare my pictures with his. He then convinced me of the importance for the rest of the equipment he had. I hope that somehow I'll be able to acquire some of my own in time.