The Big 1 Tripple 0

[walterick]

At long last - The Big 1000

I've been saving a lot of big news for this post.

1) I got into graduate school!
I was accepted early this year to Argosy University's Master of Arts in Counseling program! I will be taking classes on alternating weekends for the next few years I've wanted to be a counselor for a long time and just never considered it the right time to jump in. Well, now I'm here. It's a 2 to 2 1/2 year program depending on how many classes I take each semester. At the end I will have an MA in counseling and hopefully a job in the counseling field. My eventual goal is to get my Lpc (licensed professional counselor) certification and set up my own practive based upon the theories of counseling and life that I feel are helpful and correct. That way, you won't have to listen to my spiritual rambling up here all the time!

2.) I've gone medium format!
An early Christmas present to myself was to buy a Mamiya 645 Pro TL medium format camera setup which I found on Ebay for a touch under $1000. I got the body, 80mm 2.8 (equiv to 50mm) 150mm 2.8 (equiv to about 100mm I think) 2 backs the AE finder a bunch of filters and some other gear. Then I kept online and bought a 55mm (35mm) lens and a 30mm fisheye (19mm) made my Rokunar for $100 and $180 respectively. I haven't actually used all this stuff yet but that'll happen sooner or later.
I specifically chose NOT to get a digital SLR for a few reasons. Though for the price of all this gear I could have easily gotten a nice DSLR body, I chose to stick with a larger film size because I do not like the look of digital pictures. love film, and I love manual cameras. I like being able to look at slides, wind a film crank and choose films depending on what look I want without having to worry about digital manipulaiton after the fact. I wanted a bigger negative - I shoot mainly nature and landscapes when given the choice so I thought a nice portable medium format film camera is the ticket, and having a 6 x 4.5 cm negative helps me create the large, tightnit images I love. Not as effective as a 6x7 might be but much more portable When I get the feel for it I will post a few images from it so we all can see what 645 looks like.

3.) I am planning on moving to Phoenix this summer.
(Note: Photo John: I'm not going back to Berkeley but I hear Sedona isn't too far behind) I am planning to transfer to the Phoenix campus of Argosy University to finish out my education in an environment I love that I feel mirrors my soul better than conservative Washington, DC and surrounding rural Virginia. I love my homeland, don't get me wrong. But I feel my energy is better out west and I am looking forward to getting into a warmer climent and haning out with all the hippies and native americans in Sedona and surrounding areas And... who wouldn't want to join in me in a Utah/Grand Canyon Photogathering?!
I am taking it on a trial basis, reserving the right to return to DC if I find it absolutely horrible out there in Phoenix. Something tells me I won't though.

4.) I am following Janie's example
and posting a picture for sale on Ebay through Giving Works with the proceeds going to help Tsunami relief. It took a little longer than I wanted so I fear the "timeliness" of the disaster is passed and people won't be as likely to give after the initial feelings of grief and sympathy have worn off. But it's going on anyway. I submitted the listing today. The nonprofit will review it on Monday and hopefully it will be up by Monday night. I'll make a seperate post when it happens. Pic #1 below is the image you all know that will be up for sale (just 99 cents!)

5.) I had the novel idea to make Christmas presents last Christmas
It may be the lastChristmas I make Christmas presents In an attempt to walk my talk I decided to support the consumer-driven spirit of Christmas as little as possible in 04 by making as many Christmas presents for friends and family as I could. Well, there are many things I wanted to buy people so that idea went only so far. I ended up spending some money. BUT I also created a bunch of really cool gifts using my woodworking tools and a new scroll saw I bought with the express purpose of teaching myself to use it and eventually mastering the art of Intarsia. . In the mean time, however I am still learning the basic art of scrollsawing. Pics 2-4 are the designs I copied ontot wood and cut out for my mom (#2) who loves dancing and my sister (3 & 4) who loves angels and bald eagles. I forgot to photography them while they were at home so I shot them on the seat of my truck before whisking them into the post office to be sent to said family.

That's it! Thanks for sticking through it! I'll post more woodworking stuff as I get it done and post some 645 images when I get them done.

Thanks!
Rick