Bettye

On Saturday I went to visit my godmother Bettye Jane in her nursing home in Buckhead. It is really depressing. She never gets out of the building unless someone comes to get her. It makes my day to see other people happy, and I know it made her whole weekend when I came to see her. We went to Wal-Mart (not my choice), Publix to get her some groceries, and IHOP where we both ate way too much. She really is the sweetest lady, and pretty funny to be around because she is soon to be 81 and very set in her ways. However, after we returned home from running errands for literally 5 hours, I asked her if I could take some photos of her for my class. I was so impressed, she sat there so patiently while I fiddled with my tripod and camera to get the right lighting and adjustments. Overall, I am pretty pleased with them, and she was so great to photograph. Here is one of my favorites I shot of her toward the end of our session.

What would you ask?

For my Storytelling and Metaphors class, we are working on a project where we are paired into teams of two and we have to interview the other person. I thought to myself, oh this is easy, all you have to do is ask a few questions and listen. I was so wrong.

Interviewing someone can be quite tricky actually. You ask a question, and the other person starts talking and as much as you want to comment and agree on certain aspects, you really can not say respond. You can interrupt if the other person is drifting off in one direction and you would like to go back, or maybe learn about something else. I am a huge rambler, so I know the guy who interviewed me probably was bored out of his mind. I just talk and talk and talk, and then all of a sudden we are out of time.

In class yesterday we were listening to some interviews from StoryCorps and we listened to this one interview that was really heartwarming. A younger down syndrome girl was interviewing her own father. One of the questions she asked was, “How did you and mom feel when I was born?” It really puts things into perspective when you hear questions like that. I have to tell you this class is awesome, it really is. I love the teacher, and the things we are learning are really valuable. If you think about it, we interview people everyday in some form or another. Whether you are at the grocery store or at dinner with a girlfriend. We always ask questions. But listening to that interview yesterday made me realize how important it is to know our parents history, and traditions, and really sit down and interview them. I would love to come up with 10 questions and ask them both separately of course, and not even the same questions, just information I have always wanted to know but never asked. I would love to ask about my dad’s experience in Vietnam, and I would love to ask my mom questions about her childhood and how she decided to become a teacher. It made me realize I really need to learn all kinds of stuff about my parents. So for the next few weeks I am going to really think of 10 questions to ask them both in an interview. As for school, I couldn’t ask for a more interesting and cool class to be in.

Doggie ‘Do!

My good friend Garret who works at Orange Element in Baltimore, sent me this really cool link to check out today. The company Fastspot in Baltimore that designed their website, recently designed this “Pimp Your Pooch” site for Animal Planet. It is dedicated to giving your dog the star treatment with a celebrity do. I had to check this out for myself. Of course, I go on the site and pick a dog that sort of looks like Lucy (my dog) in the face, and I give her the Jennifer look. It really is funny! I recommend playing around with the site, it’s pretty neat. Here is a picture of the dog and ‘Do I created.

I have been a slacker!

I have totally been a slacker lately with writing, so today I decided I had to write on my blog no matter what. School is going great, I have no complaints at all, in fact I really love everything about Portfolio Center. The teachers are fantastic, I am learning so much and I am only in my third week. Also, I live so close to the school I get to bypass traffic, or at least most of the time. Last week we had the Design Director from the NY Times come and speak. Man, that was awesome! She is a graduate of PC, and has worked for some really cool firms including Pentagram (the best of the best), ThinkSo, Ar Media, Louise Fili, and now the NY Times. Talk about a really smart and talented designer. Just think of the experience and knowledge you would gain every single day working for all of those firms. I can honestly say I learned a ton of useful knowledge and inspiration at the 2005 AIGA Design Conference in Boston just by listening to a few famous and talented designers, and she has had the opportunity to work with some of the best.

I remember visiting Louise Fili’s site before, and I revisited after the Seminar last Thursday. Wow! That is some cool stuff. Can I just tell you how excited I get when I see a logo for a brand I love and I finally realize ahh, now that’s who designed that logo. Here are a few of my favorite things Louise has designed the identities for:

Hanky Panky, only the best underwear out there, and most comfortable.

Bella Cucina- Beautiful packaging

School, I absolutely love it! You learn something new everyday, and in my case, I am learning pounds of new info every day. Gotta Love It! Be sure and check out those sites, they are amazing, and I promise to not slack so much on posting things.

Getting back in the groove of things.

It is Thursday already! This week has flown by so fast. I started school on Monday, and so far everything is great. I have met some incredibly nice people, taken some really cool shots, and bought my first tripod. I tried to go to PPR store yesterday which is 667 11th Street NW. I thought I knew exactly how to get there (thought being the key word here), so of course I go on to downtown and 11th Street dead ends, the store was no where to be find. I then call the store and ask for directions cause apparently I am in the wrong area. Of course I am on the wrong 11 St. Who knew there are two seperate 11th Streets, but it is Atlanta and there are 40 some streets in Atlanta with Peachtree in the street name. Crazy! The joys of moving to a new city! However, I did find the store eventually and I bought my first tripod.

Last night I got the opportunity to go to my first Braves game, which was really neat! I even got to experience some of the bad traffic downtown trying to get to the Field. But overall the game was really fun, and you can’t beat going to a Braves game for the first time.

School is going great so far, and I think I am going to venture around in Atlanta this weekend and try to get some good shots. But for now, here is one I took at the Braves Game. Go Braves!