For those of you who have been following me in twitter and facebook you likely heard me announce just a bit ago the official news about the tenure track position at Valencia. It’s official, as of August 24, 2010 I will begin a tenure track faculty position at the college.

I’ve been teaching since 2004 and teaching in a full time temporary position since 2005. Last month I interviewed for the position and have waited patiently for the last month to hear this news. It was my third time interviewing for a tenure track position over the last few years. I recall the disappointment I felt the last two times I was turned down for a tenure track position. As discouraging as it was for me I remember trying to remind myself how everything in life happens for a reason. And though I feel I was just as strong of a candidate the last two times I had applied for the position I must admit that as I reflect on how far I’ve come in just a few short years the decisions made have only helped shape me into who I am today. So much has happened in just the last year that years ago I would have never even imagined were possible.

So I thank you all for your support, encouragement, and reassurance. It means to world to see the confidence you all have in me. I am overjoyed with this news and the opportunities that are ahead.

I have to admit that this news couldn’t come at a better time. I’m not so sure if someone higher really planned this news to come today but it has lifted my spirits incredibly on one of the toughest moments I find myself passing since the miscarriage. Yes, in light of the news I find myself still pausing today, 33 weeks after miscarrying and realizing that today is also the day that the little one I lost in October would have been due to be born today. So I am thankful to have such wonderful news on a day where I find myself reflecting a little more lately on what might have been if I hadn’t have miscarried. I realize as I reflect it’s all an important part of me continuing to accept all that has happened this past year and part of how I will continue to get past the heartache that hasn’t completely faded. There aren’t days that pass that it hasn’t crossed my mind or that I haven’t wondered “what if?” And though it will likely not fade completely from my mind I will feel relieved for today to pass so that I can focus more on the promising future ahead.

Yes, today I’m reminded that “sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together”. But as they do today my heart will remain reserved for the little one that in my mind I feel I should be holding today. I realize I can’t change a thing…but I can and will take that time today to remember and honor the little one that will always have a special place in my heart. Yes, I just pray all the little ones I’ve lost over the years know:

“A thousand words cannot bring you back. I know because I tried. And neither can a million tears. I know because I cried.”

As I find myself reflecting today, I reassure you all that I will do so now finding a renewed strength to smile while embracing my children, and yes,  praying that the news today is the start of a much needed streak of better news in my life. Thank you all again.

If it isn’t obvious, I’ve been a bit busy lately. I’ve been meaning to write a bit about the fun during my time at Photoshop World at the end of March but haven’t stopped moving since before the conference began. So hopefully its not too surprising that you all receive a little delay in my wrap up of the conference.

I knew going in that the conference would be awesome. Again this year I nominated several of my students. Thanks again to Scott Kelby and the gang at NAPP for awarding 8 of our students scholarships. We ended up with a handful of other students and alumni present at the conference, which only made the conference that much more fun. They had a “rock” theme and even rocked out during the keynote. Scott Kelby and the guys at NAPP are the only ones that could pull off rockin’ out to photoshop songs with a standing room only crowd.

One of the things we heard during the keynote is that Adobe CS5 is on it’s way to being released. The official release date will be announced on April 12, 2010 and you can watch it live online! During the keynote Katrin Eismann demo’d a few of the features of Adobe Photoshop CS5 and I think we all were in awe with some of the features. The most memorable one was certainly the content aware fill option. Okay, it’s total photoshop geek talk but go check out this youtube video demo’ing the content aware fill feature and you will be ready for CS5! I think we’re all wondering what could possibly be next…does photoshop CS5 do magic tricks too!?

For all the Lightroom users, it’s worth checking out the Lightroom 3 beta 2 that was released just before Photoshop World. It’s still in beta so go grab your free beta copy and take it for a test drive before they release the official version. I’ve been using it over a week now and totally love it. I don’t think I can go back to the old version now because it’s a big leap forward.

PHOTOSHOP WORLD SKETCHNOTES!
Of course I was equally excited about the conference because of how much I enjoy sketchnotes. Some of you may recall several us doing them at Photoshop World 2008. I also did them again at Scott Kelby’s lightroom workshop. So I had fun again this year. Though I have to admit, it was a little tougher this year trying to juggle sketchnotes, homework, and keeping up with the courses I teach in between moments. But I think you all will still enjoy them. I know for me they are a great reflection of my experiences at the conference. They do give us a pretty hefty workbook with most of the notes and much more but for me I enjoy having a concise reference to the shortcuts and key points that stuck out to me during each session. And of course I truly love jotting down the hilarious things the presenters say during their sessions. Hopefully when you look at my sketchnotes you’re able to tell who the humorous speakers were.

Okay, I suppose I should let you all check out my sketchnotes…

One of my favorite classes was with Zack Arias who is such a passionate photographer. This man is amazing and I’ve been so inspired by his white seamless background tutorials over the last year or so. Maybe when I have a little more space to work with I’ll get to use some of his tips he shared during his session.

I was thrilled to see that Katrin Eismann and Julianne Kost were presenting Lightroom courses at Photoshop World. They’ve both been two of the most inspirational NAPP speakers for me. I love their humor in the midst of teaching such highly technical things to groups of hundreds. Of course by day 2 I no longer felt like I was at Photoshop World, for me they might as well have named it “Lightroom World” because all but two of the courses I took at the conference were related to Lightroom.

One of my other favorite courses was Light Painting with Ben Wilmore. It was amazing to see the types of effects you could achieve by merely changing a few camera settings and using nothing but a flashlight to light a subject. His web site shares amazing examples that only make me wish for more time to experiment. Maybe someday.

Scott Kelby’s killer tips lightroom course was by far one of the most useful. I swear this man is always filled with 101 one tips that I never knew before.

The closing ceremony is always a blast. I truly enjoyed Zack Arias presentation the best of all the presenters. He gave a brief presentation on if he was to start today as a new photographer starting out a business. It was really eye opening considering all his tips were right on par with the things I’ve been planning with my own photography. It was definitely one of the most inspiring moments of the entire conference for me personally. The rest of the closing ceremony was filled with so many funny moments that I still find myself chuckling reflecting upon the sketchnotes I took as they were giving away prizes to the audience.

I’ve added these to my sketchnotes set in flickr in case you all wish to look back at the old sketchnotes too.

Again, thanks to Scott Kelby & NAPP for another amazing Photoshop World and for making sure many of our students had an opportunity to make it to learn from the best. But the biggest thanks goes to my husband. Jason took off the entire week to care for the kids while I was at the conference. I really couldn’t do half of the things I have done all these years without his support.

One day a year Valencia Community College holds Learning Day. We cancel all classes, give the students the day off and all full time faculty and staff get a chance to learn. It’s a nice break for us all but also a great chance for us enrich our professional careers by taking classes from other faculty and staff. In years past I’ve always had many colleagues during or at Learning day who tell me “you should teach…(classes on all the things that excite me)…at Learning Day”. So this past fall when I received the invitation to teach presentations I jumped at the opportunity and was excited to have both my presentations approved.

My first class “Social Media and online tools for educators” received a great response and turn out. I was a little shocked to see that there was such an interest that a handful of those that attended were willing to sit on the floor because we ran out of seats. It was the second session of the day so I knew everyone was anxious to head to lunch, but I think it turned out to be a fun one for everyone to learn more about how faculty and staff could use social media like twitter, facebook and more to help communicate, collaborate and inspire students and colleagues.

For me social media has become an invaluable tool as an educator so it was exciting to share the ways I was using various outlets online to hopefully inspire others. Before I started class I made sure to twitter as the group gathered.

This class was so much fun because many of my colleagues I only knew through twitter and facebook – so while I was presenting…they were twittering. Of course I completely approved. I think for many who may not be using social media that it was eye opening to see the possibilities and benefits. There was definitely a nice response after the presentation and many have expressed interest in more classes in the future to help faculty and staff learn more ways to use social media effectively in education.

I have elected to share my keynote presentations using slideshare for those of you who would like to refer to it again or for any of you who may have missed my presentation. It doesn’t share the hilarious youtube video included, but the rest of the main points are present.

After lunch those of us from graphics and the art department headed over to Jason Ellison’s office to check out the new screenprinting set up he had going. You may have heard the rumors, but Jason has done an amazing job at setting up a screenprinting set up in his office so that we can use it in the future. This is exciting news and will likely lead to many more fun creative projects for our students and graphics program. I thought I’d share a little sneak peak with you  of his office as we were all checking out his office because it really is that exciting to see how much work he’s put into it all. And if you’re wondering what all those awesome posters are of – just go check out the Pinup girls, killer robots, and toast event that we’re holding next week. Our amazing alumni, Kevin Scarbrough will be back in town to school us on the topics of freelancing as a designer.

I was most excited about my photography presentation that was held at the end of Learning Day. I think they must purposely put the awesome presentations at the end to excite people to stay for all the sessions but it was pretty clear that crowds began to fade after lunch. I must admit that for me I was a bit nervous because they anticipated a possible large turnout due to the topic and so they put my presentation in the second largest speaking venue on campus. I presented to a reasonable size group for it being the last session of the day.

Thanks to my friend, Giancarlo (a.k.a. Blue) Brand, I have a few photos from the presentation to share. I think as teachers we all don’t have enough photos of us doing what we do just about every day…teaching. For me it definitely left me a little more nervous because it was the first time speaking connected to a microphone but once I got use to the echo it was no different than teaching in any other setting. So I feel pretty fortunate that Blue was willing to take time out of his day to help me document a bit of the day to share with you all. (thanks again Blue – you rock!)

My photography presentation was exciting because it allowed me to not just share my knowledge of photography but to also share my work and offer examples throughout the presentation. Because I knew I’d have a diverse audience I had to make sure not to over teach or under teach the subject matter. I also couldn’t teach to a specific camera because the functions on cameras varies so much by brand. So I hope given the time that I was able to inspire everyone with some things that have greatly influenced me in growing as a photographer these last few years.

I think one of the most rewarding parts of the day was the sense of community amongst my colleagues. Teaching a couple sessions definitely connected me to many more colleagues than I typically would interact with. But along the way it was very helpful to also have amazing support from my own colleagues in graphics. Thanks to Kristy Pennino, Jason Ellison, and Meg Curtiss for attending both of my sessions and offering an amazing amount of reassurance and encouragement all day. You guys rock!

Yes, I have to admit, sometimes I think it’s more challenging to teach to a group of people you know. So at first, I wasn’t so sure how much I liked the idea of having the colleagues who knew me best in my presentations. But it was great to have their support. I really love this photo Blue took of Kristy as she sat in on my photography presentation. I suppose it’s a little odd now that I am the one teaching many of my own former teachers. Thanks again Kristy. I know many of you believe I should say “no” a little more with all I’ve been doing, but I had fun sharing my knowledge and found it to be a very rewarding experience to inspire my colleagues.

Two of my favorite photos taken by Blue today are of my Dean, Wendy Givoglu as she sat in on my photography class. Just like Kristy, she too use to be one of my favorite teachers when I was a student at Valencia. I think I’m still having a hard time believing that now I’m the one teaching my former teachers.  Thanks for showing your support today Wendy!

I’ve also placed my photography presentation online. It also doesn’t include the brief video that was shared during the presentation but the slides are there. Not hearing me speak with these may not give you the full experience of actually being in the session but I know there’s a lot of interest in seeing the presentations and many who attended are interested in looking back at some of the things presented so I hope you enjoy.

Thanks again to everyone who attended my presentations and to those of you who have put up with me the last two weeks as I’ve prepared for these two presentations. Finally, I’ve conquered Learning Day and now it’s time to return to a big pile of homework and grading!

If you guys have questions or comments about either presentation feel free to post comments to this post!

So though I have most of my presentation planned out, I wanted to take a quick moment to post this little inquiry on my blog to get everyone’s input. And here’s ALL I need to know from you:

If I could teach you one thing about photography, what would it be?

So take a minute to think about it and get let me know by posting a comment here on my blog.

It didn’t take long before I was dubbed the “baby photographer” at our location. Early in the day we bumped into a mother with a three week old little girl and I jumped at the chance to take newborn photos. I really didn’t anticipate taking baby photos today, but it certainly made my day. I have to admit one of the most rewarding parts of the day was not just taking the photos but then getting to see the reaction of the families as they saw the photos. This mother was just as thrilled of her little one’s portrait as all the other new mothers I’ve taken newborn photos for the last two years.

Thanks to Jim Hobart for taking the next two photos. I have to admit that as I photographed the three week old things went so fast, but I could sense I had a crowd watching and taking photos of me taking photos. In between photoshoots we were found twittering and updating our facebook statuses. Yes, we probably look pretty geeky twittering but hopefully you all enjoyed the updates as we were participating in Help Portrait.

We had a lot of volunteers today and so as we waited for families to take photos of, many of us went around taking photos of other photographers taking photos. It was very rewarding to see how excited everyone was to have their photos taken.

As we waited, proud canon owner, Kayla got to test out my nikon d700 – and  yes, she took photos of us waiting through a playground peep hole.

This was an international event so before the day was over we ended up seeing several media crews out covering stories of the homeless and the help portrait event. We overheard interviews of families telling the news crews how it was their first ever family photo and just how appreciative they were of all the photographers volunteering their time to capture such special moments.

The kids enjoyed having their photos taken and it was rewarding to see their reaction as we showed them their photos.

As the channel 6 news was filming, Valencia student, Kayla Hernandez was photographing one of the families. She did an amazing job at getting the kids excited about having their photos taken.

Here’s a few shots of me behind the scenes. (thanks Erin!)

This event was definitely a team effort. My team was outdoors and the light changed constantly as the day passed. We were constantly diffusing, deflecting and reflecting the light as we took turns taking photos all day. For half of the day Jim Hobart gave us a huge hand throughout our photoshoot. (photos courtesy of Valencia student, Erin McLain)

It was priceless to see how excited many of the kids were today to have their photo taken. Here’s Erin capturing one of the cutest smiles I saw all day.

We saw many families throughout the day. We even got to photograph a family of seven at one point during the day.

In the afternoon we had Valencia students, Matthew Westerman and David Remedios join us to help out.

It was really rewarding for us to see the smiles on the faces of all the families today.

Here are two shots of our Valencia group that volunteered at Help Portrait Orlando. A big thanks to Erin McLain, David Remedios, Matthew Westerman, and Kayla Hernandez. You guys were amazing today!

At the end of the day we took a group photo of all of us who volunteered during the day. Erin and I were the only two from Valencia that remained at the event all day so why not take yet another picture to remember the day, eh.

We’re still awaiting our images to download from the Help-Portrait Orlando team, so I may have a few more behind the scenes shots that to share later. For all of us who participated it was such a rewarding cause that I imagine we’ll be doing more events like this in the future. Thanks to all of you who made today a big success!

I’m sure most of our students agree. Yes, it’s the end of the semester. With it brings additional stress to many of our students, especially those students who take our portfolio review course. It’s one of the last courses in our program where students assemble a portfolio, corporate identity system and self promotional pieces to promote themselves as they begin to seek employment as a designer. During portfolio review students participate in a few mock interviews with local design professionals. Though it’s one of the most challenging courses our students take, it’s certainly one of the most rewarding courses for me to be a part of. For many of these students we see the students over a course of 2-3 years so we’ve come to see our students grow and develop as designers so it’s always a exciting to see our students finally begin that big transition towards beginning their careers. Over the last few years I’ve photographed every review I’ve been a part of so again last night I spent a portion of the night documenting some of the moments from the evening. Here are a few of the highlights:

I’ve posted a lot more highlights from last night’s portfolio review in our Valencia graphics flickr account. If you’re interested in meeting with the students who completed portfolio review this semester to see their finished portfolios or to ask them questions directly we’ll be having a portfolio review show’n'tell next Monday evening for all of you interested.

INTERESTED IN SCAD?
I’ve had many people ask me about going to Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) since I began attending their elearning program in 2007.  This Thursday SCAD Admissions Advisor, Alec Ridley, will be on campus to chat with any one interested in attending SCAD. I’ve posted more information on the graphics blog if you missed it.

DON’T FORGET TO HELP ME GIVE!
That’s right, I am still accepting nominations towards my Giving is Awesome project. I will be accepting nominations through Dec 23rd, 2009 to offer photography to someone or a family who is truly in need. And if I choose your nominations you’ll get a photo session too. You can find out more information from my original post.

Okay, back to a ton of grading…