I love this old house. The girl in it ain’t so bad either.

This isn’t a vain attempt to see how many people still visit my site(s), but I am a bit curious if anyone’s had any problems reading and/or commenting on this new wordpress installation. It’s just that zero comments have been made since the changeover, and while comment traffic isn’t normally all that high, zero seems exceptionally low.=)

So if you don’t mind, someone feel free to just check in (even quasi-anonymously if you wish), just to assure me that I didn’t do some bad, bad thing when switching blogging platforms (or domains, for that matter).

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Spotted recently at the Mexican Flea Market.

It’s tough being so close to graduation and needing to work on completing my thesis, and at the same time being worried about getting jobs. I know it’s no different than anything else in life, but I have to juggle several different things. If you know me personally, you’re probably aware that Boston is in my aim for after grad school. That’s not to say we’re absolutely moving there, but if I don’t get any full-time job offers elsewhere, then there’s a very strong chance we’re heading straight to the coldest place we will have ever lived.

So I have a colleague who has connections in Boston; connections that should be willing to meet with me when I plan a trip up there. That colleague has to contact said connections, get the go-ahead and then confirm with me that they are available. I also have to procure a place to stay for the days I visit—fortunately I have a friend who is gracious enough to let me stay with her. And then I must get a flight. After Boston, the plan is to fly down to NYC to meet with Eric for a couple of days of the Whitney Biennial and other art schtuff, which obviously means I have to keep him in the loop.

So assuming all of those things fall into place, I might get a few teaching gigs in Boston. And then again, I might not.

I went to the Society for Photographic Education’s National Conference last weekend in Denver. What a blast. Over the past year or so, I’ve gone to CAA (College Art Association)’s National Conferences in New York City and Dallas, Art Basel Miami Beach and just done a little bit of traveling. And through all of it, SPE has been the best networking opportunity I’ve had.

I know, that sounds like a super clinical way of talking about something that I’m also claiming was a lot of fun. But I met a lot of people that I know I can consider friends at future conferences and events when we run into each other. And when you’re looking for jobs as a professor (adjunct or otherwise) like I am, knowing people from all over the country can be particularly important.

My best advice to anyone involved with both photography and academia (or hoping to) is to attend the National Conference. Next year it’s in Dallas (yay = Texas, boo = Dallas [why not Austin, folks??]). And if you can’t make it to a National, at least try to make your Regional.

What’s great for undergrads is the opportunity to visit with folks at a school where you might potentially get your MFA. I figure that’s kind of a no-brainer.

I’ve wanted to make this site into a regular blog where I can still post images from time to time. Well, I’ve finally done just that, and hopefully it will cause me to post more often. I’ve finally switched from the dreadful MovableType to the mostly-pleasant Wordpress. I threw this theme up and realized how much I liked it. The only problem was actually making it work. The worst part about Wordpress is how difficult it is for a novice to change basic things in a template like the width of a page.

That said, Wordpress is a welcome relief from the days of MovableType. This is the same system PhotoAwesome is run on, so maybe I’ll use it as much as I that site.