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.