Andy Bloxham in Los Angeles

My friend Andy Bloxham (a great photographer in his own right) on our recent trip to Los Angeles for CAA. I think this is my favorite image from the whole trip.

I went to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago today—where my friend Katie Waugh is a grad student in the fibers program—and scanned 83 images from the past year in the highest resolution that the Imacons would allow. (That’s ~145 megs per RGB image from 6×6 negs, if you were wondering.) Maybe 83 Doesn’t sound like a lot to you digital shooters, but it took 8 hours, and I took essentially no breaks. Straight scanning. It was good to walk around after that. Expect some fresh images in the coming weeks (I hope).

Also, Stacy and I are leaving in a little over a week for Texas. Fortunately, we just got word that our lease will be terminated early (as we asked), and that means we will be able to look for a new place in May at the earliest. We’re really excited about that. Now, I just need some teaching jobs in Dallas. Anyone need a photography professor?

It’s been in the making for awhile, but recently we finally made the decision to move to the DFW area, back in our home state of Texas. There are a number of factors that contributed to our decision to leave Chicago. But unfortunately it can’t wait until our lease is up at the end of July. We’re hoping that our landlord will allow us the opportunity to get out early—at the very least, in just 60 days—but if not, we will be leaving most of our stuff here in storage until we have to move it out. At that point, a friend and I will fly back up and truck it down.

So that means Stacy and I will be driving down at the end of this month with Ginger (our golden retriever) and staying. It will be just in time for me to attend the annual Society for Photographic Education National Conference, which I’ve been looking to for quite awhile.

When we moved from Austin to Atlanta, I had Mo take a photo of me, which I’m reposting along with the one of Mo closing up the truck during a stop in Alabama.

I just got back from 4 days in Los Angeles for the annual College Art Association conference. For the uninitiated, College Art Association is the professional organization for those interested, specifically, in teaching art in higher education. However, CAA basically an art historian love fest.

I’ve now attended three CAA conferences in a row (NYC 2007, DFW 08, LA 09), and I can say without question that they are a monster waste of time for the vast majority of working artists. Sure, they have the career fair, which is essentially a big room full of tables and booths, where you either interview or simply drop off packets with the few schools who decide to send ambassadors. But without an interview lined up long before the conference, it just doesn’t seem to make much sense to make the trek to one of apparently only 4 major cities, UNLESS you are going to take in the sights of that town. This was definitely the case for me in NYC and LA. Dallas, being in my home state, was more of a chance to expose my friends from grad school to the great state of Texas. Austin turned out to be the highlight of our trip, however.

Anyway, back to why CAA is, well, less than impressive for artists (to be kind). I’ve TRIED to sit through lectures, which seriously amount to nothing more than series of truly boring art historians reading (DIRECTLY FROM) their paper on the most uninteresting of subjects. Even when the topics seem like they could be interesting, the presenters almost always fail to deliver.

This year, I didn’t even try to attend the lectures, with the exception of those geared towards those of us just starting out in our careers. It was fairly interesting, except like all CAA lectures, this round table went on too long by about 30 minutes. Well, I say that… we left after an hour.

As a photographer/photo educator, I’m fortunate enough to have a MUCH better organization in place to take care of my need for community. That’s SPE (Society for Photographic Education), and the annual conference happens at the end of this month in Dallas. Last year was Denver, and though I went alone, I actually made friends… something that seems next to impossible at CAA for a visual artist. Even though SPE is not necessarily an official professional organization (and therefore, far fewer jobs are posted on its web site), it appears to be a great way to network. I can’t wait for the conference.

Oh, and I shouldn’t close without mentioning a few quick points to those still considering attending CAA. If you go next year, DO NOT PAY FOR THE CONFERENCE. Only pay for your membership, as that is what gets you in to the job fair. The rest of it is a waste of money. I’m sorry to say I’ve paid for the conference, and when I realized that it was unnecessary, they refused to refund. So join me in never, EVER paying for the conference again. It’s just not worth your money. (Join SPE instead, photographers!)

=)