Finally Back!!

I am finally back in Ohio!! Let me tell you, I am very happy!! To me, it is very important to have family around, and it's my main reason for coming home while Mark's deployed. [However, this will be the last time coming home during a deployment since Michael will be old enough to go to school next year.] I grew up surrounded by family, and I look back at all of that family I had around me and truly appreciate it. Actually, we got in yesterday morning around 3:40, and today we went to a birthday party for one of my cousins. [I'm telling you, my family is very close, and I will never take that for granted.] I want my children to be able to have as much family around as possible growing up. I don't want them to wonder who their family members are and what they are/were like.

But now that we're back, that means that I am just that much closer to starting school!! In a couple of hours, I will be able to say that I start school next month!! HA. Within the next few days, I am going to be filling out my student loan application. Once that is taken care of, I will just have to schedule my classes and order my books and software, and then I'll be ready to go for school!! YAY! You have no idea how excited I am to start school!! It's going to be so exciting!! I am so ready for everything that's to come!! I am ready to learn something else that I am so passionate and serious about!!

Today, I stopped at Staples and finally got my 1 TB external hard drive!!!! I've started to transfer some important stuff to it, and once that's all taken care of, I am going to see if my cousin can wipe out the laptop and start over from "scratch". Something's still wrong with the laptop, and I just need to wipe everything out. I'm just transferring my fonts, music, and photos that are saved on the laptop. Then after the laptop's been wiped out, everything's been restored, and I get my new $510 16-program editing set, I will be ready to go!! I can't wait!! I am going to be doing some serious "damage" around here with all of the photography stuff!!

Laptop, Studio, School

I know I posted last night about the five things I would LOVE to have for all of my photography stuff - whether it be somewhere to store photos, store my camera and accessories, or just adding accessories. But this morning, I woke up and thought to myself:

Stephanie, you should get your own laptop just for photography purposes. That could be where you put all of your software, save articles you would find helpful, do your schoolwork, etc. Then Mark wouldn't have to sit around and see all of your stuff on the laptop we have now.

I think it'd be really smart to get my own laptop, and still get that 1 TB external hard drive I want.

I don't know what kind of laptop I would get though. I don't need something that's crazy-expensive, but I don't want some cheap-o either. I'm just going to have to do some research, talk about it with Mark, and go from there. I just know that having my own laptop for photography purposes would be worth it and an incredibly smart thing to have.

Something else I've been thinking about for a couple of weeks now is getting equipment for studio photography. I don't think I'll be getting much, if anything, for studio photography any time soon, but it would be really nice to have that kind of stuff. I'd like to even set up my own little studio wherever we live, right in our house in a spare bedroom, basement, or garage [depending on what we'd have that'd be able to hold all of the stuff]. I know it's not always legal to do that when renting, but I would really like to have an in-home studio with the lights, backgrounds, etc. How cool would that be?! People would come over, I'd give them a little tour of the house and be like, "Welcome to our house. Here's [this] room, [this] room, and here's my kick ass in-home studio." HA. I've already looked into getting studio equipment at B&H Photo Video's website. Trust me, I'm always looking at stuff on B&H Photo Video!! That place is amazing!! And I can't wait to start school because then I'll get a 10% DISCOUNT!! Heck yes!

I can't wait to start school!! It's going to be amazing!! I hate that I have to take "regular" classes, but I'm going to take those classes before I take the year's photography classes. I just want to get the "regular" classes out of the way and then focus on my major. Ugh, The Art Institute of Pittsburgh...I can't wait!! Even if I'm just taking online courses, I can't wait!! I am seriously looking forward to the things I am going to learn and how I am going to grow as a photographer. I'm not going to lie, I think I am a pretty decent photographer. I keep practicing and learning new things on my own, and I think that with taking classes [especially classes from AiP - only one of the best, if not the best, photography schools], I feel like I can become great!! I doubt that I'll ever be one of the famous, well-known photographers out there, but I feel that I'll be great at what I do. But if I do become a great photographer and graduate from AiP, those two things will help me get through the door somewhere, if I ever really want to go work for someone else. The Art Institute is a great school for anything that deals with the arts. Only time will tell what's in store for me, though...and I'm hoping something amazing is awaiting!!

Five Things

Here are five things that I would LOVE to have right now for my photography stuff.

1. External Hard Drive.
The one I want has 1 TB of memory. [That's 1024 GB!!!!] Having one of these with a lot of memory will allow me to go ahead and shoot in RAW and not worry so much about how much memory gets used per photo.


2. A Lowepro back pack.
I need a back pack for my camera, lenses, lens filters, memory cards, etc. because the bag I have now is just a dinky little thing, with all of my things jammed in there.


3. Tripod.
I really want to get a tripod, and soon, because it'll allow me to take pictures with longer shutter speeds and not have to worry about whether I'm shaking my camera at all or not. Plus, it's a bit more professional to have one - at least I think so.


4. Wide-Angle Zoom Lens.
If you've ever seen photos taken with a wide-angle zoom lens, then you know how awesome those photos are!! Absolutely amazing, and I want one!!


5. G-Series Telephoto Zoom Lens.
I've already mentioned this lens before, so it should come as no surprise that it's on this list. It's amazing!!