Coming To A Close

For those of you who don't know, I am a student at Nossi College of Art here in Nashville.  To give you an idea of what the program is like, it consists of six semesters (two years) of mostly hands-on classes. (ie. I don't have to take English, Math, History; I take Fashion, Portrait, Commercial Advertising, ect. )

I am currently finishing up my fifth semester. Only one more to go! Woo hoo!!  I have loved this program and everything I have learned so far and needless to say it has been far from easy. I have had some difficulty in other semesters, but this one has definitely taken the cake.   In January I walked back into school PUMPED about this semester. PUMPED about Commercial Advertising. PUMPED about Sports. PUMPED about Photojournalism. PUMPED about Web Design and finally building my site. Two weeks into it I was no longer "pumped."  I hit the biggest creative block ever and it took a toll on everything. 

I was especially looking forward to Commercial Advertising.  I have always liked Advertising (even though technically that's not what we do) and I was excited to spend a semester trying my hand at product AND having one of my favorite teachers to top it off.  The way the class works is we have a short list of types of items we have to shoot such as one food and one drink, and the rest of the time we shoot whatever we want however we want.  Once the semester got kicked into gear I realized I had no ideas....  Everyone was breezing through with beautiful, creative work.  Not me.  I spent hours researching ideas.  Nothing.  I asked people for ideas.  Still nothing.  Before I knew it I was overwhelmed, frustrated, and simply did not even want to go to class.  What few ideas I came up with I would shoot and hate. Finally it took me sitting down and staring at a blank sheet of paper determined to come up with some ideas, anything.  I once again asked people for ideas, received one, and boom it was over!  I saw exactly how I wanted the setup to look from the backdrop, props, lighting everything.  After that, I could not write the ideas down fast enough!  I became much more excited about going to class and getting work done and was really pleased with what I was producing.

If/when any of you ever find yourself in the same shoes as I was, keep trying, thinking, brainstorming.  Do whatever it takes, just don't give up.  Remember that EVERYONE goes through this, even if you can't see it at the time.  If God brings you to it he will most certainly bring you through it. :)

I want to share some of my favorites with you. I am proud of them, and while they may not be the best in the world, they are a million times better than what I was working with in the beginning.