I have always felt that within every person’s life there is one, single turning point that will define who you are for the rest of your life. For me, I believe that this is my turning point. An opportunity to meet new people and be confronted with new challenges. To see some amazing sights and have some laughs. And in the end, having the intentions of being a better, stronger person. It’s simply the mystery of what awaits.



May 21

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Well, everything fit in “The Brave Little Toaster”!  I took off about 9:00 AM and rolled into Waverly, NE at my sister’s house at about 3:30 PM.  We all got to hang out and have some laughs. We cooked out on the grill and had some beers (can’t go wrong with that!!) Doesn’t look like Stephanie is going to have baby Gavin before I leave. But I wish her and Price the best of luck and I know, without a doubt, that they are going to be AMAZING parents. Just resting up and excited to take the next chunk out of my trip!!


May 22

I got to spend one more day in Waverly, NE with Stephanie and Price. Didn’t do a whole lot, but it was very relaxing! I’m really glad that I got to spend some time with them before I left. Still doesn’t look like I’m going to meet baby Gavin but I will look forward to it on my way back! I did research hotels and stuff for the rest of the way and made reservations so I won’t have to sleep at truck stops!!! I’m really looking forward to getting on the road and checking out the scenery.

May 23

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I put in a pretty long day today. I left my sister and Price's house in Waverly, NE at 9:00 AM and arrived in Buffalo, WY at 8:30 PM and ended up driving about 600 miles. It was an amazing drive though. As far as Western Nebraska goes,I have never seen such flat, wide open space in my life. Its a really weird feeling being in the middle of nowhere, not being about to see towns or houses or anything for 50 to 100 miles at a time. For that reason, whenever I saw gas stations, I stoped and filled up frequently. Once I got into Southeastern Wyoming I entered the foothills of the Rocky's. The last 4 hours of my drive was an amazing sight. I haven't seen any big mountains yet but I will drive through them tomorrow. Well I found a Super 8 in Buffalo and I'm about ready to make a peanut butter sandwich and eat some chex-mix for dinner and get a good night sleep so I can finish my drive tomorrow.


May 24

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Well, I made it !!! Whenever I thought that the scenery couldn't get any better, I went around the next turn and it blew me away even more. Since I drove for so long yesterday, I had plenty of time to stop and take pictures, which I did every chance I got. I'm really excited to see my apartment tomorrow and get all my stuff moved in. I'm also pumped to check out the town try to learn my way around a little. As far as Peoria standard, it's pretty small but as far as Chillicothe standards, it's pretty big. This town looks like it is going to be really cool. The town it self is flat, but there are huge mountains all around it which are still covered with snow.


May 25

I moved into my apartment today!! It's pretty cool! The furniture is a litte "Goodwill" ish, but that won't bother me at all!! I went out today to the Dollar Tree, my new favorite store, (everything's a dollar) and bought some dishes and stuff for the apt. Since I came out here with my small car, I had to wait till I got here to get all my stuff. My bedroom has a sliding glass door in it and about 8 feet outside of it, is a big rushing river!!! It looks amazing and it sounds like I live nextdoor to Niagra Falls!! Then out my front door there is a huge mountain. It's an amazing sight just to open my door. The guy told me when I was moving in that there are large hurds of elk that run across it all the time and to keep my eyes on it. I can't wait !! Thats going to be an amazing!! I was able to get my internet working at the apartment today and chat with Mom and Dad and Bosco on the webcam!!! I also got to talk with Stephanie and Price as well.  But it's been a couple of long days so i'm planning on going to sleep early and sleep in a little in the morning. One week from today until classes start!!!!

May 26

I had a pretty lazy, relaxing day today which was nice. I got to sleep in a little and finished my book this morning. ( What a rough life ) I did go back into town to the Dollar Tree and got a few more supplies and groceries. I did have a milestone today!! haha!! I fried my first egg!! It actually tasted pretty good. Now I have another cheap meal ( thanks grandma ). I did take off walking through the town today too. One of my classes is only about a 15 minute walk. The weather was amazing today, mid 70's, so it was a really nice walk. There were tons of people out walking dogs too, which I stopped and petted about 10 of them. ( I really miss Bosco ) But the walk to my class takes me through the down town area which has all kinds of resturants, bars and coffee shops and stuff adverising live music and stuff which is really cool. There was also a few people hanging out down town playing guitar and stuff. So I'm starting to find my way around a little better! Enjoying every second !!

May 27

I had a pretty interesting day today. I sleep in again, ( resting up while I can ) and once I woke up and got going, I printed off a map of where my other class is going to be and took off walking again. This class was about a 45 min. walk. So I think i will probably be driving to this one. It's only about a 6 or 7 minute drive. But the more I scope out this town, the more stuff I see. This town has a little bit of everything. On my 3 mile walk, there were people out walking with their kids and dogs. There were older homeless people out riding their bikes around. People playing guitars and harmonica's on the sidewalks. Some people dress like they just got out of work in a high-rise in New York City, and others dress like their Volkswagon van broke down 50 miles down the road and descide to walk instead!! So I'm sure people look at me and can tell I'm from out of town !! I also had my first run in with the law !! I got pulled over for turning into a parking lot to go to a Little Caesar's cause you could only make left hand turns there between 8:00 AM and 4:00 PM. I got pulled over at 4:45. When I turned into the parking lot, there was a motercycle cop drinking a soda right in front of Little Caesar's and turned his lights on and stoped me in the parking lot. All I wanted to do was get a damn pizza !! He didn't even give me a ticket with a fine, he gave me a piece of paper that looked like a ticket that said I had to go see the town judge. So, tomorrow, I get to go meet the Missoula judge and try to get out of a fine !!!! I guess you can define this as confronting new challenges !!!

May 28

Well, I went to court this morning. I figured I would go ahead and get it taken care of. So I had to go in to an actual court room and stand up in front of the judge, and a bunch of other people waiting in there, plead guilty and pay a fine of $30. I was kind of a pain in the butt, but it could have been a lot worse. Now when I look at it, it's not really a big deal. When I look at other people's "real" problems, this was nothing more than an inconvenience. It's simply something you deal with, keep your feet moving, and leave it behind you. I did talk to my sister and Price today and they are in the hospital awaiting the arrival of baby Gavin. I'm really excited for them!!! They are experiencing their own turning point in their lives and I have no doubt that they are going to be amazing parents. Other than that, I did some laundry today and just kind of relaxed a little. It was a beautiful day out here, mid 70's again. So now I'm just hanging out and awaiting the phone call that my sister is now a mom!!!!

May 29

I got a phone call about 11:30 or so last night telling me that I'm an uncle again. Stephanie and Price welcomed their first born into the world 10:42 PM. Little Gavin Jacob Fowler weighed in at 6lbs 13oz and he was 21" long. I talked to them again today and they said that Stephanie is doing good and the baby is cute and healthy. Other than that it's kind of been a boring day. It's about 87 degrees here today, which without humity, it's a very comfortable 87. I went out walking around town a little this morning and I've been reading a bit, but other than that, not a whole lot going on. Later tonight my friend Erin that I went to high school with ( now living in Idaho ) and her boyfriend are coming into town to hang out for the weekend. It should be a really good time and awesome to see a familiar face!!!

MAY 30

I had a pretty good day today!! Once Erin, Tom and I all woke up and got moving, we took off walking from my apartment and didn't get back untill about 3:00. We started out heading into town to walk around. Every Saturday here they have a market day. Every street down town was loaded with people selling everything from home grown veggies, home made close, jewlery and about everthing else you could think of. There were tons of people out on the sidewalks playing instruments which never gets old. Next we went to the park on the other side of the river behind my apartment and went off walking trails through the woods along the river!!!! It looked amazing back there. I'm really pumped to go back with my camera because the scenery was exactly what I would think of when someone mentions Montana!!! We were only about 20 min. from my apartment but we felt like we were out in the middle of the wilderness. So now, after we went and ate dinner, we are going to hang out and complain about our sore legs and sunburns!!

May 31

Erin and Tom took off this morning around 10:00 AM to start their 4hr drive back to their home in Idaho. I had a great time hanging out with them this weekend and hope that we can do it again while I'm out here. The rest of the day was spent just getting things caught up for the beginning of the week. Since I start my rollercoaster schedule tomorrow with classes starting, I had a lot of thing to take care of so I didn't have to worry about it and just concentrat on school. I went out and bought a swiffer thing to mop up my floors. I also finished up my laundry and did my dishes. I feel so grown up!!! hahah!! But other than that, I took of and drove around town a little more and found a few more stores and stuff that I hadn't found yet. I plan on getting to bed early tonight so I can wake up and be at my first class at 8:00 AM tomorrow.

June 1

Today was my first day of classes and it left me even more excited about the summer than before. Today they had a day long orientation planned so we could meet the staff and other students. They also let us know what to expect out of all the classes for the rest of the summer and told us about some of the things we were going to learn. It was really nice because the staff seemed as excited as all of the students. They all seemed really down to earth and fun, but most importantly, they all seemed extreamly educated about photography. All of the other students I met were really nice as well. The ages ranged between 18 and 78. There were people from all over the United States, Canada, India, and London. We had a portion of the day where we all broke off into groups of about 25 and had to stand up and introduce ourselves, say where we were from and why we are here. It was kind of amazing in the fact that there are over 80 students from around the world and we all share the same excitement and enthusiasm. Most of us were simply not happy with the way things were going in our lives and decided to make a change. But regular classes start tomorrow and I'm really excited to get started and learn as much as I can. 

June 2

I had another great day today. Today was my first day of photo studies class which was taught by Neil, who is the owner and founder of the school. Just by hearing him talk, you can hear how enthusiastic he is about photography and you can't help but be more excited to learn. Neil acutally studied under and learned a lot of his photographic knowledge from Ansel Adams. Ansel Adams is probably "the" most famous black and white photographer in the world, however, he has past away since. We learned a lot about equipment, such as tripods and camera bodies. We also started talking about the different types of photography and career opportunities. Everyday I meet and get to know more people which is really fun and interesting, see that there are people from all walks of life from all over the country. So far, since I've been here, each day seems to be better than the last. It's an amazing feeling to finally be doing something that I enjoy doing.

June 3

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Today I had my first day of my Visual Studies class. I can already tell it will be one of my favorites, although, it will be very challenging. This class is more about exploring the ideas and meanings behind our photographs. We also learn more technical thing that don't pertain to equitpment. We will learn about composition, such as, shapes and lines in our photos. We will learn about eye tricks to portray depth of field. We will also go over color temperatures and charateristics of color and much more. Most importantly, this is the class which we will gain the majority of our confidence, which is one of the reasons I decided to come here in the first place. You are you own worst critic and if your not confident, with whatever your doing in life, you won't succeed. After I got out of class today, around 6:00 PM, I decided to grab my camera and take off through the trails behing my apartment. I didn't get very many good ones, it was the worst time of day for lighting to shoot, but it was a beautiful day here. So in the end, I got to enjoy the nice weather and scenery.


June 4

I had a pretty long day today. I had classes starting at 9:00 am through 9:00 PM. Still no complaints because am soaking up as much as I can!!! I had my first computer class today which is going to be amazing. And then we had a guess speaker to talk about the business of photography from 2 to 9. His lecture was geared more towards commercial photography, which doesn't really apply to my plans but it was still really interesting. I feel like after hearing him speak for that long, I need to sign up for law classes next summer!! haha!! But other than classes, I didn't really have much time to do anything else. Looking forward to more classes and more knowledge tomorrow.

June 6

Well I had to skip a day of righting. Its been really busy out here and the classes are really starting to pic up. Yesterday I had classes from 9 in the morning till 9 at night. Makes for a pretty long day. Once I finally got done, I needed to come back and do homework before I went to sleep. This morning I woke up and went to class from 9 in the morning till about 4:30 in the afternoon. Today was a lot of fun because we had our first field study course. So we met in our groups at the park and got to work on our assignments. While we were shooting, there were about 5 or 6 instructors walking around offering advise, and helping with some of the technical things with our cameras. After class, me and some of my friends that I have met so far went out and had some beers to unwind after a long hard week. It was a really good time to hang out and have some laughs and not be in a classroom. Everything is still going really well and I'm looking forward to get some more shooting done.  

June 7

I had a pretty good day today. This was the first day I've had time to do laundry and grocery shop and get everything all caught up before I start another week. I worked on my homework assignment today that is due tomorrow for my first critique, so I got to do a lot of shooting today. I didn't really get anything that looks very good but I did get to practice all the techniques they were teaching us this last week. Our assignment is based on using different ways to portray depth of field. But all in all, the weather was amazing today, so it was really nice just to be outside and enjoying it. I did get to talk to Stephanie, Price and Baby Gavin on the web cam today, which was really fun. Gavin is getting really big. So for the rest of the night, I'm just going to hang out and relax.

June 8

Had another pretty busy day today. I didn't have class until 2 but I got up early and went out shooting with some friends here to finish up our assignments for class. They were more technique photos, so they are nothing special. Hopefully soon I will have some more thing to post cause it's amazing here. But other than that, I had class from 2 to 9. I'm really learning a lot and I'm really excited to get to some of the more creative assignments and start shooting some really cool stuff. It's supose to be really nice tomorrow so I think I'm going to go back and walk the trails and get some cool photos from back there. I haven't really hit it at a good lighting time of day, so I really haven't had much turn out back there. But I'm looking forward to getting it right soon so I can show you all.

June 9

I had a really good day today. I didn't have class today until 2 so I got a chance to sleep in a little. I was able to call Grandma and Grandpa Winn, Grandma Orman, Mom, Dad and some other friends. It was really good to check in and hear from everyone. Then I went off to my computer class where we are learning more Lightroom stuff. I think I'm going to like Lightroom a ton. After I was done me and a girl from class took off walking some trails and we walked to the top of a big Mountain at the edge of town and took pictures of the sunset, which was amazing. I had a few pictures turn out really well, so hopefully I will be posting some more stuff. I have a really long day tomorrow. 9 in the morning till 11 at night. It sounds like it will be torturous, but that's why I'm here.

June 11

It's been a while since I've written anything, but it's been really hectic here. Between classes and going out shooting, I don't have much time for anything else. Everything is still going amazing. I'm starting to get out and do some more shooting so I will be posting some more pictures soon. There's a girl I'm friends with here who is staying with her Mom and invited us over for dinner the other night. We showed up and there was tons of really good food. So we all got to load up on good food. Not that the peanut butter sandwiches and corndogs aren't doing the job.... but it was really nice to have some food that I knew was good for me!!! hahah. But other than that, the summer seems like it is going really fast so far. We were all talking the other day that despite the fact that we have only had class for two weeks, we are all kind dreading the end of the summer all ready. We have all been talking about going on some trips and stuff on the weekends coming up doing some camping, which will be a blast. We are going to wait a few more weeks though, cause it still gets pretty cold at night here. I think last night was in the low 40's for a low. It's kinda crazy because it was in the low 80's for a high. The temperature change here is crazy.

June 13

Had a pretty interesting morning this morning. I woke up to find a note on my car saying that they backed into it last night and the left a number to call to get a hold of them. So I spent my morning talking to these people and exchanging insurance info so hopefully I can get my car fixed!! It could have been a lot worse though. At least these people were honest and did leave a number so I could talk to them about it. But other than that, I went with some friends and walked around the farmers market today. It was really busy today. It seemed like the whole town was out for it. But the weather was really nice, so it was good to be out walking around. I didn't have any classes today so I spent the rest of the day hanging out with some people and I got my laundry caught up. Kinda boring but it needed to be done. I did get to talk to Kelly and Nicky today too. I haven't actually talked to them much since I left so it was really good to hear from them and hear that they are doing well.

June 15

I've been pretty busy again for the last couple of days. As you can tell, I'm starting to miss days here and there. I'm either in classes or out shooting assignments now, which doesn't leave much time for other things. Everything is still going really well though. There is way to much fun to be had here to stop and take time to write in my log. It always seems like there is something going on here and something fun to do. We dove into more lighting classes today which is awesome. My goal is to start doing portraits and studio work once I'm finished so I'm really excited to soak in as much lighting information as I can. Our instructor is Joe Lavine, who is a really well know commercial photographer. He has been in the business for over 20 years and shoots for Coors Beer, General Mills, and many other companies. Chances are, if you walk through the grocery store, you will see a lot of his work. So I have a feeling that I will learn a lot from him that will carry over. Other than that, I'm still taking it all in and enjoying everyday that I'm here.

June 17

Not really anything new going on. Been really busy with classes and assignments. We have a really cool assignment I'm working on now. It's night photography, long exposures, ghosting and light painting. It's a ton of fun. The only bad thing is that it doesn't get dark here until 10:30 or so. So shooting this assignment makes for long nights. I had my first studio session tonight. This was our first time in the studio so we were learning about all the lights, stands, and other equipment. I really like doing this type of work. I get to do it  again on Friday, so I need to come up with something cool to go shoot.

June 18

We went through our first group critique today. Our assignment was to just take a black and white photo and present it to the class on a projector. My teacher lead the critique and all the other students got to speak up and say what they liked and disliked about it. Everyone really liked it though, even though I was crazy nervous. I used the black and white dog picture that I posted on the " Class assignments " page. This was the first time we really got to see what everyone else has been shooting too, which was really cool to see all the different things people decide to shoot. I went to the park for a while after I got done with classes to shoot for a while but the mosquitoes were terrible. Usually Montana doesn't have mosquitoes and everyone said this is the worst they have been in a really long time. Of course they have to be bad once I get here!! haha. Now since I've been here for a while my wish list of things I need and, or want, is getting bigger. They had a Cannon rep. here yesterday and I got to look at a bunch of lenses and today our teachers were showing us all the light meters and they stressed how important those are. I feel like I need to sell all of my possetions in order to get the things I really need. That doesn't feel really good when your as cheap as me!!! Other than that, I'm going to got to bed early tonight and get ready for another day. I have field help and studio tomorrow so I will be shooting all day tomorrow. Can't complain about that!!!

June 21

It has been so crazy busy here!! It's been a few days since I have written anything but this is the first time I've had a chance to sit down and do it. We have been getting a lot busier with assignments and now I'm either in class or out shooting. No complaints here!!! A couple friends and I went camping this last weekend and it was amazing. One girls parents live about 100 miles from Missoula on a farm in the middle of nowhere and they let us come out there for the weekend. There house was tucked back in the woods about 2 or 3 miles off the two lane road we took to get there. When I first got there and looked around, that was my definition of Montana. It was so quiet and peacefull out there. You could see huge mountains all around. We drove down to a little clearing and sat in the bed of there truck drinking beer and watched a heard of about 50 or 60 Elk for about an hour until a some deer ran by and scared them off. It was so much fun. The next day we went driving around on some dirt roads through the mountains. These were the dirt roads that were really narrow and had about a 500 ft or more drop on the other side. We wound around a mountain about half way up and then we got out and hiked up the rest of the way to the top. We looked on the map and elevation for this one was 7,500 ft. It was really tall. So we hiked up to the top and sat and took some pictures for a while and just hung out. It was so quiet and peace that it almost didn't seem real. Yesterday was also Father's Day so I was able to go into town where there was reception so I could call and talk to Dad and Mom. It kind seemed unfair that I was out hiking up mountains on Father's Day and Dad was out shopping and stuff !! hahah. I can't wait until Mom and Dad can come out and hang out for a few days and soak all this in. I have a lot of pictures to go through from this weekend but I will be posting some more pretty soon.

June 24

Finally found some time to write. Our assignments are starting to pile up and take a lot more time to complete. So whenever I'm away from class, I'm out shooting. I'm still having a great time and I'm learning a ton. Today I only had class from 9 to 1. Since we don't have anything to do the rest of the day, some friends and I are heading out of town and we are going to go to a ghost town to shoot for a while. They actually have authentic ghost towns out here that were used when there was the big western gold rush. Since then, all these houses and buildings have been left behind. They one we are going to is in Garnet. We take a two lane highway part of the way and then we go for about 15 miles on a one lane dirt road to get back to it. It should be a fun trip and hopefully I will have some cool pictures to post soon. In today's class we learned about the Zone System. It was really interesting to kind of learn more about the science of photography. And upon learning more about it, I cleared up a lot of problems that I usually have when I'm out shooting.

June 28

I had a ton of fun today!! Some friends and I took off this morning about 9 am and went to Augusta MT. for a rodeo. This was my first rodeo and it was really fun. It was a nice warm day, got some sun and got some cool shots. It was cool to shot something different and fast pasted. We got to sit on the ground and sit right up against the gates and shoot. I don't think I have ever been this dirty, but it was an awesome experience. Not only was the rodeo fun, but Augusta was a really cool town too. It was nothing special. It had one street that went through the town that only lasted maybe two blocks, a couple BBQ restaurants and some bars. It was as small as you can get. It was actually kinda hard to drive through the town cause there was so many people out walking around in the middle of the streets and stuff. It was an amazing drive from Missoula as well. Every time I leave Missoula I'm amazed at how beautiful it is. The mountains, rivers, and other scenery never get old.

July 1

Called Dad today to wish him a happy birthday. I'm really looking forward to seeing him and mom when they come visit!!! I had my studio lighting class this morning from 9 to 1 and now I'm done until Monday. They are giving us a long weekend to get a little break from the intense schedule. Going on my big trip this weekend and I'm excited to she what pictures I'm going to get. All my projects are starting to pile up so I need to get serious and start working at them. They will be due before I know it. Other than that, not to much going on. I've gotten kind of bad about writing everyday, but it seems like I'm always off doing something and I come home to either eat or sleep. But all is well and I'm looking forward to having a couple of days off and getting out of town.

July 4

So far, this has been a crazy 4th of July weekend. I did everything from a plane ride through the mountains to kayaking down a river with class 3 and 4 rapids. We got a break from classes for the 4th of July so I took of on a trip with one of my friends from school and her parents. They had a plane ride through the mountains set up for us. We had to drive to Salmon, ID and we went to the Salmon Airport and flew out to a grass air strip in the middle of nowhere. I'm not exaggerating when I say the middle of nowhere either. The only way to get to this place was by a small airplane or a 3 day trip by horse back. There are no roads that go to this place and the only reason they have electricity is because they have a generator that is powered by the current of the river. So we hopped in a small, single engine, 4 passenger plane and took a 45 min flight out around the mountains and got to take pictures from a much different perspective. It was an amazing time. Then we went back into town and they had some people set up to take us kayaking down the river. It was one of the scariest things I've ever done!! This was the first time ever touching a kayak and they took us down class 3 and class 4 rapids. I was still trying to get the hang of steering my kayak when we hit the first "small" rapid. I made it through a few of them and I got tipped in the middle of one of the big ones. This was really crazy!! Out in the middle of a river, in the middle of rapids and being tossed around, trying to find my kayak, and trying to catch my breath before I got hit by the next wave. We traveled down this river for about 2 hrs and I got tipped at least 4 times. There was one point when I got tipped and I couldn't find my kayak to get on before the next set of rapid and I went through a class 3 rapid with no kayak!!! I thought I was dead for sure!!! haha!!! So I can say that I have kayaked but will I do it again???? HELL NO !!! haha!! But tonight I'm back in Missoula and I'm going to try to find a cool spot to go see some fireworks and hopefully get some good pictures to post later!! Happy 4th everyone!!!

July 7

There isn't really anything new going on. Been really busy with classes and projects that are due soon. We start learning PhotoShop soon which is going to be awesome!! I'm really pumped about that! Mom and Dad will be here Friday night !!!! I'm really excited to see them and show them around. It will be really fun to show them where I'm living life and showing them the things I've been doing. I think when I'm done with classes on Saturday morning we are going to take off and head to Glacier Park. Should be a really fun weekend.

July 13

Wow, its been a really long time since I've written anything!! I just dropped Mom and Dad of at the airport!!! It was so much fun having them here, being able to show them around and spend some time with them. They seemed to have a really good time. The first night they were here we just kinda hung out a little. I drove them around for a quick tour of the town, dropped off their stuff at my apartment and took off down town to get a beer!!! The next morning I had class, so they went and checked out the town's huge farmer's market until I got done with my lab class. Then we took off walking around town and walked the trail at the park behind my apartment. The next morning, we slep in a little, hoped in the car and took off driving. We ended up in Salmon, ID. We took a two lane highway all the way there through the mountain passes and enjoyed all the amazing scenery. They seemed to really enjoy it. I took them to the river I went kayaking on and by the looks of there faces, it must have looked a little bigger than in the pictures!! haha!!! I'm glad I showed this to Mom after I had done it and lived through it and not before I attemped it!! But over all, it was amazing having them here and I'm really glad they were able to make it out here. This morning was also the morning when our big slideshow projects were due. So we had our class today presenting and enjoying everyone's slideshow's that we have been working on for the last few week. It was a lot of fun and ended up going really well.

July 15

Kind of had a rough start to my day today!! There is a guy that I'm friends with here and is in my class that actually won the Montana state lottery this last weekend so we all decided to go out last night and celebrate!! Soooo this morning getting ready for class I had a little bit of a head ache and wasn't quite 100% !! haha!! But it was a really fun night and it was good getting out, relaxing and having a good time. Other than my head ache weighing me down this morning, the rest of my classes went well. After class, me and a couple of people went over to one of my friends apartments, ate some dinner and we all brought our guitars and played around for a while. It was a really good time. Other than that, I think I'm going to be an old man tonight and go to bed early and hopefully feel a little better tomorrow than I did this morning!!

July 18

First of all I wanted to say that I had an awesome birthday!!! Thank you everyone who called and sent me cards. And a special thanks to Uncle Mike and Aunt Peg for the cookies!!! Although, I think Aunt Peg may have had a little more to do with cookies!!!! hahahah!!They were amazing!!!! I ended up going out to eat and have some drinks and stuff with some friends from class!!! It was a really good time, however, I didn't feel so great going to my 9 am class this morning!! After class today, I met up with about 20 other people from school and we all tubed down the Blackfoot river!! It was a ton of fun and a lot less life threatening that going kayaking!!! I actually might go do this again some time!! From the time we put in to the time we got out, we were on the river for about 5 hrs. We all hung on to each other's tubes and went down as a big group and we had a couple of tubes that were designated for the beer coolers on the way down. So by the time we got done, we were all very well hidrated!!! haha!! After we got done with the river, a bunch of us went out to each, headed home to change close and we are all off to a bon fire with the same big group that went tubeing!!

July 21

I've had another couple of busy days but not much else going on besides classes. I did order my new lens yesterday. I can't wait to get it. I feel like a little kid waiting for Christmas. I ended up buying the Tamron 28mm-75mm f2.8 lens. It's going to be an amazing lens and I can't wait to get it and start shooting with it! I even paid extra money for shipping so it would get here faster!! haha!!! And those of you that really know me and understand just how cheap I am, you know that this is very uncharacteristic. I did call and talk to Grandma Orman today on my lunch break. I found out this morning of her news she got at the doctors yesterday and I just wanted her to know that I was thinking about her.

July 24

I finally got my new lens and it's amazing!! Its been a ton of fun getting out and shooting with it!! The last few days went by sooooo fast! We had a few long days of classes and bunches of assignments. I only had one class this morning so I am done for the rest of the day! A bunch of us are going to have a cook out later and relax. It hit us all the other day that we don't have much more time here, so we are all trying to hang out as much as we can. I talked to Stephanie the yesterday and they were getting ready to make the big trip to Illinois to see everyone. I'm sure everyone is really excited to see Gavin!!! I can't wait myself!! I hope everyone has a good time and I can't wait to see everyone when I get back!!! For now, I'm off to enjoy my weekend!

July 26

I went out around the farmers market yesterday after my morning class and took some more street musician pictures which was a blast. I heard a lot of really good music. One guy sat out there and played an electric cello hooked up to a little amp. It sounded unbelievable. However, once he stopped and I talked to him for a minute, I found out that he was a huge jerk. I really enjoyed his music, but I didn't waste much time talking to him. I saw another band called " Grady Hunt". It was a big band for a street band. They had 2 guitars, a stand-up bass, mandolin and a violin. They are actually a band based out of Chicago and they are out here for the summer playing shows so they go out to the farmer's market every Saturday and plays music to promote their band. They drew a big crowd quick. I even picked up one of their CDs and it sounds awesome! Last night, some friends and I went to Hamilton to their town's beer festival. Montana has a lot of locally brewed beers so they were all there selling and giving samples of their beers. It kinda reminded me of a small town festival like they would have back home. It was a small town and it seemed like everyone was there and everyone knew each other. Today I ended up sleeping in for the first time in a long time. I went out and shot my flash assignment and then I got together with my photo journalism group to get our project together so we can present it tomorrow. So now with all my assignments done, I think few of us are going to get together later, relax and watch a movie.  

July 29

Well, once classes finished up today, we started our second "long break" of the summer. We have Thurs - Sun off. The plans for Seattle kind of fell through. A friend of mine from school had some friends that lived there and that's who we were going to stay with but bailed on us last minute. Not a big deal. Instead, a few of us are going to go up to White Fish Lake and hang out and take pictures for the day!! Should be a really good time. It's only about an hour or two away from Missoula and from what I hear, the scenery is amazing!!! It seems like no matter where you go, it always turns out to be a beautiful drive. A 2 or 3 hour drive back home is something that everyone dreads but it is something that I always look forward to here. So hopefully I will have some more photos to post soon!!

August 2

I ended up having kind of a boring but relaxing weekend. I was really bummed out at first when all the plans for the long weekend fell through, but I'm pretty happy with how things worked out. Thursday a few of us ended up going for a day trip to White Fish Lake and hung out around some random towns along the way. I had a ton of fun and got some pretty cool shots. Friday a few of us ended up tubing down the Bitterroot River for a few hours. It was so relaxing and peaceful. We were floating down the river and 2 bald eagles swooped right over us and sat up in the tree alone the bank. Luckily the river was flowing really slow so we got to sit and watch them for a while!! Saturday worked out well cause I finally figured out how I am going to present my final project. That was a big weight off of my shoulders. I also had time for phone calls. I talked to Mom and Dad, Stephanie and Grandma Orman. It was good to talk to everyone and hear how everyone was doing. Stephanie made me laugh so hard hearing her talk about starting school and having to leave Gavin at the babysitters. It was funny to hear her all worked up about it but it just proved how good of a mom she is!! Today I did absolutly nothing, and loved it!! I pretty much sat around and watched movies all day and got caught up on sleep. It was kind of a boring day but it was exactly what I needed. So I'm off to bed early tonight and get ready for another week.

August 6

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We had our last studio session today. It's really hard to believe that we only have about a week left. We graduate next Friday!!! Kind of crazy! This summer went by a lot faster than I would have liked but all good things must come to an end. This has been an unbelievable summer. I've had a lot of cool experiences, met a lot of awesome people and learned a ton. It will be nice to come home and see everyone though and I'm really excited to meet Gavin!! Tonight I have another business class to go to until 9. Other than that, not much else going on. I have print lab tomorrow to print out the photos for my final project which I will have to matte and frame for next week. I can't wait to see the photos I picked all framed and finished!!

August 9

I had a pretty lazy day today. Got some much needed sleep this morning and didn't get up until about 10:30am. I felt so refreshed rolling out of bed today. Other than that, I got my laundry caught up and did homework. Nothing too exciting. I went for a drive towards Florance but on my way it started pouring down rain so I decided it wouldn't be ideal shooting weather so I ended up heading back home. Once I got back to Missoula, the sun had come out so I took off walking down town for something to do. It turned out that the Missoula Symphony was playing down at the park. The whole town must have come out to see them. The park was packed. So I ended up standing up on the bridge over the park and listened for a while. Now I'm just relaxing and getting ready to start my final week.

August 12

It has been a pretty awesome couple of days here. Last night in the school gallery, Bill Allard came and spoke about his exhibit he had on display. He is a famous National Geographic photographer who has been shooting with them for almost 40 years. He was great to listen to and I got a lot out of what he had to say. After his lecture, me and a few of my friends went out to have some drinks and about a half an hour later, in walks Bill Allard. He sat and talked with us and asked us questions about our photography and the school. He ended up hanging out for almost 2 hours. It was an amazing time sitting and talking to him and to hear that he is one of the few photographers that has been shooting that long because he likes it, and not just for the money!!!! This morning was the morning that we had to present our final projects! It was an amazing morning. The photos and concepts that people came up with blew me away. Everyone's project was very personal to them and it was great to share with all of our new friends. My project turned out well, granted my mattes didn't turn out like I'd hoped, but it was great. My project was based on one of the street musicians I had met. All of my shots were in black and white, black mattes and black frames. Tonight we have a photographer coming to speak to us from Sports Illustrated. It should be an awesome lecture and I'm really looking forward to it. After that, a few of us are going to go to the Missoula fair and try to get some cool long exposure night shots!

August 17

WOW!!! I haven't written anything down for a long time!! There has been so much stuff going on and I've been really busy!!! I made it through classes and graduation!! I can't believe it is over. After all that hesitation and deciding if I could do it, I blinked and now it's finished. The graduation was an amazing time. Sideshow of eveyone's photos from the summer on a movie theater screen. Got the last opportunity to talk to all of the teachers and assistants and thank them. What an amazing summer!!! Some of my friends have already packed up and taken off and some remain. I started packing and cleaning today and finally started to realize how hard it will be to leave. All good things come to an end though!! It will be really nice to get home and see everyone though and start the next chapter of my life, whatever it will be. I am going to try to go to Glacier Park tomorrow. I tried to make the trip yesterday and made it as far as Flathead Lake and got rained out. Tomorrow is going to be much better weather though. Hopefully I will have some more photos to post soon.

August 19

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Spent all day yesterday in Glacier National Park and it was amazing!!! It was way better than I had expected! It has to be the most beautiful place I've been since I've been here. I took my time driving around and pulling off to take pictures. I ended up driving all the way to Logan's Pass and headed back towards West Glacier. I left my apartment around 8am and didn't get back into town until about 6:30pm. It made for a long day but I was glad I did it! Last night I went and met up with some more people and had some dinner and came home and got to bed fairly early. Today I am doing laundry, packing, cleaning and all that other fun stuff so I can do my check out and leave town in the morning. I'm planning on having most of my stuff loaded tonight so I can take off first thing tomorrow and end up in Seattle tomorrow evening! I'm really looking forward to seeing the ocean and taking photos of my trip. Tonight, I'm hanging out with my friends again cause it will be the last time I will see them. It's been an amazing summer and I've made a lot of awesome friends that I'm not ready to say goodbye too, but, I need to move on to the next chapter of my life. And who knows, some of them may be in it?? Hopefully I will be able to meet up with them somewhere down the road!

August 21

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I left Missoula yesterday about 8:30 am and started heading west!!! What an amazing drive. The west just keeps getting better and better!! And it's crazy how fast the scenery changes. One minute your in the Mountains and the next you are in what looks like a desert and about 2 hrs later your back into mountains and evergreen forests!! I ended up staying in Lacey, WA. It's just south of Seattle, right outside of Tacoma. This morning, I woke up and took off towards the coast at about 9 am. I drove for about an hour and a half before I made it to my first beach!! When I parked in the parking lot, I couldn't see the ocean yet but I could hear it and smell it. I grabbed my camera and tripod and started towards the little hill at the end of the parking lot. Once I got to the top, my jaw dropped and I stopped dead in my tracks!! It was an amazing sight!! I was one of the only ones on the beach at that time. The weather didn't cooperate very well, but trying to catch a sunny, clear day in the Pacific Northwest is a gamble. It was a little cloudy, misting rain and the temp was only in the mid to upper 60's. Not terrible conditions, but not ideal either. So I made due with what I had and made the best out of it. Once I left that beach, I got on Highway 101 and started heading south. I went as far as Seaside, OR before I began to head back up the coast. Highway 101 was an amazing stretch of road. It took you through all kinds of small port towns, through evergreen forests and along the ocean. It did spend more time inland that I'd have hoped but I just had to take some side streets here and there to get to the beaches. And there wasn't many places to pull off and take pictures, so as far as the drive goes, all those images are in my head... sorry I couldn't share them. I made it back to my hotel room around 7pm, loaded and edited my pictures, made my peanut butter sandwich for the night and now I'm about to get to sleep so I can head back to Missoula tomorrow morning.

August 26

I finally made it into Lincoln, NE and got to meet my new nephew Gavin!! He is such a cute little guy and I'm so glad we were finally able to meet!! I left Missoula on Monday and drove to Casper, WY. I think Wyoming is one of the most under rated states I've been to. The entire trip through Wyoming I was blown away. You have mountains and really cool desert areas. And I think the coolest part was that there is nothing there. You could drive for hours before seeing a town to stop in for gas. So as your driving through this beautiful landscape, you can imagine that this is what it must have been like hundreds of years ago. When you driving throught the really cool mountain areas, you come across hillsides that have been cleared and cabins now sit on the mountain sides. It kind of takes away from the beauty. So yesterday morning I woke up early and took off from Casper and headed towards Lincoln, NE. I had about a 9.5 hr drive yesterday, but it was well worth it. Stephanie started her grad classes last night so when I got here it was just Price and Gavin hanging out. As soon as I walked in the door, Chewy greeted me like his long lost friend and then I got to hold Gavin for a while and no, his head didn't fall off!! haha!! Then Price, Gavin and I just hung out and talked for a while until Stephanie got home. I was instantly blown away watching Stephanie and Price with Gavin and how great of parents they are!! Gavin is one lucky kid. So I'm going to hang out here for a couple of days, get some pictures of Gavin, and relax.

August 30

I finally made it home today!!!!  The last few days I haven't had internet to write anything but the rest of my trip was amazing!! I ended up spending a few days in Nebraska with Stephanie, Price, Gavin and Chewy!!! It was a really good time!! Gavin was a ton of fun and I wish I would have had more time to hang out but there will be plenty of time for that. But it was great to be able to hang out with them, relax, laugh and have a good time. Friday I hung out with Price and Gavin while Stephanie went to work and I left and headed to Ames, IA to hang out with Nicky for a couple of days!! It was really good seeing her and hanging out. She was still kind of having problems with her ankle she had surgery on, so we just hung out and watched movies and stuff. After being on the road and stuff for so long, laying around and being lazy was exactly what I needed!! So I hung out out for a couple of days and I headed for home this morning!! It was sooooo good to get home and see Mom and Dad!! And as soon as I opened my car door, Bosco came charging through the yard and almost knocked me down. I was really excited to see him cause I really missed him. It's amazing how much a dog can mean to you, but if you have a dog, you understand. So Mom, Dad and I sat out back and cooked on the grill, ate diner and watched Bosco play around in the yard for a while and headed up to see Grandma Orman. She looks a lot different than when I left, but it was really good to see her and I'm looking forward to spending some more time with her!! Other than that, it's good to be home and I can't wait to sleep in my own bed and sleep in in the morning.