Goodbye Savannah.

After four years of art school, I say goodbye to the people and places that made my college life the wonderful journey it was. This is where I met my wife-to-be and made friends that will last a life time. Freshmen and Sophomore years were a complete blur in the dorms. The pace was so fast it’s almost as if they never happened. Oglethorpe House will always be the place in my mind where we all had the most fun… and the most drama. The Sensitive 8, as we called ourselves, will always be a part of my college memories. Then it was out of the dorms for two years closer to freedom. Now I’m free and I feel like I’ll miss all this more than I should. I feel like I’m leaving a big piece of my life behind and that I won’t get a big enough piece to fill it until November when my life becomes truly complete. So, what is my life until the wedding? Am I in some weird holding pattern, circling above, waiting for the conditions to be right? I suppose so. I don’t know. I have such mixed emotions about this whole thing. On one hand, I’m relieved to be done. On the other, I leave behind great friends, great teachers, a wonderful photo department and lots of memories.

There are so many reasons why these past four years were fun. There are so many people to thank for my emotional, social and artistic education.

Obviously the person I have to thank the most is Lauren. She kept me sane and stable whenever there was turbulent waters. All my joy and happiness in the world comes from her. She’s truly wonderful and thats reason I’ve chosen to spend the rest of my life with her. I couldn’t have done it without her.

Jason and Nagle, to two best buds here at SCAD. Jason was my roommate freshmen year, junior year and this year. Nagle lived a floor down from us in O-house and always had his door open. We’d congregate in Nagle’s room, for whatever reason, and stay up talking or watching movies till the whee hours of the morning. Both of them made being in Savannah that much more bearable. Both of them will be featured as groomsmen in my wedding, so if you haven’t met them yet, you will.

Next I should mention the teachers that really stood out in my college experience. First and foremost is Jenny Kuhla, the most inspiring teacher I’ve ever met. Every class with Jenny was a treat and was never one I would miss willingly. I actually had Jenny for three strait semester with the same group of students. We got to know each other quite well and by the end of it the entire class was one big group of friends. Jenny always had something positive to say as well as incredible suggestions in case you were struggling with something.

Also, Steve Mosch and Catherine Cardarelli influenced me greatly in my photography. Steve taught me all the wonderful (and annoying) facts about color photography and made me a better printer. Catherine taught me all about working in a studio, how to set up lights and how not to electrocute yourself on the massive powerpacks we had. Combined they both helped move my focus from documentary style black and white work to more satisfying color studio work.

There are also quite a few photo students I should mention. Since I spent a great deal of time at the photo labs I got to know quite a wide variety of people and got to spend an even greater deal of time hanging out with them in a chemical filled environment. Whether the chemicals helped form our friendships remains to be seen. Lets see, both Matt Ferral and Emma were very kind to me this year. Both always having positive things to say and suggestions on what I could make better. Both served as models at one point or another and both helped out in the studio. Janquil and Lauren were also a pleasure to talk to in class. We probably helped each other out on more shoots than we can remember. Greg was always upbeat and funny and I have no doubt he’s going to land a job with Terry Richardson very very soon. Jason Meehan and Megan Quinn were always great friends in the department and always there if I ever needed anything. Jason, in fact, is more than likely going to be my wedding photography… if he ever gets me that price quite he says he’s been working on. Keith and Tammy were always great. They came to our wedding shower and were always great to be around. Both of them are just great people and it was a pleasure going to school with both of them. The list goes on and on: Anna, Bobbi, Rachel, Ben, Rob, everybody. Thank you so very very much for making a dark, smelly darkroom so much damn fun.

There are so many more wonderful people that I met while I was here that I’d like to thank for all the wonderful memories that it’s just to long to list them all. And making that silly list of initials like this was some stupid year book just doesn’t do them all justice. They know who they are.

I’ve also got to thank my friends and family back home, who have supported me and my dreams for the past 4 years. Chris, Chip, my parents and brother and the rest of my family. I couldn’t have done it without you guys.

I guess that’s about it. I’m packing up the computer in the next hour or so and tomorrow morning I start driving. I’ll be home in a day or two. I love you guys. Thanks for everything.

Goodbye Savannah. Hello World.