Christmas and the year of 2008

There was alot I was meaning to put on here.

Photos, things I achieved this year....

but I've got nothing.

I arrived to the states, and quit life for a few days..

a week or so. Its Tuesday, and I'm finally getting back

into the swing of life, and work.

I woke up this morning, and had a cup of coffee,

and overlooking the outside view of whiteness, I realized

all the work that I have been avoiding, and how much work

I really do have.

WeeNo Photography.

I plan to start actually making some money.

I hope.

I pray. 

God? please?

So, in order to do that,

I need to get my horrible website down,

make a new website.

That includes.. deciding if it should be

HTML or Flash.

Then, after that hard question,

designing.

colours.

typography.

which photos.

its a long hard grueling process,

but I plan to have it all done up and going by

the end of January.

I need a decent website, and right now.. 

its just horrid. 

Then, in the midst of that, I  plan to make new 

business cards.

which, well, is a whole other process.

what kind of paper, what kind of print.

oh man. 

the joys of knowing about design now.

now i have to do things good, because i know what good is.

before I could just blame it on the fact that I didn't know any better.

So 2009 shall bring some new things for me, and my life.

I also will buy a new camera, and some new gear. 

My camera will go to the boy, who is going to be my second shooter.

He is starting to learn "real" photography. All the terms and what now, now!

So thats exciting. All in one month, I'll get a new camera, a second shooter,

and maybe a new website! 

There will also be some travel, which just means more planes.

I would be okay with not being in airport for awhile though, a few months..

we'll see how that works, although i just got another plane ticket for the month 

of march.. oo la la..

so stay tuned with WeeNo Photography, and where the world will take me.

26 hours later.

Im in a bed. I got to sleep horizontal last night.

I thought for some hours that I wasn't ever going to make 

it to Milwaukee, but then I did... even though my bags didn't.

still need to check that.

anyways, so the flights, and the waiting, and the traveling.

it was all relatively okay. In Heathrow, it said I missed my flight,

so I RAN. I RAN through Heathrow, and I got it. I sat next to a girl

who was living in Oxford, and was so cool. We talked alot, more then 

I have ever talked with someone before on a flight. and meaningful

talks. 

Heathrow to Philly.

Philly to Chicago.

So heres the thing. There is apparently alot of snow here,

and so they decided  to delay my flight to Chicago... So I ran

around the freakin' philly airport to maybe grab a flight that was

direct to Milwaukee, but no luck. So I went back, and talked to the 

people, and told them that I wouldn't be able to make it to my flight

since this flight was late. They had no sympathy, and told me that I

should take this flight to Chicago, and just chance it. So I did.. It was like

2 1/2 hours late, and I get out, and there is the terminal for the Milwaukee

flight, which PRAISE JESUS has been delayed a couple hours too.

The predicament...

I wasn't checked in through to Milwaukee. So they told me  I would

have to go get my bag, and then go through all the check through again.

well, I didn't have time for that, and I wanted to come home today! 

So, after almost 24 hours of traveling, and feeling pretty confident in my

rights as a passenger, I demanded that they give me my boarding pass, and let 

me on this flight. I was very stern... and it worked.

I got my ticket, I got on the plane, that took only a 15 minute airtime to get

to milwaukee, and came to "home". It took forever though, I arrived in Milwaukee 

at like 12.30 or 1, and was exhasted. but! I got to see Kellen! Its so good to be

back with him, and his house is all decorated, from the little I saw last night,

and there is snow.. Snow for christmas! insane.

So i'm going to take life off for two days. Sleep, chill, sleep some more.

if i don't leave the basement for 2 days, i will be okay with that!

So, that was my adventure home. hope you enjoyed it!

and.. i already miss all your burtigny people.. i love you all!

flights. storms. and more flights.

So its late friday night. 1.07 viola and i are up burning discs and doing packing stuff, and getting ready to leave. I'm leaving bright and early tomorrow.. 6.30 am! Am I looking forward to getting up in 4 hours? no. but maybe I'll sleep on the flights.

Flights..

yup.

lets explain.

geneva to london

london to philly

philly to chicago

chicago to milwaukee.

thats alot in one day. all in all i'll be up and traveling for almost 23 hours..

and.. to top it off, there are storm warnings for the midwest.. every stop i have in the states has a storm warning.

so i'm chancing the fact that my flight from london still goes to philly.

if not.. maybe i'll get to see a bit of london.

we'll see!

so, this if your reading this on the 20th of decemeber, think of me.

i'm probably in an airport, or airplane.. in transit of some kind.

pray that i get my flights, and the next blog will be from a whole different

continent.. North America.

crazy.

i'm done..

The Last One...

The last week of the school. that only means one thing.

THE LAST SUNDAY show with Viola and Ashley.

Its a sad thing. 

We had cliff as our special guest,

and shot it in the attic.tx

I hope you enjoyed and were entertained by the Sunday Show.

Goodbye for now.

oh Viola. she has now has an english blog.

sunday..monday.. i dont know..

so its. sunday night. or monday morning.

2.28 am.

i should be in bed. 

but i'm not

im working.

im exporting a movie, thats why i have reason to write on here.

so its been awhile.

last week, we did our last project.

FINAL PROJECT!

i did, and still in the process of doing a website for

the sdc and sd portfolio.

its cool, i like it.

its alot of work,

and we realized on friday 

that it was far to big, and there was a hug communication between

me and the school leader, so 

we had almost the whole thing

to do this weekend.. oops.

its okay. i'm over stressing out.

so, yeah, once im done with this i'm done with sdc projects!

I'm excited about that.

we have our exhibition on wednesday! thats insane.

then we clean and pack, and leave on saturday!

i can't believe how fast the last 6 weeks has gone.

its insane.

other then project.

i was DEATHLY sick on Wednesday.

it was hell. 

i was throwing up left and right,

and was delirious. 

gross. 

i was out the whole day,

and felt horrible the next couple of days.

but i got over it, and its all done now.

besides that!

I had a vistor!

Karin from Germany.

She and I did the school of photography together, 

and it was BRILLIANT to see her.

I love her smile, and laugh, and hair!

so good to see her.

it reminded me of my sop, 

and how good it was, and

how i'm so thankful for all the people that

i took it with.

so thank you karin for the visit!

THEN! On saturday!

I had another sop reunion.

only this reunion was with the sop that i staffed.

it was with cliff, and johnny.

they both live here, so it was AS exciting to see them

Saturday when i woke up, because i live with them, but

it was exciting when we jumped in the car and headed for France!

that was briliant!

I HAD such a good time.

we made a trip to Lyon France to take some photos..

or "make" some photos, like Johnny would say.

and had some coffee, some hot wine, some food, and some 

amazing company, and good laughs! 

I love France.

so thats what the week looked like for me.

for the most part really good.

Viola, and I will do our Sunday show tomorrow, 

and it might have some special guests! 

but i'll enjoy everyones company for the last days,

and enjoy the beauty of switzerland.

have a good week!

and listen to some good christmas music,

and watch some good christmas movies.

get in the christmas spirit. we have!! 

Live From IKEA.. The Sunday Show

I can't handle the first shot of this. woah.

I have yet to watch this Sunday show,

due to the AMAZING fact that its done in IKEA

Switzerland, and done on Viola's camera.

It was my first time ever going to Ikea, and 

I was shocked and amazed. They have everything,

even an H&M outside.

A cafe, where you can get swedish meatballs, I opted

for ice cream instead. 

So enjoy Ikea! 

friday..... er uhh.. Sunday Introduction

The Shulgin Family..

Zhenya, Heather, and Ryan Shulgin

Zhenya- Russia

Heather- California

Ryan - well...

Zhenya is a student in our class,

and the only married student.

That makes for an interesting school.

He brought with him his wife, who is AMAZING!

look at those eyes. I can't handle it. She gorgeous!

and their adorable little boy Ryan.

Who goes between russian and english.

I'm always throughly astonished and amazed

at his comprehension of both languages... or just

in language in all.

I'm also quite amazed at Heathers willingness to hang

out around the base, while Zhenya works his butt off

during the school. I also respect her because she lives

in cold COLD COLD Russia, and has learned Russian but is 

from California. WOW! Impressive.

Zhenya. He is.. what can I say about this Russian.

He hates the obvious.

He loves funny.

He was once in a comedian group. stand up i believe.

He makes boy band videos.

He loves movies, and is quite good at making them.

This family, they are amazing. I'm so happy

to have had the opportunity to live with them

in the great country of Switzerland....

Introducing you to 

Mr. Cliff Michael Cordes

Cliff. Clifford. Cliffords.

he has many names.

staff.

23.

New Jersey.

photography designer.

mustache.

creepy.

no not creepy at all.

okay, seriously.

cliff, he did the school of photography this year.

which means that i staffed his school.

so its amazing to be here with him,

and him as my staff.

its working out quite well.

cliff, could be the funniest person i know.

i can't explain him,

or the way he acts.

i could sit and watch him all day.

that sounds creepy, but if you know him

you know what i mean.

cliff is amazing.

and these photos... i just have to laugh about them

Happy 2nd Birthday

Birthday Parties. 

Who doesn't love 'em?

I do, especially Dutch birthday parties for

2 year olds, with amazing cakes.

So Johnny, Karine, Maria Elizabeth, and the newby 

Anna Sophia had a birthday party. Today is the official

day of the birth of Maria Elizabeth, but we celebrated last night.

It was blast, and it reminded me so much of Hawaii, when I staffed.

Johnny took the school of photography just in January, so that 

made it extra awesome. Its almost like a reunion of the school I staffed.

Two students are here, who are now my staff. Cliff and Johnny.

So to you SOP'ers who did the SOP 2008 this is dedicated to you!

We missed you yesterday

Life as the SDC knows it

I am now in the process of trying to upload the Sunday show yet again. I dont know if it will work. Its tuesday evening, and it already feels as though it was Thursday evening. We have been going non-stop since yesterday. Its been a quite emotional week as well.

Lets start with the weekend.

So its almost Christmas, okay not really, but its getting to be that time, and that thought. Its now December, and time to think about Christmas. There is snow, so that immediately makes me think winter and christmas. I think its because I never grew up around snow, and when I see snow it reminds me of the the movies with christmas as the main point. Okay, tangent. Anyways, so this weekend. Friday. We had a bon fire, 3 kilometers away, but it was amazing! we had a bonfire in the snow, and we roasted norwegian buns on sticks, and it was so good!! Saturday, we slept, then proceeded to have a dance party. There was a disco ball involved, and lots of amazing music, and dance moves. I danced it up! Then onto Motro. I have no idea how to spell it, my french is not good in having to spell it. maybe speaking.. okay. anyways, so that was good. and sunday night we had the columbian dinner. it was a very nice dinner!!

Monday. Monday, was a day off, but then, it turned into SO LONG. A student of ours, found out his mother died. He is from Nigeria, and so home is quite far away. He found out maybe 5 weeks ago that his father died in a car accident. It was very hard to take, considering he lost both parents in a one month span. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to have that. We all sat with him in his room, and at that moment I had to decide to think that God is good. God is good, and God will always be good. But its so hard to think of that when something like this happens to one person. He is doing okay now, considering, and will be returning to Nigeria on Thursday. We will miss him dearly, and I wish that he didn't have to feel any of this pain. He will not come back, considering there is only 2 1/2 (by then 2 weeks) left. So if you pray, thank God for being good regardless of what happens in our lives. Things like this really show you your priorities. 

So its Tuesday, we worked all day, and are all a bit drained from everything that has happened this week. 2 more weeks to go, and we are all happy for that!