Separation Anxiety + Change of Scenery.

We drove down to Charlotte, North Carolina to visit my parents this weekend. Talk about separation anxiety...they moved here about a year and a half ago from Virginia and I am still getting used to them not being a 20-minute drive away.

I took a few shots here and there of the knickknacks my mom has kept around the house that triggered the nostalgia:







When I took a photography class, I used these as my study for DOF :)



Little Cups.



You can take the cook out of the kitchen, but...my dad always makes lists any time the kids come visit for dinner:



One of my mentors said the other day in a phone conversation with another colleague of mine (she relocated to Chicago to pursue her MFA in Creative Writing), that you know you're getting older when you visit home less and less. Well…this is the second time I've visited my parents since they made the move down to Charlotte from the hustle and bustle that is the D.C./Metro area…but I still feel those pangs of wanting to be closer every time I visit them. I know, I'm a big baby, right?

Yesterday we visited the Savannah College of Art and Design. It was my first time ever in Georgia, so ostensibly my transplant-pseudo-Yankee mentality was in full force. As my father says, Maryland and Virginia are still the south, they're just more northern :)

SCAD is set in a gorgeous historic town. Tons and tons and tons of beautiful scenery. And my faaaavooorriittte...BRICK WALLS! I didn't get as many photos as I wanted to, partly because of hunger, partly because of my decision to wear flats instead of sneakers (ouch) and partly because of time, but here are a few snapshots:





Ron Paul is not very popular it seems:







A five and dime (and dollar!)













Bergen Hall, the school of photography @ SCAD:



I got the chance to speak to someone there regarding the MFA in Photography program (which btw, I will be applying for soooooooooon), got a tour of the Photography building (exposed brick, y'all) and I got my portfolio critiqued, so it was really worthwhile. The professor was strangely reassuring when I told her that I have a degree in Psychology and I'm largely self-taught but I think the MFA program is the right fit for me…she said she had quite a few students who came from another school of thought but are now incredibly successful in the photography field.

I tried to picture us living in the Souf', and while right now, it's not something I'm completely ready for, but the tune might change if I get an acceptance letter from them in the future. It would be a major life change for me and Mr…

MAY-JA (c) Victoria Beckham.

One stereotype about the Souf' that I think might actually be fact is that everything is slowed down considerably. People look (and walk!) as if they take their time living, and it is a big contrast from what I'm used to in D.C. Savannah is laid out like a grid (just like D.C.), yet we managed to get lost when we left the Photography School, but we weren't alone. We came across about four different people trying to find their way out as well.



Eventually we made our way to the car and drove past all the gorgeous mansions and carriage houses back to Charlotte.



Today, I might shoot my niece (photographically speaking, of course :) before I head back to the stacked, sardine, cramped, overpriced Virginia that I have grown accustomed to. Who knows where the wind will blow us in a few years. All I know is I really want my MFA!

Posted by Marlene at 10:45 AM 1 Comments