This is the end.

So, this is it. I am officially a university (and college) graduate. I now have two pretty pieces of paper to hang on my wall, which represent all of the toils I suffered through and the knowledge and experience I gained. I feel like the past four years have flown by, but at the same time, they didn't.

What a bittersweet feeling.

The day of my convocation started bright and early, getting ready in formal attire and packing up the cars for the day. It was not the nicest weather-wise, either, being rainy and chilly. We set out for Toronto in two cars — Paul and I in his Corolla and my parents and Emma in the Rav 4. Paul and I followed the Rav for the majority of the way down, and I sat in the passenger seat in awe that this day had come so fast.

After my parents and Emma stopped for a last minute refreshment/bathroom break, Paul and I continued on since we were running out of time. Once we got off of the highway, the traffic was frustratingly slow, and I tried to remain calm as friends texted me concerning my whereabouts. Finally, we arrived at Convocation Hall, where Paul dropped me off to pick up my guest tickets, and he continued on to find parking. I walked through the rain in new shoes (which turned out to be a bad choice in the end considering my blisters) and gathered the tickets.

Upon leaving the building, I started heading over to the Croft building to pick up my gown. I looked up to find my parents' car driving by at that very instant, so I flagged them down to give them their tickets. As soon as I entered the Croft building, I heard shouts of, "Last call for the 2:00 ceremony!" meaning I had just made it. Whew.

The rest of the day flew by. The ceremony was beautiful and surprisingly fast. I was so thrilled to have my parents, Emma and Paul there to celebrate with me. Due to the rain and our rushed and empty stomachs, we couldn't stay long to socialize with my fellow graduates. We went for dinner at one of my favourite restaurants from my time in university, which was the perfect ending to such a great day!

I can't believe the day came and went as fast as it did, but I am SO happy I decided to take the plunge and go to university. I've learned so much and met so many amazing people.

The End is Near

Hello Everyone! It really has been a long time since I've written on this blog. For my last year of university, I found myself busier than I could have ever imagined, and I found I had barely any time for myself.

It's almost over, though. I'm sitting here in my room and about to get back to studying for my final exam of my undergraduate career. It's so surreal. I can't believe I'll have no more classes to attend and it's time for me to start looking for a job. Ever since my first year, I've been looking forward to today. Now, here it is and I can't be more terrified. But, only time will tell what the future holds for me.

Just some updates on other exciting things in my life:

Right after Emma's convocation she started working for the University of Waterloo at the Centre for Extended Learning. She is a LMS/QA Specialist. Don't ask me what that means because I have no idea, but that's what it says beside her name in her email signature. She even has her own apartment and everything.

In December, Paul was also hired as a part time paramedic for Simcoe County. He loves it, and I couldn't be more proud of him! Paul is living in Wasaga Beach at his family's cottage, and while he's not at work he's taking care of his Grandpa.

In March, my Photo 4 class and I had a group show called 5 Corners downtown Toronto at the VMAC Gallery. It was so fun and a great opportunity to exhibit the work I'm most proud of. Below is a picture of our invitation.

For Easer this year, my family and I decided we'd cut down on our travel time and meet up in Waterloo. This was especially great since Emma has a place all to herself. It was so fun to do something a little bit different. Here are some images from that weekend, and some are also posted here.

Updates About Everything!

Hello all! Now that October is almost over, I figure it's about time for another update.

It's really been a hectic few weeks for me but I'm finally able to sit down for a few minutes and type about my life. The past two weeks have been especially busy with the completion of midterms, papers and photography assignments. Today, I have to get ready for my grad photos, and then have a hopefully relaxing weekend.

Last Friday, I was able to travel down to Waterloo to celebrate Emma's Convocation with my parents and Aunt and Uncle. After five years of hard work, it has come to an end. Now she's on to bigger and better things! Congrats, Emma!

This past Sunday, I had the opportunity to photograph a wedding inspiration shoot for my friend. She has recently gotten into event planning and had an amazing idea for a butterfly-themed wedding. This inspiration shoot will be printed in a wedding magazine, sometime next spring. I can't wait! I will post pictures later, once I know the publish date.

I was contacted by my work from the summer with exciting news that my IP is finally ready, and should arrive in the mail shortly. This means I can finally include images from my work into my personal portfolio. I'm looking forward to receiving a hard copy of the final Swag Catalogue, which will be a great piece to include in my portfolio. Here is a picture of the Creative Department from my work:

Speaking of photography, my Photo 4 class will be having a show in the new year, probably around March. I'm so excited to be a part of it! Also, I will be submitting work for the Grad Show which will be held at UTM's Blackwood Gallery. This will also be in the new year. These shows will be a great experience for me.

Well, that's all I can think of in terms of updates. Bye for now!

Week One: Done!

It's Thursday night and I've completed one week of my fourth year classes. This year should be full of fun things and also a lot of hard work. I have six classes in total, which is one more class than I usually have. Most of my classes are art-related, but I also have a geography class I need to fill my social science requirement. I am taking Photography 4 and Sculpture 3, which I am really excited about. I also have a visual culture course, a course about photography and new media, and a course about curatorial practice.

Right before summer ended, I was able to get my website created and up and running! If you haven't been there yet, check it out! A big thanks goes out to my dad, aka "Techno Dude" for all his help!

In other news, today marks five years of dating for Paul and I. This is exciting because although it feels like I've known Paul my whole life, the past five years have flown by! I'm so glad to know such an amazing guy! :)

August

I've been meaning to blog for such a long time now. I can't believe how fast time has gone. Things have been crazy in my life recently.

As you can probably tell by my lack of blogging, I got very busy with work. I spent around 3 hours commuting to and from work each day, which meant that I had little time for myself and anyone around me too. I had a great time at work and learned so much about photography, editing workflow, lighting and so much more. I feel so blessed to have been able to be a part of such a valuable experience, and a big thanks goes to my parents, because without their support it would not have been possible. Through work, I discovered a passion I have for working in the studio, and I will definitely keep that in mind when looking for a future job.

Last week, my family and I rented a cottage in Stokes Bay (on the Bruce Peninsula) to take time away from lives and relax. It was also a celebration of Emma completing her last exams of university for good, and also me completing work. We made several day trips to Tobermory and its gorgeous beaches —both sandy and rocky, and also spent a lot of time at the cottage playing games.

Now that we are back home, and Emma will be here for a while, we are switching back our rooms, which we had changed when Emma first went to university. It is a long process for us because we find so many fun memories when going through diaries and things in our closets.

I am also hard at work revamping my website. At work, I learned a lot about portfolios and the importance of keeping a professional portfolio website available which represents who you are as a brand. I will keep my current photography blog and Word Art Wednesdays, which I am in the process of moving over to a Blogspot site. I enjoy Blogspot much better than Wordpress because it is much more customizable with headers and fonts. Under www.rebeccadost.com will be a new portfolio site which is clean and simple. I have a mockup below of how I hope it turns out:

In a nutshell, that's what's been going on in my life. Thank you for taking the time to read it, and I hope you have all been enjoying your summers too!

June

Hello World! It feels like life has been whizzing by for the past couple of months. I haven't blogged in a while so I figured I would share what's been going on in my life.

Work has been busy, busy, busy, which is definitely a good thing! I've been working on some really cool projects which I'm so excited to add to my portfolio once I'm done my tenure. One of the things I worked on was the Swag Catalogue, where I photographed  and edited around 100 items. They were all edited to the result of a white background, photoshopped shadow, and reflection. In total, I probably took close to 1,000 images, and edited over 150 of the selected photos for the catalogue. Two associates and myself even won awards for the work we did on the catalogue. I've also been busy in the photo studio with lots of fun shoots, and lots of really cool prospective assignments coming up.

iStock has been very busy also. I love being an exclusive contributor because my images get approved within 2 days (it used to be up to 2 weeks!), and downloads seem much more worthwhile. I have tons of images to be uploaded and so many photo shoot ideas floating around in my brain. Although working full time conflicts with my dedicated iStock time, I'm trying to make it work and stay encouraged.

I have also been researching to find out how I can get my Word Art Wednesday images printed so I can get that part of my site ready to go. I love creating word art and can't wait to see where it can take me.

Weekends have been usually spent away from my temporary home, which has been really fun, but gets me behind on doing little things like cleaning, going grocery shopping, and doing laundry. I look forward to the next weekend I can relax and get caught up on things.

I was able to go home for Father's Day, which was really fun because we got to go sailing. I love being on the water. Last weekend I visited Paul in Wasaga Beach and enjoyed the nice weather (and air conditioning!). This weekend I am going to visit Emma and the dogs in Waterloo. I can't wait for the fun times I know we will share.

In other news, Paul graduated and got his very first paramedic job in the same day! It's a part time 1-year contract with the ER Academy, based out of Toronto. A big congrats to him!


Anyway, what I thought would be a quick update has turned into a short essay, so I will make this short. Thank you for reading about my life these days and I hope you are all doing fantastic!

Then and Now

When my parents visited for my 21st birthday, we decided to enjoy the beautiful weather and walk along a park we used to visit when we used to live in the city. While we were walking, we stopped by a certain jungle gym where we had taken a photo of us at least 14 years ago, and since I had my camera, we tried to "recreate" it. Here is our shots put together:

I couldn't remember what the original picture looked like at the time this photo was taken, so I find it very interesting that I decided to have my hand on the railing.

It's so amazing to see how we and others change over the years. So much has happened within the 14 or so years between these two photos that has transformed our lives. I can say though, without a doubt, that I'm thankful for every one of them.

Hope you are all having a great weekend!