Visual literacy, design, and rhetoric. Visual elements in print and online documents.

As you many know, many Professional Students have a love of photography. Which, isn't surprising, given how much we use and manipulate images and graphics in so many of our documents. So I wanted to post a little information on some fantastic photo-learning opportunities.

Mentor Series

Mentor Series is the study abroad-esque opportunity. You can choose where in the world you would like to travel. Each year they pick new locations, destinations and instructors. Whether beginning or experienced this looks stunning. The instructors are well-known photographers, often having worked for National Geographic, Discovery, Newsweek, etc. It is a bit pricey, but I think it's well worth it for the experience!

I have yet to take my trip. I was close do doing an excersion in Sweeden last year and then I considered the Michigan trip this summer, but neither have worked precisely with my schedule. I'm still looking foward to going on one some day. I'll let you know.

Nikon School



Nikon offers courses in general photography, digital photography, and underwater photography. This looks like a great way to gain some skills over a short period of time. I'm interested! Again...I'll let you know.

Speaking of underwater photography...
In my senior year of high school I was CERTAIN that I was destined to be a photographer. Since junior high when my uncle took me out camping and let me use his old 35mm SLR Canon, I was sold on the beauty of photography and the talent it took to see something the rest of the world couldn't. So I researched a number of schools and the one that caught my attention was The Brooks Institute of Photography.

Brooks Institute of Photography

The Photography School That Offers Training in Filmmaking,
Graphic Design and Photojournalism

Brooks Institute is designed for anyone who aspires to a career in photography, filmmaking or graphic design. Whether you are completely new to the field or seek new skills to advance an established career, Brooks' educational philosophy of "learning by doing" can provide you with the artistic, technical, and business expertise needed to succeed.

Classes are taught by world leaders in professional photography, motion picture and graphic design at beautiful locations in Santa Barbara and Ventura, California. From this base you will have the opportunity, literally, to explore the world. In this era of global communication, Brooks will continue to offer a responsive, active, and innovative training in photography, filmmaking, photojournalism and graphic design. Come see for yourself!

Learn more about the programs offered at Brooks:

» Professional Photography

»» Master's Program

» Visual Journalism

» Film and Video Production

» Visual Communication

Moo, Seriously.

This is a really interesting website. I came across it while surfing the web and I just used it to print some business cards. It's simple to use, cheap, and you can either upload your own photos or use stock images that they provide.

Moo.com

MOO is a new kind of printing business.

There are now more than a billion people online, and most of us use the internet to engage in some kind of social activity. In doing so we help generate over 4 petabytes of unique virtual content a month

We have virtual communication like email, instant message or video. We belong to virtual communities like social networks, image sharing or interest groups. And in these communities we have created virtual identities like homepages, avatars and blogs.

But sometimes life can be a little too virtual.

MOO dreams up new tools that help people turn their virtual content into beautiful print products.

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If you give a mouse a cookie ... or a gigantic track ball?

As a newbie laptop owner, I still haven't gotten around to buying a mouse. But after two weeks of double digit scrolling and attempting the overly sensitive tap-click mechanism, I realized that the trackpad has a very limited appeal. So I bit the bullet and decided that only a mouse would remedy my phalanges blues.

Searching the Electronics section of Amazon, I was stunned at the selection that the three pages of search results presented to me. Optical, cordless, wheeled, tracked, mini, ultra-mini, retractable, bluetooth, laser -- eight million options in eight different colors, and one dubious consumer staring at the screen, mouth agape.

Some of the unconventional mice that I came across:

This sleek device is dubbed the "Razer DeathAdder 3G Infrared Gaming Mouse", and got excellent reviews on Amazon.com. One mouse-savvy user commented, "Everyone who touched it wanted one. It's lighter than it looks. I took it home and fired up UT2004 and it allowed me to spin around much faster and get a quicker bead on my oppenents' heads. And it looks pretty cool next to my Saitek Eclipse II keyboard. Highly recommended!"

Why you'd make this purchase: if you are a serious gamer. "Powered by Razer Precision, the new 3G infrared sensor on the Razer DeathAdder lets you move 2.25 times faster when compared to a standard 800 dpi optical sensor. Before the enemy sees you, he's already dead."

Whoa. Yeah. Intense.

This gem is the Kensington Expert Mouse Optical USB Trackball, compatible with both Macs and PCs. This particular mouse (and trackball mice in general) have always baffled me. While I can appreciate the advantages that come with a stationary mouse (a preemptive effort to curb Carpal Tunnel), I can't help but think that this huge lug would be clunky and just all around harder to use. The reviews would vote against me, however, as the Expert averaged a 4 out of 5 stars in over 100 customer reviews.

Why you'd make this purchase: out of preference, or solely due to the medical advantages. One user's take on it: "I use a computer for hours every day, and the Kensington Trackball helps to take the physical drudgery out of PC use for me." I'll take their word for it ... and pick one up when my 22-year-old fingers no longer function properly (see: age 30).

Looking at the picture, I thought Amazon.com's precise searching capabilities were failing me. This, obviously, is not a mouse. At first glance, that is. Introducing the MoGo Mouse, a Wireless 2-button Bluetooth Mouse that looks ... remarkably like a laptop trackpad. What this pictures doesn't show you is that the upper part of the mouse actually folds down and props it up, so that viewed from the side it just appears to be a flattened version of all its previous cohorts. After some research, I figured out the draw for these little guys: they fit into the "PCI slot" of a laptop (if that's applicable to your machine), and charges while stored. The sleek convenience of caring the mouse inside the computer has obvious benefits, although I would still be weary of these unless I had used one previous to purchase. However, owners liked the product ... the only complaint was the lack of a scrolling wheel.

Why you'd make this purchase: if you are a tech-savvy professional who's always on the go ... or just really forgetful. The general consensus: a good buy. "Installation was easy, and tracking performance is great on all surfaces I've used it on. I travel for work and often have to work remotely, and the mouse is always conveniently within my reach. The battery life is good too. I've had it on for 8 to 9 hours straight with no problems."

Now, after all my browsing, I'm sad to say that I won't be breaking out of my shell and trying any of the above. One major reason: price. High tech = high expense, and I = poor college graduate. While my curiosity has been peaked on the subject, I think I'll stick with my $20 Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 3000 in Winter Blue. But next time I'm in Best Buy, you better believe I'm going to go searching for a MoGo, and curse my not-so-disposable income.

Alright, all you Mac lovers: get ready to say "I told you so."

It all started in Room 317, Bessey Hall, when Dr. Danielle DeVoss stressed for an entire class period the importance of being able to work "across platforms" in our half-Mac, half-PC lab. That was the day I touched my first Mac. From afar, it looked almost the same as any other computer: a monitor, a tower, a mouse ... how bad could it be? But as soon as I bypassed the Log In screen, I was thrown out of my comfort zone and into the foreign world of "i" -- iChat, iTunes, and what was up with the one-button mouse? And the blue smiling face taking the place of my Start Menu? And the where's the Internet? I quickly logged out, and started coming to class earlier and earlier, securing my PC and my sanity for the duration of our class.

My next Mac experience didn't happen until JRN200, at the end of my sophomore year. Class was once again held in a lab, only this time, all the computers were Macs. I was so appalled that I considered dropping the class entirely and expanding my mind with an "elective." I stuck it out, though, and eventually cracked the Mac code -- stumbling upon the Internet (a compass? really, Safari, you thought I'd figure that out on my own?), clunking through Finder, and begrudgingly familiarizing myself with the obviously sub par OSX system. Our acquaintance grew, but we were no where near friendship -- mostly because I didn't see the point in learning anything beyond the necessities, as PCs dominated the marketplace, and were used the in the majority of homes and businesses.

Little did I know, however, that my relationship with Macs was just at its beginning stages. Senior year rolled around much quicker than anyone anticipated, and my last semester of college I found myself in the midst of a Mac bombardment. With the release of the MacBookPro (which was all the craze with everyone in the PW major), a semester spent mastering InDesign in another all-Mac lab, my entire family family purchasing iPods, and every single emo blogger passing on the "What's On Your iTunes?" quiz ... there was no escaping it. I was trapped. And it didn't help that my Dell desktop was on the fritz. So for five weeks, I expended all the energy I could muster into iHating, iResisting, and the like. Until the day of my epiphany, when I realized that Macs weren't all that bad. In fact, it was infinitely easier to open heavier applications and toggle back and forth on a Mac than on a PC (see: the 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and "performance-enhancing 4MB of shared L2 cache"). The graphic-based navigation was no longer confusing -- it was actually very intuitive and creative. The breaking point was learning of the MacBookPro's back-lit keyboard the same day that I read the horrendous reviews for Windows Vista. After bordering the line for the last three months of my college career, I officially switched sides.

My 13" white Macbook arrived on May 4, and hasn't left my side since. Here is the scoop, as far as I see it...

The mega-cool features:
--The "front row", which essentially transforms your laptop into an all-in-one stereo, DVD player, and image viewer, complete with a remote!
--Extreme wireless capabilities ... if there's a signal, my Macbook will find it. Apple's boasting of the easiest connections via AirPort are right on the money ... and apparently, there is an Internet sharing option? They have my curiosity...
--Performance in general: the sports car analogy is the best I've heard.
--Shapeshifter: making your Macbook 100% customizable, in ways I've never seen on a PC system.
--A built-in iSight camera ... while it encourages the narcissistic Myspace culture that my generation has been stuck on for years, it's also pretty damn cool. I have video and photo capabilities at my fingertips.

The still-getting-used-to features:
--In a period of three weeks, my Macbook has froze up four times, all of which happened while performing routine tasks (opening average sized docs, surfing the web, etc) ... all four times, my Mac-using friends had no explaination, and I'm still clueless.
--I'll be frank: I miss Internet Explorer in its truest form (I know, I know ... quiet the groans).

Overall score: Mac wins with +5, as compared to the PC's +2.

Now, don't get me wrong: I'm not a die-hard, my-computer-doesn't-need-Norton-because-it-can't-get-viruses Mac Person. I am, however, a very satisfied Macbook user who loves her iTunes, her graphics-driven menus, her handy mini cam, and her 2GB of RAM to make heavy apps run smoothly and seamlessly ... although I do frequent the Dell for the tabless IE and familiar Start menu. Hey, some things just never change.