Well, the fall semester is coming to an end here at Central Michigan University. Which has me realizing more and more that the current program I am doing here is not right for me, so I have decided to rededicate myself from photojournalism to full-time photography. A major roadblock for this goal, however, is the fact my school has closed the darkroom and ended the film aspect of photography in the arts program. This is particularly disturbing when the photographic industry has shown it is still willing to push film far into this new century; just consider Kodak's new Ektar 100 emulsion.

Regardless, it's been made clear to me that I need to seek out a new university to continue my studies. I've reconsidered schools that I have reviewed before and rejected, such as Columbia College in Chicago, but it is still prohibitively expensive. Also expensive is the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. So I've looked at competing programs by the public universities, which has drawn my attention to Wayne State University. It is very close to my home in Detroit, eliminating the need for 3 hour drives each way between home and school on weekends, the near $10,000 annual cost for room and board, et cetera. Also very beneficial to my situation is the fact that Wayne State's tuition of half that of Central Michigan's. I am going to finish out the year here at Central Michigan University, but I am going to very strongly consider a transfer to Wayne State next school year.

In other matters, I've recently added the Sigma 120-400mm telezoom to my Nikon collection, and it has made itself very much at home. I absolutely love taking it down to the river and photographing the seagulls, pigeons, and boats. I'm now taking steps towards acquiring a few more lenses for my Nikon system; currently a 24mm prime or the 50mm f/1.4 prime are at the top of my list of priorities. I am also obtaining a Mamiya m645 ProTL along with a 120 film back, as I already have a 70mm f/2.8 lens for the system.