PART 1

Lynné Bowman Cravens

Lynné studied Photocommunications at St. Ed’s, then went to grad school at UNT. She is now a professor in Dallas as well as a photographer. While in undergrad, she studied abroad for 7 weeks in China with Joe Vitone. She suggested to us to keep using your college blogs when a professional, because you can see your old work for reference. She works out of her living room, random places for her personal photography. She took a 3 year gap between undergrad and grad school, which she suggests. Grad school is much freer, with less restraints, so she suggests getting some work experience first to get inspired to go back to school. She also mentioned thinking outside of your medium (in her case, photography) to make it in terms of art, mix ideas.

I felt inspired looking at Lynné’s work. She has successfully found a way to pursue exactly what she loves and fund her passion as a professor during the day. As a student without money for studio space (or much space at all, really), I felt encouraged when she said she often works out of her living room. Taking a break between grad school and undergrad wasn’t a path I had really thought about before, and this information felt valuable to me as well. It also makes me realize that working in the “real world” will allow me to decide if I’m happy where I am (and don’t need another degree) or if I’d like to move up or learn more in a different field, and then apply to grad school. This way, I’ll have a better understanding of what I really need academically to achieve my career goals.

 

Miranda Petrosky

Miranda was a graphic design major, art minor at St. Ed’s in 2013. She’s now an interactive designer at Bakery, where she mostly does UI and product design. She designed the app Muncher, which was not released. She also worked on UI website mock-ups (can’t release info yet because of NDA). She is also a hobby screen and relief printer. Her path was as a student worker on campus, then an intern at Bakery (2012, fall junior year), then a junior designer (2013), and interactive designer as of 2014. Her next path? She could be a lead designer, art director, creative director, etc… lots of paths. She also described what design is– it can be digital or print. Industry design can take the form of ad agencies, design agencies, product shops, standalone projects / apps, print shops, and more. Overall, the design field is diverse and growing. Tools and approaches change regularly, so creativity / adaptability are highly valued. There are advantages to both specializing and having range, so it’s really up to the designer. Only industry constants are the basics: layout, type, hierarchy, color theory, etc. Also, fun fact: she learned coding in middle school via codecademy.

Watching Miranda’s presentation really made me reconsider what I’d like to do when I finish school. I never really considered graphic design as an option for me, but I’ve since gotten inspired to learn HTML and CSS via Khan Academy. I think that broadening my scope as a creative will really aid me in achieving the goals I have career-wise. I felt hopeful as a creative, seeing how she landed a job immediately in a field she loves (because she got “in” via an internship her junior year).

 

Dustin Meyer

Dustin was a photo communications major at St. Ed’s, now does wedding and portrait photography. He worked for Bill and his partner, Jennifer Lindberg, right after graduation. He’s worked for lots of celebrity / politician weddings, but Bill had to let him go due to budget constraints. He then worked at another place, occasionally picking up random photo jobs. He learned enough from all these places that he began his own company. He’s been published in USA Today, The Knot, Kodak, etc. He’s been shooting weddings now for over 10 years. He’s an official Nikon Fellowship Instructor, an instructor at Imaging USA and WPPI, and a Precision Camera Workshop Educator. He suggested staying friends with all your classmates, because you never know when you’ll need a connection later. He also said to take advantage of Lightroom, because bulk editing is essential. Other things to learn include posing, camera settings, lighting, composition, marketing and pricing. His final word of advice was to not put out ads, because they are expensive, and word of mouth often goes much further (and is more effective.)

I enjoyed Dustin’s presentation. While I am not a photography major, I found his no-nonsense business advice very helpful. It seems like he learned a lot about starting a business by working and collaborating with other (and thus learning from them). His advice about maintaining connections made in school was quite valuable insight to me. It made me realize that everyone in the VISU department will be working professionals one day, too, and keeping contact will help me network much easier down the road. I’m already finding this now. I just opened an online store, and am already building a small team of graphic design and photo people from St. Ed’s that are helping me sell my prints!

 

PART 2

This semester I began an internship with artist Jenn Hassin. So far, I’ve learned quite a bit about working in the studio as an artist, and balancing commissions with personally-driven projects. Three other potential internships that I am curious about are:

http://mmaustin.com/downloads/Intern2013.pdf

http://artsciencegallery.com/internships/

http://blantonmuseum.org/get_involved/intern/

http://www.austincreativealliance.org/internopportunity/