Meetings, Meetings, And More Meetings

What We Accomplished This Week

    This week was a stressful week for Macey and I (Julia) as we realized just how quickly the deadline for our Genius Hour project is approaching. Unfortunately, I chose to cancel our meeting with our mentor Billi-Cate last weekend due to the load of homework we were given. On the other hand, we met with Mr. Stabler, our Upper School Dean, again today to discuss additional details relating to our art gallery. As of right now, Macey and I (Julia) still hope to hold it on our school’s campus, but may change the date to sometime between March 11th and 16th.

What We Are Working On Now

    Fortunately, Macey and I (Julia) have a four-day weekend starting tomorrow. Since we have off Monday for Presidents’ Day and Tuesday for our Winter Break, we plan to get together and discuss further details for the gallery. First, we will continue and finish choosing the photos we believe will have the most success in our gallery, and print them in 8x10s for the display. Second, we will create an idea for how we want to setup and cleanup the gallery, as well as the list of refreshments we plan to provide. With this, we will need to contact students who will be willing to help us with these tasks throughout the gallery.

What We Plan To Do Next

    Next week, Macey and I (Julia) will contact our art teacher, Mrs. Thornton, and set up a time to meet with her and get her input on how we plan to set up the gallery. Later in the week, we will check in with Mr. Stabler again. We will share our setup and cleanup schedule with him, as well as our list of refreshments. Also, we hope to have a set date and time for the art gallery depending on if we get the approval to hold it at the South Campus Conference Center (SCC) or not. If Macey and I (Julia) are unable to use the SCC, we will then request to use our school library. Once we establish this, we will print out and hang up flyers to promote our gallery.

Planning Ahead

What We Accomplished This Week
    This week, Julia and I (Macey) have done many things to make this project start to come together. We finished making our shipping info sheets which includes their full name, the shipping address, the photograph, the amount of photographs, size and an option to make additional donations to East Nashville Hope Exchange. Also, both Julia and I (Macey) have gone through and selected some of the photographs we want to use in the gallery.

What We Are Working On Now
    As of right now, Julia and I (Macey) are working on making the finishing touches on our flyers. That includes us emailing or meeting Mr. Stabler and confirming that we are able to use the South Campus Conference Center for the gallery. Also, on February 11th, we are meeting with our mentor Billi-Cate to learn about some techniques we may not have used in our photography. We also are trying to figure out what price should go with what size of photograph depending on if they want a matte or glossy photograph.

What We Plan To Do Next
      In the coming weeks, Julia and I (Macey) plan on finishing the flyers. However, we still need to confirm a date and time for the art gallery with will be difficult with our busy schedules. Once we are done with the flyers, Julia and I (Macey) will go spread them throughout Nashville in hopes of getting many people to show up to the gallery.

Making Progress

What We Accomplished This Week

Over this past week, Macey and I (Julia) focused on completing our flyers to advertise our art gallery coming up. We also put together a short video blog of us answering three key questions that we hope will help our readers understand how and why we created My Perfect Picture, and what it means to us. I also contacted our mentor Billi-Cate and scheduled to get together the weekend of February 24th and 25th. This will be a great time for Macey and I (Julia) to learn a few new things about photography, as well as collecting more photos to display in our gallery.

What We Are Working On Now

Right now, Macey and I (Julia) are currently still working on completing the ordering sheets for those who attend our galley and would like to purchase one or more of our pieces displayed. These sheets will allow us to handle our attendee’s purchases and donations in an organized fashion.

What We Plan To Do Next

            Next, either Macey or I (Julia) will get in contact with Mr. Stabler to see if we have been approved to rent out the South Campus Conference Center for our art gallery. In case our request is declined, we will need to reach out to other potential places we would like to host our event. Within the next week or two, Macey and I will set up a time to go through the photos we have taken for the gallery, and eliminate our least favorites. Not only will this process narrow down the number of pieces ready to be displayed, but will also give us an idea of what needed themes we should focus on while meeting with Billi-Cate soon.

How We Are Starting Off The New Year

What We Accomplished This Week

    This week was a shorter week for us at school due to Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We also had off school January 6th due to snow. During these days off, Macey and I (Julia) still managed to get some work done for My Perfect Picture. We both spent our snow day taking pictures outside so we can include the winter season in our art gallery.

What We Are Working On

    Macey and I (Julia) are currently working on creating the flyers to advertise our art gallery coming up. On these flyers, we will include the date, time, and location of the event. This information is still to be determined. We are also working on editing the pictures we took over break. Within the next few days, I hope to get in contact with our mentor Billi-Cate, and schedule a day to meet up with her and take pictures. This will be tricky between my soccer schedule, Macey’s dance schedule, and Billi-Cate’s work schedule, but this would be a perfect opportunity for us to learn some new photography skills.

What We Plan To Do Next

    Next week, Macey and I will begin creating sheets for those who attend our galley and would like to purchase one or more of our pieces displayed. These ordering sheets will include information such as their full name, address for shipping, which photograph, quantity of the photograph, preferred size, and the option to make an additional donation towards East Nashville Hope Exchange.

Shaping Our Future

How might our Genius Hour project help us stand out to colleges and help shape our life plans?

Applying to colleges can be stressful because they look at so many different applications submitted from all sorts of people with different hobbies, backgrounds, and achievements. This project will help us stand out from all the other applications because of our creativity, dedication, and success from our work. Julia and I (Macey) have noticed local non-profits have a limited amount of supplies, and always need more. We will be donating all of our profits to the student ministry East Nashville Hope Exchange (http://enhopeexchange.org/). We hope they will use this money to purchase new and better supplies so the children have the opportunity to love art like we do. Our genius hour project, The Perfect Picture, will make us stand out to colleges not only because we want to help the children's ministries that have a hard time providing art supplies (the basic art utensils) through our love of photography in an art gallery and that we raised the money by ourselves. Also, that we want to let the children in the ministry have the same opportunities to see the beauty in art and give them the chance to express it like Julia and I (Macey). This project will also shape our life plans because we both love photography, and by doing this project, we are able to expand our photography skills, and gain confidence as we move forward in our careers. We hope to keep photography as a side hobby. “My Perfect Picture” also encourages us to go out and adventure different parts of the world.

So Much To Do In Week 3

What We Accomplished This Week

Macey and I (Julia) have completed a few things this week. We have contacted Mrs. Turner about our desire to host an art gallery in the South Campus Conference Center (SCC). Mrs. Turner works in the Business Office at Franklin Road Academy. Macey and I (Julia) also updated our proposal for this project. Our proposal consists of specific information about My Perfect Picture and a week by week timeline. The timeline we have created keeps us on track since it states what we need to accomplish each week.

What We Are Working On Now

Currently, Macey and I (Julia) are waiting upon Mrs. Turner’s response to see if and when we will be able to host our art gallery in the South Campus Conference Center (SCC). The SCC is located on Franklin Road Academy’s campus. We are also in the process of creating our own Flickr account. This week, we discussed our goals for this project with our former history teacher, Mr. Jones. Last spring, Macey and I (Julia) signed up for Mr. Jones's photography interim and this is where we learned many of the techniques we will be using for this project. He recommended we create our own account on the site (https://www.flickr.com/) and post samples of our photographs on a regular basis. The reason why we have decided to follow through with making a Flickr account is for us to receive feedback on the photographs we have posted from those who share their opinion. Make sure to keep up with our blog posts to get the link to our Flickr account so you can view some of the pieces that will be displayed in our art gallery!

What We Plan To Do Next

Once Macey and I (Julia) decide on the date of our art gallery, we will create the flyers we plan on putting up around the Nashville area. On these flyers, we will include the day, time, place, and some way to contact us if they would like to RSVP. Macey and I (Julia) hope to get together with our mentor, Miss Billi-Cate, sometime over Christmas break to develop more skills on photo taking and editing. Lastly, we will need to contact East Nashville Hope Exchange and arrange a time when we can volunteer to help with the kids after school.

Leading Into Week Two

What We Accomplished This Week

       Julia and I (Macey) have accomplished many things this week. We each spent time in different areas around Nashville this past weekend and captured a load of photographs. Julia went to Pinkerton Park, located in Downtown Franklin; while I (Macey) went to 12th South. We shot photos of railroad tracks, nature, and old buildings. We created a shared Google Photo Album for the photos we want to be in our gallery. A few weeks ago, we began reaching out to numerous places around Nashville to see where we can host our art gallery. Unfortunately, many of them told us that we couldn’t use their space, but one coffee shop in particular gave us a generous donation offer. Mr. Lehman the CEO , co-founder and chief janitor of CREMA Coffee will gladly match our earnings up to $500. To learn more about CREMA Coffee, or find a location nearest to you, visit their website at http://www.crema-coffee.com/. Currently, we are planning to host our art gallery at the South Campus Conference Center (SCC), located on Franklin Road Academy’s campus.

What We Are Working On Now

      Currently, we are working on a few different things. First, we are in the midst of researching the lowest prices for the many different sizes of photographs our attendees will be able to order, as well as the best prices for shipping the photographs our attendees have purchased from our gallery. We hope to have these prices sorted out for a better visual on how much we will be spending, and how much we will charge our customers for the pieces they wish to purchase. We plan to have a wide variety of sizes, as well as types of photographs available at the gallery. Second, we are currently working on arranging a specific time and date for the art gallery. Make sure to keep up with our weekly blogs for these updates!  

What We Plan To Do Next

       Once we have scheduled the specific date and time we will be holding our art gallery, we will begin to create flyers, and put them up around Nashville and its surrounding suburbs. These flyers will showcase the art gallery and contain all the information concerning it. With the flyers, we hope to attract many people outside of the school to attend, rather than just those from the school. Secondly, we wish to take a trip to CREMA Coffee to thank Mr. Lehman for his generous offer, and invite him to attend our gallery. Lastly, we plan to schedule a weekend where Julia and I (Macey) are able to meet up with our mentor, Miss Billi-Cate to take pictures and observe her techniques.