Praise God-Advanced Studio

Wow. Guys. What a story I have to tell you.

First of all, do you remember when I was in Africa a few months ago? Well, I don't think I ever told you guys this-but my computer was acting really strange, and I was Praying that it did not crash-because it was the ONLY Hard drive I had (My rugged 1TB had died from being banged around in the luggage). Thankfully, it lasted all through Africa. However just the other day I tried to print out my homework-and it just froze. Restarted-it froze starting up. Restarted about 20 times after that-and nothing. I was Freaking Out. My 2 most important homework assignments were on that computer and were Not backed up yet!! And everywhere I was calling for help told me that my hard drive had probably died-and if that was the case, I was not getting my files back. So you can imagine how I felt!
Well, I took it to a computer repair store across the street and the guy there was the nicest guy ever, though he was not a mac person-he was a pc person. So he couldn't help me out at All, but he told me to keep it there and he would give it a try. He was sure too that the hard drive had died since he couldn't even hear it at the start up.
2 hours later, I receive a call, and I rush over to see that he had researched, called and pulled hair out trying to get to my hard drive to work-and HE SUCCEEDED-Recovering my two files RIGHT BEFORE the hard drive crashed!! Praise God for that! Though we realized my motherboard was shot, my hard drive was shot, and he said there were other issues with the computer that really was not even worth fixing...

Which leads me to my next story. So I was stuck without a laptop and had 3 intense courses that required me to have one-which means I desperately needed a new one, Fast. I did my research and found a BEAUTIFUL 17" 2.2Ghz 8GB Ram 500GB HD WITH All of the CS5 products and Lion 10.7, ONLY CHARGED 3 TIMES and with apple care until April 2014 FOR UNDER $2,200!!! BINGO RIGHT!? However-I was so caught up in the specs that I TOTTALLY FORGOT TO PURCHASE A LAPTOP WITH A MATTE SCREEN-(for all who do not know, glossy screen is a lot less accurate to edit photos on if you are going to be printing them out later. Matte is the way to go-plus its anti-glare, much easier on the eyes to edit anyways). I had worried so much about haggling the price down and calling the owner up that I completely forgot to ask about the screen before I bought it.
It was too late-I had purchased it and it was out for shipping. SO I prayed hardcore again that it would somehow be a matte screen- I rush and email the apple dealer I bought it from, only to receive a response that said 'Nope, its glossy!'. The description even mentioned it being glossy. Everything pointed to glossy-if it was a matte screen, the seller would have mentioned it in the listing because they are worth more. Though nobody really has a matte screen-they are not popular and they are more expensive. For the average user, they would have no use for one. So I thought I was out out luck.
I had called apple care, and not even they would change the display screens. I had called up apple services around the area and they explained I would need to find a matte screen online and bring it to them to exchange for a pretty penny. I had looked online for other alternatives like filters-but none were safe to do or cheap. I kept praying, but I finally realized I was just going to have to pay for it myself.

Well....I just would like to say, I just received my new macbook pro TODAY....AND GUESS WHAT!!!!?????
YOU WILL NOT EVEN BELIEVE IT-I pealed open the package, dug in to grab the macbook pro, pushed open the screen...and....to my utter surprise-guess what I saw? A macbook pro 17" WITH A MATTE SCREEN-SITTING ON MY LAP, RIGHT INFRONT OF ME! AND IT WAS MINE!!!!! THAT MATTE COMPUTER WAS MINE! CAN YOU EVEN BELIEVE HOW GREAT GOD IS!??? He will answer All prayers, some with the answer you want, and some with the answer you dont want-but whatever the answer is, know that it is in your Best interest. He will never do something to you that will not benefit you in the end. God will never put you through anything you cannot handle.
But I am getting side tracked now-I was Just ECSTATIC Today at what a miracle that truly was! It Was Not suppose to be a matte! And by some crazy chance it was! THANK GOD FOR THAT RIGHT!??


HEHE Anyways, so let me now get to the photo part of my post-
This semester I was put into an advanced studio course at Andrews University this semester-not knowing anything about lighting because I never even took an intro to studio class! SoOo I have been praying hard core about that class and stressing out that I wouldn't be up to par-though so far I think God is trying to show me that He has opened the door for me to get into this class, and He is going to help me work through it so He can get the glory. And I'm totally fine with that! As long as I give Him the credit-I'm hoping He will continue to help me through this intense 4 credit class (never took a 4 credit class before!)
SO here are some of the results! This is the very first assignment we had-which was to warm up and photograph each other in groups. My group ended up going to an abandoned place and photographing in a warehouse-for my first time Ever with lighting-this is how it came out....




Now that was the first assignment...Our second assignment was a Beauty Shot. I am so greatful to have good and beautiful friends here, these are how my recent two have came out...






And last but not least...




:) I might just enjoy this class after all....
Thank you for everything God.