Anyone know about Hallmark Institute of Photography?

[rosskavanagh]

I'm from central Massachusetts. About and hour and a half from the school - I live in Auburn, next to Worcester and I'm 20 years old!

[ryan_shrout]

wow i feel old im 25, has any one found out how much finantal aid there getting hopefully i get alot, well talk to you guys later

[nate weatherly]

Hey everyone. I'll be attending Hallmark this fall too. Still working on the money stuff and all. But I'm looking forward to September very much.

 

Jules, I'd be interested in car-pooling if we don't end up living on opposite sides of the school or anything.

 

Megan, what town are you from? I grew up in Philipsburg, PA and am living in Grove City now.

 

I found out about the school from my cousin's girlfried. She graduated from Hallmark with the top portfolio in her class a couple years ago and is working independently as a "lifestyle photojournalist"/portrait/fine art photographer in Providence, RI now. She is ridiculously awesome. Check out her Website. www.stephanieizzo.com Oh, and she'd barely picked up a camera before going to hallmark (although her family is all very artistic).

 

Looking forward to meeting all of you On September 7th.

 

Nate

[barry_klipp]

Hey ran across this message board and thought i'd try to help out. I graduated last May from Hallmark. I started an internship in NYC with a great photographer(www.andreweccles.com) in March while still attending Hallmark. Then moved there and worked as a freelance assistant, producer at a photo agency, and studio manager while there. I recently relocated to Miami and am making the transition from assistant to photographer(i never cared for assisting). If you need any question answered I would be happy to help. i also added a link to some of my work. later.

 

www.portfolios.com/barryklipp

 

Barry

[kennethpasternak]

Hi all, I will be there come fall. Just working on the money. I need to find a place out there soon. Iam from Michigan, Detroit area and would like to get out there so I can get to know the area and people. After all we have to get our own modles. I can't wait to learn all the things Hallmark has to offer. I hope to find others that have an intrust in abandon buildings. I don't think I can go long with out exploring new buildings. I will be lookin for a roomate. So if anyone is looking let me know. I still need to send the papers back for housing. See all of you in the fall.

[jeremiah_ray]

greetings all -

 

tuesday (17th) i have my interview (via phone) i hope that all goes well. has anyone had luck finding an apartment? does the school offer housing assistance? other than that the only concern i have is regarding financial aid... time will tell, eh?

good luck to all!

[rosskavanagh]

Hello everyone! I just sent in my deposit and enrollment agreement today so I'll be working on financial aid over the next couple weeks or so - wish me luck! I was actually driving past the school the other day - I was out in at UMass Amherst visiting friends, doing some photography and I am getting more excited, nervous, but excited. I'm not too worried about housing anymore because from what I've heard, the school does a very good job of helping you get in touch with potential roommates and landlords. When I was visiting UMass, I asked around about rents in the area and north of there (where the school is.) It doesn't seem too bad - it can range from $300 - $1000+, but average being around $450 a month. Don't take my word for gospel, its just a little research I did. http://www.recorder.com/ is the site for the local towns' newspaper. Its actually Greenfield, Ma. If you click on the Classifieds section on the left, it will bring you to all their classifieds, including apartments, jobs, furniture, storage, anything! - so everyone can start realizing rents and sizes of spaces. Good luck to all and looking forward to seeing everyone soon - be it the housing socials, or in september on day one!

[jeffrey_volkenant]

Whats up everyone? This is such a great post, I'm glad I found it. Like alot of people here I've been accepted to Hallmark and am now just working on the financial stuff. I am pretty pumped but a little nervous. I am currently working as an engineer, so this is going to be a complete life change for me.

 

I was wondering if anybody has considered alternatives to going to school, like getting an apprenticship or working your way into the photography business as a photographer?s assistant. I am still wrestling with paying SO MUCH for school, when there may be other alternatives to getting into the business.

 

That being said I am still very excited about the opportunities hallmark will offer and the prospect of meeting everyone who has posted here so far.

 

I hope everyones financial searches go well.

 

Kenneth, where in the Detroit area are you from? I am from Royal Oak, MI. I would love to get in touch with you to talk about Hallmark sometime.

[joshwhitcomb]

I'm in the rare position of being both a native of the area and a

HIP grad. If you and your wife are still looking for a place to live

and you're going to be attending the school, the town of

Northampton would be perfect for the two of you, it's almost

exactly between Turners and Springfield, and has a very large

gay community. Very fun town to live in. Hope you're still looking

into Hallmark, it's a great experience, and I really liked your work

at deviant....Best wishes.

 

Jules, it seems like all your questions have been answered, but

if you've still got any, get my email. I'm in Bryn Mawr this

weekend for my sister's graduation, but after that you all probably

won't here from me again, cuz I'm going home to St. Thomas...

 

josh.

[savannah_brown]

so i'm going to graduate high school early. i'm 17 right now. and i'm trying to decide between brooks and hallmark... and i'm not sure which one to pick... i'm leaning towards hallmark but i'm not sure. cause right now i live in Utah and my very serious boyfriend is going to be attending UTI (its a technical school for mechanics) and so i'm not sure if it would be HORRIBLE to be that far away. i take about 2,000 pictures a year with my digital and photography is my life but i'm so afraid of not getting accepted... anyone have any advice for me? thanks so much

~Savannah Brown~

[jules_johns]

Hey All!

Well It's been a while since I dropped in last! I've been a little busy. Currently working out the pet situation. Anyone out there also taking pets with you? Any current student have a pet? I am looking for information on that. <br><Br>

 

I also got the housing list. Wow, I have a feeling it might be difficult for me to find housing. Oh well. We will find something. Has anyone else started looking for housing? Anyone got a place yet?<br><br>

 

I also finished up my loan paperwork and the school got the check and is sending it to me to sign. Whee. I guess it's official now! =O!!! <br><br>

 

Well, don't really know what else to say except Hi to all the newbies!!! Hope to see you there this fall. I'll check back later when my head is on a little straighter. LOL (I just rescued a stray cat so I'm a little preoccupied)Cya!<br>

- Jules

[nate_ross]

it seems the faculty at the school have found this thread. some of them seem rather worked up over it, over my opinions and things i've said. first, to address a few errors that Gabe pointed out. the printers are epson 2200s and adobe photoshop is not $140 or whatever I said it was. It's the educational price, whatever that is. It's still a smokin' deal.

 

next, i'd like to say something to the OTHER individual who quite obviously read this and then decided to rip me a new asshole today: I found your behaviour completely unprofessional and i have lost any respect for you that i might have had.

 

i posted my opinions and any facts I knew in this thread for one reason and one reason alone: when i was trying to make my decision on a school for this year, i found no student opinions anywhere online. i really wished i could have read some fairly unbiased opinions on how other people found the program, the surrounding communities, et cetera. I found none of this, so I decided to help out prospective students and tell them it really IS a decent place to get a crash-course education in photography.

 

I think I have to reconsider that after today. So if you're keeping track, that's TWO hallmark students, one past and one present, in this one thread who want nothing to do with this thread again. Do not call me, do not contact me for any information about hallmark. I will not reply. I'm putting in my time, handing in my portfolio, and then I am leaving. Fuck this place. How's that for an opinion?

[jules_johns]

Nate:<br>

Can you please tell us what exactly happened? Unless that will get you in more trouble. I am sure that we would all appreciated. If you can't, I don't hold it against you. I want to thank you so very much for all the information you gave us. You were a great help to us all. I wish you would consider communicating with us, but I can understand not wanting to. I personally will respect your wishes and not continue to email you, though it does feel like a loss to me because you are such a big help. <br><br>

 

Now, TO ANY FACULTY READING THIS!<br>

I want to know what happened and why you are upset about this thread and why you are giving Nate greif for his part in it. He was a huge help and I am sure I am not the only one feeling the loss of his participation. Please post on this and tell us why. Also, please know you have in no way helped all us prospective students participating in this. You have actually harmed our search for information and you have also possibly made people afraid to ask for or volunteer any information we want or have. This has dropped my opinion of Hallmark down a notch. But I am not making any assumptions and am willing to hear your side of the story. I want to know the whole story, so that I can make an informed decision about attending. I am sure all of us want to have as much information as possible so we can make the decision with our eyes wide open. Please post! Also, please stop giving Nate grief for helping us out. He was the biggest help and it was him that recommended the school!!!!<br><br>

 

Well anyway, To the rest of you, I hope no one else here is scared to continue posting. I hope we can keep this thread going for us and future students and that we can resolve this situation. I have written Cathy (without revealing names or including this URL) trying to find out what happened and stating that I am very upset about it. I will post what ever I hear back so that we can all know. I hope I don't catch any grief or get Nate in trouble, but I don't feel that this is something we can just let go. Does anyone agree? Anyone have any suggestions for what we should do? I told Cathy I am willing to write to anyone I need to. I want this resolved. Perhaps I am over reacting, but I hope not.<br><br>

 

Well I guess that's all I have to say. Nate, best of luck to you and thanks again.<br>

- Jules

[kennethpasternak]

WOW I thought this site was very helpfull. Iam very disappointed in that faculty are reading this and causing problems for students that where helping out. This was for future students to find out info. Now that I know that we are being watched maybe Ill just have to wait or stick to email to talk with others on this site. Well see ya all when I get there. If any one wants to get to know me just get my email from my site on photo.net.

[jules_johns]

Hey Ken, <br>

Please don't be afraid to post on here. I would hope that the school has enough integrity to realize that we are entitled to our decisions and that we are the next batch of students. If they want us to come there and recommend them they had better prove that they are worthy of recommendation. I also feel that if we become afraid to post, that will have let "them" win. Perhaps it is only one person who is causing trouble, not all of the school faculty. <br><br>

 

Oh and one more thing for faculty. Whether or not Nate said anything negative about the school (there was a little of both, but the postivie out did the negative by a lot. And you must admit, your school is not perfect, neither are you, or am I. Everyone and everything has negative and postive.) He has every right to say it. He is purchasing you're product. If he doesn't like what he bought, he has every right to tell people he doesn't like it. You are not paying him to only say wonderful things about your school. He should not be punished for any negative things he said. It was his right to say them. Perhaps if he were slandering your school there would be a problem, but he was anything but slandering! He actually recommended the school. I don't see what the problem is, but perhaps I am missing something. If so, please let us all know. Oh and please know we (participants of this board) do not like the feeling of being "watched" if you are going to read this, please post. I doubt very much you would like it if you felt someone was "overseeing" all you said waiting to come down on you if you say something they don't like. That's how we feel, so please speak up! We would appreciate hearing from you. <br><br>

 

Anyway....On a lighter note. We sent our loan check back to the school today. We've also started the preliminary housing search. Fun fun. How is everyone's process coming along?<br>

Well Have a good night all!<br>

- Jules

[ryan_shrout]

sorry jules i missed all the excitement, ya i think that suck that they are gettin on nate for helping us out he was very helpful and i would hope that he comes back and tells use what happened, and if they are reading this you should come down on nate for helping use. i havent even started the in finacal aid and this makes me step back and think, a poor guy like me probebly wont get the money i need to attend any way, but i hope the rest of you make it, im keeping my fingers crossed

RYAN

[jules_johns]

Hey Ryan!<br>

How are you doing? Well I hope. I am glad you posted. I think you mean shouldn't come down on Nate. ;) I really wish we knew the whole story. Please someone volunteer it! I am sure I will hear from Cathy tomorrow. Long wait though! Anyway, I sure hope you get the financial aid you need. I would like to meet you and actually have someone I've spoken with go to Hallmark! Lol! Feel free to drop an email any time!<br><br>

 

Anyway, so here's a question. Do students often "trade" things? Like, you can use my prop if I can use yours? I'm wondering because I'm gonna have a few pets (2 ferrets and possibly 1 cat and 1 snake. The snake and cat are up in the air) So I was hoping to be able to trade use of my animals for photoing in return for other things. As long as I'm there and you treat them right. So yea, perhaps us photo.net people can meet up when we start and make a list of all the things available between us. That might make it easier to find things you'd like for your photos. <br>

Well, have a great night all!<br>

- Jules

[nate_ross]

calm down! let me clear a few things up, and then i'm probably not going to say another thing until after graduation due to the shitstorm i apparently started with my last post here.

 

as you can see by my previous post, stress levels heat up here at hallmark towards the end of portfolio phase. this applies to students as much as faculty and staff.

 

i'm not going to tell you what happened, because that is between the other individual and I, and I believe we've come to an concensus that we both were in horrible moods and clashed as a result of it. this happens. here, everywhere.

 

it's a fact of life. this is just one more example of my previous statement, that at some point you will hate it here, and will regret spending loads of cash to come here. however, now that i'm somewhat more calm about the matter, i'd like to say that my opinions on this place have not changed. there's some bullshit, but where ISN'T there? the positives still outweigh the negatives, the equipment is still top-notch (aside from a few view cameras/commercial studio tripods in need of some routine tightening *wink*)

 

Am I still mad? Yes. But that's MY problem. This place gives you much more than a photographic education. As I said before, you get out what you put in. You'll meet some incredible people here. Fellow students, amazing (and famous) guest speakers, faculty members.. You'll also meet some people you don't see eye-to-eye with. You'll have critiques that infuriate you. You'll have assignment deadlines that seem very draconian. You'll also be forced to sit through business comm as "another warm body" while all you want to do is sneak off into the commercial studio and work on some shot you just dreamt up.

 

to those of you who were questioning the motives of the school employees reading this and remaining silent, here are my thoughts on that:

 

If you had a business, wouldn't you want to know what peoples' opinions of your business were? would you jump into the fray and say "yeah, we're effing AWESOME! the best at what we do!"? probably not. if they started posting here, it would instantly cease to be (relatively) unbiased. I know of four or five people at the school who are subscribing to this thread, some of them since september.

Only one of those individuals had an adverse reaction to what I've said here, and then I followed up by venting my frustrations here, probably in hopes that this person would read it and understand how furious I was/am. However unprofessional the outburst was that prompted my reaction, the reaction was probably at least equally so...

 

All I'm saying is that I'd be worried if they DIDN'T care enough to find out what people thought about our school.

 

Now if you'll pardon me, I need to go to school to do my last portfolio shot, a studio still-life. A couple tennis balls hanging from a clothesline in the middle of a grassy field. Might as well put your balls out on the line during portfolio phase, huh? ;)

 

As I said previously, I've been keeping a sort of journal about day-to-day life at hallmark. I'll be finishing that up on june 24th, and I'll post it if anyone wants..

[jules_johns]

Wellll, I feel like an idiot. I'm sure a lot of people do. I think the stress gremlins were playing on us all. Stress at Hallmark, passed onto here, passed onto my life, then back to Hallmark. What a rollercoaster. Can I get off now? I'd like to applogoize to anyone I offended (even those that are not actively posting) including faculty and students. <br><br>

 

Nate, I am glad that (contrary to what I thought from your post.. whoops) you haven't changed your opinion. I also agree with you about people clashing because of stress and I am definately interested in your journal thing. Please do post it. Oh and if you have time, drop me an email. I'd like to know if I actually did make anything worse so I can appologize yet again. <br><br>

 

I do have to say, that I still wish Faculty would post. As well as any other people attending the school. I don't mean faculty posting, yea we're the best school blah blah blah, I mean talking about day to day life. The kind of stuff they teach, things we should expect for when we get there, things like that. Saying things like that does not make it bias, it is only informing the next "generation" more. I would still like to hear it. <br><br>

 

Anyway... anyone else feeling as dumb as me? I hope I didn't screw anything up. Guess my attempt at not over reacting really was over reacting. Whoops. Well, I suppose we should all try to get this place back to normal, so future students (After us all) don't think we are all nut cases. Now, I'm going to go off and hide under a blanket and try not to feel guilty. LOL!!!! Well, cya all. <br>

- Jules

[ryan_shrout]

hey guys, how your week been, hey jules i have a web site ive been workin on its got some of my pictures ive taken you should check it out. Its not finished so hopfully i can make it look better, if you have any suggestions please share its the first one ive done so please share, the website is (dragonphotographywv.tripod.com)no www at the beginning, talk to you guys later

 

Ryan

[jules_johns]

Hey Ryan!<br>

My week's been stressful!! I'm happy to report that the stuff with the school has worked out so yea, I plan on just forgetting about that. Anyway, You're website is really good for your first website!!!! Frames and all. I like your pictures a lot. I would recommend that you made the side bar on the left either a LOT skinnier or just take it out. It makes it kinda hard to view if you have a sidebar such as bookmarks or history open. You don't use it for links or anything that I can see, so I would make it realllly skinny or take it out. Also, you're 9/11 (which I didn't even see the first time) is on the other side of the page from your "Photos", so some spacing went weird there. I know how that feels though. But I really like it. I love the name! I love dragons so you've definately got me hooked on the name. Anyway, I hope you're doing well! <br><br>

 

Does anyone else have websites??? I think I'll make one soon. =) If anyone has one, post it! I'd love to check it out. Keep us all posted on any progress with housing and loans and such. I got my papers from the bank saying that the loan went through and such. So yay, I made the early payment and saved a bunch. Whee. Anyway, I hope all of you are doing well!<br>

- Jules

[grainsandpixels]

Hi,

good to see u back,even i was not able to follow up as was busy in the finals in college.just finished that and now busy in preparing for my TOEFL examination which is due early next month.

i am still avaiting some docs from college to apply for my Visa application .

and yes, my website is http://www.grainsandpixels.com

 

havnt updated since last 2-3 months,just waiting for Toefl to get over and will update the site first

 

ashish

[jules_johns]

Ashish!<br>

WOW! You have some AMAZING pictures! I can tell you've traveled all over. I'm jealous! Are those tigers wild or in a zoo? Good stuff. Where are some of your pictures from??<br><br>

I hope your visa goes through and you get all your paperwork and complete all your stuff!!! Keep us posted! See you this fall!<br>

- Jules

[grainsandpixels]

Hi,

thanks for your comments on my work.actually none of the wildlife photograph has been taken in zoo or captivity,all have been shot in different national parks here in India.

as far as landscape stuff and other travel stuff consists,i have been traveling in Indian HImalayas since last 3 yrs or so and my trips ranged from 2-3 months alone in my car, as every student friend,used to refuse at the last moment and me just freek about shooting,used to go alone from here (Delhi) to ladakh and it used to take 3 to 4 days to cover all that distance in my car.

just praying to get my visas cleared,will share all the experiences with you all.:-)

 

ashish

[jules_johns]

Ashish!!!<br>

That is soooo awesome! I'm Totally jealous!! I got this nature photography book a little while ago that had pictures of tigers in India, the guy who took them said he took them while riding an elephant. The tigers would ignore the elephants which let them get really close. He also said that elephants were good for retrieving lenses he dropped in his excitement! That sounded so totally awesome, so now I wanna go ride elephants and take pictures of tigers in India.<br><br>

 

How close to the tigers did you get? India must be really cool. I had a friend (well she was my mom's friend and my teacher) who lived in India for a while. Very cool. Lol but I'm rambling now. Hehe. Good luck with your Visa and all!<br>

- Jules