Jessica tells about her first three weeks at NFI and shares photos taken on the first day of Photography 101

My name is Jessica Graves. Please allow me to be the first Nashville Film Institute student to welcome you to TheNFI's official blog. We hope you'll stay around a while.

I've been asked to tell you about my first three weeks of rapt and quotidian attendance to the school, but it's hard to know where to begin. I could tell you how I, a girl who has never had a real interest in photography as a hobby, found myself excited to lie down on a cobblestone sidewalk and manually -manually! - pull a shot of abstract metal work into focus.

We could start with the fact that I finally got to see Citizen Kane, and even though the ending was spoiled for me YEARS ago it held all of the terrific grandeur my friends have always said it would. I could talk about Scriptwriting 101 and how it coddled my lifelong love for being persnickety over the English language.


Hello, fellow media-sponge.What really needs to be discussed, however, is the unique social atmosphere of the school. It's hard to know what to expect when you're told you'll only have seven other people in your graduating class - and for a hands on school like TheNFI it's an acutely marvelous thing. I can distinctly remember playing with my father's VHS camera as a child and wondering where all the kids MY age were that wanted to help me make movies.

I am proud to say that I have found them.

If you are considering coming to study at TheNFI with us I highly encourage you to amp up that consideration. It's an environment that cultivates creativity in a way I have never quite seen before. You'll be surrounded by individuals that are passionate about what they are doing - and more importantly, are genuinely passionate about what YOU are doing. You won't regret it.

Hope to see you soon.

- Jessica