The Clackamas print., March 12, 2008, Page 4, Image 4

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Clackamas Print
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Feati
Wear and tear will break you dow
College students rely on vehicles to get
back and forth to school, but some don ’t
even know proper car care to keep their
vehicles on the road
I Dale Balbi
I The Clackamas Print
A vehicle is more than just a way to get from
point A»-to point B.
“It takes basic maintenance, a little money
and willingness to repair or do it yourself,” said
former Clackamas student Nick Miller, who
teaches various automotive service technology
courses at the college.
The “a little money” part is what causes some
students difficulty.
“I change my oil every. 3,000 miles, and I
rotate my tires every month,” said student Teea
Newberg. “There are other things I should do,
like check my transmission fluids and check any­
thing else every 10,000 miles, but I can’t afford
it.”
In addition to regularly checking and chang­
ing the oil, there are greater factors to consider,
Miller says. It doesn’t hurt to think into the
future.
“Other things that need to be checked are
brakes every 30,000 miles, transmission,
windshield, tire inflation once a month,
and have your car clean because it
increases fuel economy, makes the car
last longer and the resale value high­
er,” he explained.
But not all information applies , to
all cars, Automotive Instructor Steve
Goloback points out.
“Each vehicle is different as far as sched-
uled maintenance and types of oils for oil
change,” Goloback said.
Goloback will teach a Fix Your Own Car
class that will run every other Saturday dur­
ing spring term.from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is a
five-week class that covers one topic each
week.
The first week is dedicated to gathering
the information necessary to know before
fixing a car. Week 2 addresses oil change
and filters, and week 3 tackles what is
under the hood of the car, such as spark
plugs, the radiators and all fluids. Week 4
covers brake suspension, and in the final
week, students will learn about basic diag­
nostic, which includes trouble code, battery,
electrical and light problems;
But while the terminology and mainte­
Full-time
nance rules may make car care seem diffi­
assembly
cult, it has become less so over time.
“Car maintenance is easier to maintain today
than in the past,” Goloback said.
-Headlights
-Blinkers
-Brake fluid
Watch: making pictures 3-D
Continued from WALCH, Page 1
At tiie time, Walch wasn’t so optimistic about his
life.
“I didn’t know I was going to have much of a
future,” he said.
Things started to shape up when then-teachers David
Campbell and Dave Simkins gave him the confidence
to graduate from high school, which he did in 1988.
From there, he transferred to Western Oregon
University but found that it wasn’t a good fit He took a
break from his education and worked, before enrolling
at Marylhurst University in 1992.
At Marylhurst, Walch studied visual arts.
“I was always into art,” he said. “I was trying to find
out how art fit into my life and world.”
His family, on the other hand, did not support his
creative endeavors.
“They didn’t value photography as a profession,”
he said.
Regardless, Walch followed his heart and, in 1994,
graduated from Marylhurst with a Bachelor of Arts
degree in visual arts.
He started taking photos for profit but soon realized
that he was shooting pictures of scenes he thought oth­
ers would like. He was even a wedding photographer,
which in his opinion “wasn’t worth the money.”
He then pursued stereo photography, which involves
taking two pictures side by side and joining them so that
the resulting single picture is three-dimensional.
But unfortunately, Walch wasn’t able to spend time
developing his passion initially. Instead, he temporar­
ily directed all of his energy to remodeling his historic
Oregon City home.
During the remodeling process he grew curious
about historic architecture, which is now one of the
main subjects of his photographs.
Beforehand, he researched the history of his house
and discovered that it was originally built as servants’
quarters, although it was never used for that purpose.
When it was first sold, it was disconnected from the
larger main building and moved to be built on a founda­
tion. It has been lived in by seven other families and was
in the possession of one family for three generations,
‘A house is more than four walls and a roofj” he
said.
Walch finally returned to his camerawork when he
adopted his son Carlos from Guatemala. He took some
time off work in order to bond with his new son, and
recognized that photography was something they could
do together. Every day tiiey would go on a walk, and
Walch would take pictures around the neighborhood.
student Alan Shufelt takes apart
on a 1969 Volkswagen Beetle.
Thus, his passion for the art form was sparked
again.
Walch currently has 3-D photography collections
- the technical term is anaglyphic photography - in four
galleries. The nearest is in Oregon City, while the others
are located in Astoria, Tacoma and Seattle.
When preparing for a gallery show, Walch dedicates
up to 20 to 30 hours to his photos.
After much experimentation, he has developed
systems for taking pictures and making them 3-D. He
has created a device in which he can attach two “pen
cameras” - small cameras a little larger than a package
of gum - to a self-made, wooden stand that holds them
approximately eye-distance from one another. The
two photographs that the cameras capture are opened
in Photoshop and meshed together to form one three-
dimensional imagine.
Walch’s current shows include photos of Pike Place
Market, in Seattle, as well as historic Astoria and
Oregon City.
He is working on a collection of 3-D toy pictures.
Though anaglyphic photography is only a part-time
job for Walch, it is-and will always be-afull-time infatu­
ation. The gall eries displaying his artwork have request-
ed
his
photos in
art-o-mat
machines,
which are
venting
machines
for art, he
said. Even
Microsoft
has shown
interest in
his work.
More
than any-
thing,
Walch
wants
his audi­
ence ttMre
WALCH
impacted
' by his art.
‘Wearing glasses engages the viewer in the image,”
he said.
i
His hope is that onlookers can become just as emo­
tionally invested in his photos as he is in the practice of
producing them.
-Oil
-Air fi
-Oil fi
-Spari
-Fuel
-Tire p
-Tread