A Guest Book With Style

Here's a little sneak peek at a guest book I designed for an upcoming wedding. Try as I might to do a nice, crisp, classic design... I just can't. I have recently tried going that direction, but I can't seem to get the rich colors and textures out of my system. Somehow, a project just doesn't look finished unless there are at least two dozen photoshop layers.

I suppose it's my signature style.

Anyway, here are a few of my favorite pages.

True North Magazine

The photo I took of Ila a few weeks ago is featured on the Ages & Stages landing page of True North Magazine website this month! True North is a brand new parenting magazine specific to Central Oregon. They just debuted their first issue online last month, and will be moving to a print magazine starting in April, as well as a separate print directory of Central Oregon businesses geared towards families in June.

Which brings me to my next piece of news... both the print magazine and directory will be designed by yours truly. I'm freelancing with True North as they work to get their first issues off the ground, and I couldn't be happier! A print magazine is the perfect, complimentary combination of my love for photography and design. My relationship with True North began in early December when I received an email from them asking me to submit some photography to their publication. From there, it's grown into a graphic design partnership, with photography contributions where they might need it.

Anyway, go check out their website. And if you're in Central Oregon, look for the magazine on stands in April!

Getting Caught Up

I have my computer back!! It took a week, but we kicked the virus, and as soon as I got home from work, I sat down and cranked out about six hours of work in what felt like two. I'm working on a book from the pictures in the park a few weeks ago. I'm about halfway done. Here are some highlights:

Simple Pleasures

As a photographer with a strong photojournalistic style, a lot of photos from a shoot can be shown individually and hold their own ground. But when you put them together with other photographs so they can be seen in context, they really come alive. That's the hard part of editing for me--I can't just narrow things down to the best three or four. I see everything in a story. Taking out one image is like presenting a completed puzzle with a missing piece. That's why I'm averaging a CD of 30 images from a 1 hour shoot...and that's why it takes me three days to sift through them all!

As a side note, I had dinner with my parents tonight and had out of the three fortune cookies, these were two of them:

1. Every artist was first an amateur
2. Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don't have film.

What are the chances?