NAPCP

I recently had the pleasure of creating a logo for a colleague and friend of ours, Alice Park. Alice and her husband have created an organization called NAPCP – National Association of Professional Child Photographers (try saying that 10 times fast). The organization was created for photographers who specifically work with children and they provide resources and help connect photographers and parents to one another to foster a safer, trusting working environment for both parties.

Intially, Alice had mentioned that she wanted a “seal” and something that brought about the “Real Simple” look and feel and I was happy to give it a try. I tried to bring in something simple, but clean and official feeling without being too institutional and the following is what I came up with for round 1.

After some further discussion we decided it would be better to bring in some neutral, child-friendly elements and we came up with butterflies and ladybugs, pretty universal non-offensive kid stuff. I created the ladybugs by hand using the Wacom and Photoshop skills, not the kind of element I usually create. Alice also liked a softer shade of blue-green and an “est. 2009” was added to the seal. What we came up with was this final design.

I’m really happy with the logo and Alice is too. I’m glad Alice put some challenges in front of me in terms of designing some softer, child-friendly materials. It’s always easy to go modern and gritty, but creating something that makes people feel comfortable and safe is always more of a challenge, and more rewarding in the end.

Thanks Alice!

GoodGameGuys

I’m really excited to announce the launch of GoodGameGuys, a community for gamers.

GoodGameGuys has been something that’s been kicked around for about 2 years, and we just didn’t have the time or resources to get it going until now. I went with Ning as the platform because it offers the most features and flexibility for zero-dollars. If things really take off, I plan on moving the entire platform over to BuddyPress, a social networking platform based on WordPress. In the meantime, Ning offers some really great stuff.

Here is the corporate mission statement that explains in detail what we hope to accomplish:

GoodGameGuys is a gaming community that aims to bring gamers together in an environment similar to MySpace and Facebook.

The community hosts advanced features with customizable profile pages, personal blogs, Flickr photo importing, and the ability to interact through chat and forums.

Bi-monthly “Game Together” nights are scheduled via Microsoft’s XBOX Live and the Playstation Network (Wii support available in the future) for popular games such as Halo 3, Call of Duty. More specialized events like meet-ups and LAN parties will be co-ordinated by members, and will happen at various times throughout the year.

GoodGameGuys also brings members the latest in gaming news though the use of RSS. The top-stories from the most popular gaming sites in the world can be easily accessed on the front page of the site.

GoodGameGuys is a great place for gamers to connect, find friends and discuss gaming in a mature but laid back environment, with many plans of expansion for the future.

If you’re interested in gaming at all, or just want to placate me, head on over and sign up 🙂

Iron Man Shoot

In the Fall of 2008 I got together with some amazing guys here in Atlanta who call themselves Nightmare Armor Studios. What NAS does is create props and replicas from video games, feature films and anime.

After seeing these guys at a Halo 3 launch event, and later at Dragon Con I got in touch with owner/lead designer Sid Garrand. I offered Sid a free photo shoot since they didn’t have much going on in the photography department. They had just done these beautiful Iron Man suits so that’s what we shot. These images are what we came away with and I’m really happy with how they turned out.

I had a good time working on this shoot and I’m working on doing more photography involving people who do cosplay and build movie props. Sid and his team do AMAZING work, and you should check out their site and keep up with them.

This is something I really love and hope to do more of in the future, I have a website called Cosfolio in the works that will house all of my cosplay photography work.

Onkyo Awesomeness.

I decided recently that it was time to grow up and get rid of my Samsung home-theater-in-a-box. I’ve had it for nearly 3 years now, and though it was a good starter setup, my needs have exceeded it’s capabilities.

Enter the Onkyo TX-SR576.

My current A/V setup includes 3 sources connected via HDMI (PS3, 360 and MacBook). Since my Panasonic plasma only has 2 HDMI inputs in the back, I’ve been using a crappy Monoprice analog switch to swap the signals. Besides being annoying, this provided me with an audio problem.

Brad Kayal

I stumbled upon Brad Kayal’s work while I was trolling Flickr a few months ago. Brad consistently creates amazing work in every medium he’s involved in. This most recent poster really blew me away with it’s simplistic layout and attention to detail.

Whenever I feel like I need a boost of creative inspiration I head on over to Brad’s website, and Flickr page. His posters, photography, websites, and even Flash video games are all strokes of genius. Please be sure to check bookmark him, he’s truly a master.

Corey Hivner

My cousin, good friend and all around awesome guy decided to dip both feet into the water of the virtual world and get himself a website/blog. We went over to GoDaddy.com and purchased www.coreyhivner.com as a place to hold his blog and later his vast portfolio housing everything from artwork to remodeling to custom bicycles.

I whipped up a splash page based on a old turn of the century poison label. I’ve kinda been obsessed with early plate-based design as of late. I think it turned out pretty cool, Corey digs it too.

Head on over and make sure you subscribe to his RSS feed and keep up with him, he’s full of interesting things.

5D Mark II

Time for an upgrade! Since it’s announcement and initial glowing reviews we knew that the next piece of equipment for our business was going to be the new 5D Mark II.

We had been shooting with… let’s just say, older bodies for quite some time due to our firm belief that you should only upgrade when you need to upgrade, not every time a new gadget comes down the pike. So this is a big change for us, and the full-frame sensor means my 35mm lens will once again be a true 35mm.

Needless to say I’m really enjoying the camera, and I will have more to report soon on the low-light image quality and the highly controversial HD video recording mode.

Hello Rabbit.

Hey folks! I just wanted to share that we stepped into a 2008 Volkswagen Rabbit S this week!!!

We’re both besides ourselves with joy after driving our poor 1997 Toyota Camry til it hit the 197,000 mile mark. It was definitely a great car, and it served us well for many years. Farewell old friend.

I am going to do another post soon with lots more pictures and info about the Rabbit. Lots of time and research and soul searching were done to make the decision to purchase a new car, but moreso, this particular car. I just want to share some of details and highlights of what makes this car so special. Stay tuned…

Andy Reale

Andy Reale is an old friend of mine from high school. We used to goof around in computer class together and talk about music and such. I have to say that when I discovered what he was up to the past few years I was really impressed. He’s a full-fledged music video director, and he has a brand spankin’ new website that you should all check out!

Andy reminds me of my all-time favorite music video director, Mark Romanek in that he doesn’t always spend a lot of time operating the camera, but he is the person with the vision, and the ideas that make up the world inside the video. What I always like about Andy’s videos is that they fit the bands. None of the videos you’ll see take the band so completely out of context of themselves, and that’s really important. I also love the composition and color of each video.

If you’re in a band and need a video, get your people to get in touch with Andy. If you’re just a fan of music and videos, spend the time it takes to watch every single video on his site, they’re all really amazing.

New Insight vs. New Prius

I suppose that Honda thought neither Toyota, nor the rest of us would notice the striking similarity of their newly designed Insight hybrid to the Toyota Prius. Or perhaps, they intentionally styled their Prius-fighter on the highly successful competitor. In either case I’m really disappointed in Honda for not being more original in the design process with this car. I typically give Honda high marks for overall industrial design and aesthetics, but I just can’t respect such a blatant copy.

On the other hand, I feel like wagging my finger at Toyota for their Prius redesign. I mean, it’s the SAME car. There’s nothing revolutionary about the “next generation” Prius. They just gave it some new sheet metal, and spiffed up the interior and called it a day. I was really hoping that it would carry the hybrid torch even further by distinguishing itself in an increasingly competitive segment. I guess if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

What do you think?