Skate!

I finally worked up the courage to "chill" at the skate park by my house.

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A Quiet Walk On the Beach
There is something so beautiful about an almost-empty beach on a cold day.

L.I.F.E. Moves

On Saturday night I had the privilege of photographing Celebration of Life, a Dinner and Dance Gala for the L.I.F.E. for Health organization, and sponsored by Rogers Communications. The organization recognizes the importance of Livelihood, Infrastructure, Food and Education for the well-being of all people, and implements their initiatives through simple, straightforward methods. To learn more, check out: http://www.lifeforhealth.org/Welcome.html

These are just the outtakes, some artsy fun. More of the actual people to come!

Penny Black

Business Card. This is a new company for which I am doing the full identity including logos, business cards, website design, etc. More to come!

Sundance Promo

The Sundance Channel was recently launched in Canada. I was on the team that developed all of the motion graphics for broadcast. I also helped direct the online effort. This is a promo beginning that I designed and animated.

Tees

More Rejection!
Here's another campaign concept left on the cutting-room floor.

Rejection!
Here are some recent ideas that ended up on the cutting room floor... more to come!

Old Dog, New Tricks
Have been thinking about a friend this week, so I thought I would re-visit a photo I took of her dog a while back. It's always nice to go back and try something new - in this case, a treatment that I thought reflected the age of the photo...

Commute
I take the trail to work every day on my bike. This morning I thought I would bring my camera along to capture some of the scenery. One of these days I am going to strap a camera on my head and record the entire 10-k...

Designing to Decorate
An idle designer is a dangerous thing. On one hand, you have tons of time to think of amazing creative endeavours. On the other hand, your imagination can quickly get out of hand. I have had the past week off of work and in an attempt to avoid cleaning my apartment, I have decided that it is time to invent new and exciting decorating solutions. One such project are these letter prints for a friends house. The idea is to personalize a space like the bedroom, without having pictures of a couple up everywhere.

Identity
I am always super flattered when a friend asks me to design them something. So I was thrilled when one of my best friends Lauren invited me to pitch some ideas for her BFs business card. The coolest part? He's a percussionist. Braeden knew what he wanted (and what he wanted was cool!) so it was fairly simple, but allowed me to stretch my photography, illustration and design skills all at once. And I even got a private concert for inspiration! He is AWESOME so if you are interested in live performance or lessons, drop me a line and I'll put you in touch (I replaced his real info with fake info here).

Going for Lunch
I work with all guys. The reality of doing design/animation is that you are surrounded by dudes all the time. Which is cool, especially when they all walk down the street together. Makes for some fun shots.

J + T
Here are more pics from a friends wedding. I didn't shoot this for real, I just snuck my camera in as a guest. CLICK HERE to see a few more.

Communicating Technology
A while ago I was asked to come up with a wall and scrim design that would create the ambiance for a booth at the WAEA conference (World Airline Entertainment Association). There were a few stipulations:

1) logo + their colours (purple) prominent
2) brand messaging catch phrases i.e. expect the unexpected, surprise & delight
3) message that Spafax is "ahead of their time" in the industry, or that they were using the most groundbreaking technology

After much deliberation (CLICK HERE to see a previous post with other options), I decided that the catch phrase "surprise and delight" provided a way to peak interest in a fast and simple way. Paired with the photo of a metropolis slightly askew and the sharp lens flare, the message became: "Spafax exceeds expectations, takes the clients to exciting, new heights." This allowed me to get to the idea of technology without going too "industrial" in aesthetic. If I could choose one thing about this that I think is most success, it is that I feel it communicates "technologically advanced" without relying on nuts, bolts and futuristic gimmicks. Instead, I went for frontiers, heights, wonder.

Caffeine!
I have been on an indefinite hiatus from blogging for the last little while. A few reasons for this: my sister's wedding, followed by a trip to Seattle, Portland and Argentina. Boom. Not a bad excuse, eh? But, I am back in Toronto and now have the time to share some of the work I have been doing over the past few weeks. So, expect a few posts this week and next in what I am calling the "caffeinated blogging spree", or simply, "a lot of posts in a short time to compensate for the lost time." Above photo is me in Seattle embarking on my city-wide coffee crawl. Photo credit: Jonah.