Everybody have a safe and happy Christmas Eve and Christmas.
Greetings from Southern California B-)
I’ve been trying to refine my graphic design skills, or lack thereof, by making a few logos and stuff recently.
I entered a contest at my semi-alma mater (I got an AA there, but I got my BA elsewhere) and won!!
Last month I undertook a task on behalf of my good friends I Heard A Lion. They played a show with The Colour Revolt November 15 and knocked it outta the park. Hoping that people who hadn’t heard their stuff before would be interested, I created a logo with the website on it (using Corel Paint Shop Pro X), and had it printed on coasters that we distributed for free.
They are reusable if they don’t get too soaked. In fact a stain or two helps give them street cred. Look for them at the next IHAL show.
This is our first year sending out Christmas cards together. Yes, I contemplated getting a friend of ours to take a nice photo of us and getting one of those seasonal borders added to it at Target and calling it a day. But, of course, being me, I decided I wanted to do something more exciting and unique.
Some of my favorite wedding pictures are the ones from the photobooth, a great way for attendees to get caught on film acting ridiculous. So I thought I’d try a photobooth-type setup for the first annual card. Took a few shots of me & the man, and sent it off to our friends at Atelier to print them up (they also did our wedding invites and programs!)
This was harder than anticipated. The first obstacle was trying to find a time during daylight hours (for the natural light) when both of us were home at the same time. Days are getting shorter and usually by the time Doug gets home from work it’s already dusk. Saturdays are too crazy for both of us so finally I roped him into Sunday after the Chiefs game. Which explains the wardrobe choice. The second hard part was setting up the booth. Putting the tripod on the floor made it way too close to where we’d be sitting. So I ended up shortening the legs and putting it on the bed, which means every time I set the self timer and pushed the shutter, I had to run around the bed, try not to slip on the wood floor, sit and strike a pose in less than 10 seconds.
All in all, I’m pleased with the results but I think it was way too much work. Next time I’m roping a friend into helping no matter how lame they think we are for being all couple-y.
After all of that, who wants to see some outtakes? Outtakes, test shots, call them what you like, these two photos did NOT make the cut onto the final product. Note my eager assistant.