Pok Chi Lau is a photographer and teacher from Lawrence, KS who has made Chinese migration and the emergence of China a focal point of his work over the past 40 years. Pok Chi was my photography teacher in college and had an enormous influence on me and my work in terms of how I approached image making as well as how I looked at different cultures through the lens of a camera. He still remains a strong influence of mine as well as a friend and so I was very excited to learn that he has a new book of his work out called Flow China!

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OK, so one more non-design post before I get back to business . . . Last night KU defeated Memphis in an amazing NCAA Championship basketball game and the town of Lawrence went crazy! It’s been estimated that 40-75,000 people rushed downtown to Massachusetts St. for a party that even a torrential thunderstorm couldn’t stop. Congrats to this year’s team on a great season. It’s a great day to be a Jayhawk!
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Just picked up the 2008 t-shirt from the The Community Mercantile, a natural food grocer (and source for all things vegan and healthy) in Lawrence, KS. It’s available in a variety of colors and sizes, so go pick one up! This cool, hand-drawn image was done by Lawrence graphic designer Melissa Meyer. Melissa not only does wonderful graphic design, but also web design and beautiful textile designs. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Melissa on several occasions and she is an extremely creative and talented artist and designer!

I’ve been working on some different kinds of photo post-processing lately, so I went out and shot some practice shots of Lawrence this weekend to try them out on.

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This isn’t a very design-oriented post, but the 2008 Kansas Democratic caucuses took place tonight and it was a very interesting experience. These photos are from the caucus at the National Guard’s Metcalf Memorial Armory. It seemed that the turnout was much larger than expected and it was really exciting to see so many people showing up to pledge their support.

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This is a new logo I’ve designed for Struct/restruct Associates which is a local design, renovation, construction, woodworking and building firm located in Lawrence, KS. They also specialize in historic renovations and masonry. AND, they offer unique, local reclaimed lumber in their projects which is a great way to recycle old lumber that is perfectly usable. They mill the wood and everything! Congratulations to Josh and Matt for getting this venture underway!

For those of you looking for great local art and music, this Friday night will not disappoint! Check out Liz Gardner’s show entitled “A Day in the Life: Pocket-sized Pieces (PSPs)” at the Love Garden in Lawrence! Her fabric and found material collage works are fascinating and she’s a really cool person as well. The band Ghosty will be performing at the opening as a CD release party for their new album called Answers.

The show is Friday, Jan. 11, 7 p.m. at the Love Garden, 936 1/2 Massachusetts St. and admission is FREE.

(The cover of “Answers” features one of Liz’s pieces to give you a feel of her work)

AND, if you’re not ready to turn in early that night, another great local band, Marry Me Moses,will be playing across the street at the Jackpot Saloon at 10 p.m. They released a killer album last year called Engine, Engine which has had a lot of rotation in my CD player since I got it. So, get out and support some local artists this weekend. You won’t be disappointed!

As a side note, one of my rock n’ roll moments was when Marry Me Moses asked me to shoot some publicity photos of the band (including the one above)!

Since the holidays are swiftly approaching, I thought I’d put up a project I recently finished for the Lawrence Chamber Orchestra. They have a holiday concert every year that raises funds to help keep the orchestra going. The best part about this year’s concert is that it features members of my family! If you can make it, the concert is this coming Sunday, Dec. 23rd at 2:00 p.m.