This is a collage piece that I recently came up with as a study for a different project. I ended up not using it for the project itself, but I had so much fun doing it, that I’d really like to try and do some more in this style, so stay tuned! A majority of the photographs were taken from the Library of Congress’ public domain archive on Flickr. That place is a treasure chest of interesting images from our nation’s past!

I just got back from a relaxing weekend out in western Kansas which was a nice escape from the hustle of everyday life here in Lawrence. The weather was perfect and I spent one morning canoeing out on Wilson Lake which was a lot of fun. I also (over)ate a ton of home-cooked food. However, one of the most unique things I came across was a beautiful sunflower field, so out came the camera!

Well, it’s finally full-blown summer here in Kansas! It’s hot and humid and there’s very little escaping it. It’s been hard to keep my basil growing in my backyard, but it seems to be making it so far. This is good because I used it tonight in my all time favorite recipe! Sooooo good! That one’s for you, Jenny!

We have a few flowers that have braved the scorching heat as well and the grass is still mostly green, but that will inevitably change as the daily high temps creep up and up into the 100’s. Most everyone is anxiously awaiting Fall which might be the most beautiful season in Kansas. Maybe I’ll make it back to the Maple Leaf Festival this year.

On a totally unrelated note, if you haven’t already seen this clip from the Draplin Project by Jess Gibson, I think it’s worth a look. Not really work safe language, but I think it honestly relays the frustration that a lot of us designers feel! I don’t know, maybe it’s just the heat going to my head, but it struck a chord when I watched it.

Image © 2008 Designojek

One of my favorite projects that I do every year is the summer newsletter for the KU Band Department. This year, they were wanting to emphasize the football team’s win in the orange bowl and the basketball team’s national championship win, so I tried to integrate elements of both in the cover design. This year’s letter will hit mailboxes in a couple of weeks, so this is just a sneak peak!

In this short clip, I think he nails it on the head in terms of starting out a career in a creative field. I feel like I’ve been doing this for a while now and I still can relate to what he’s talking about. To a certain extent, most creative professionals run up against this their entire lives. As frustrating as it can be, I think it’s a good thing because it constantly forces you to evaluate your own performance and continue to improve. There 4 parts to this total which you can watch in the related clips at the end.

So, in the mean time, I was cleaning up my office a bit and I came across a camera that I’ve been using off and on for a while. There was half a roll of film in it (your guess is as good as mine as to what’s on the first half!) so I took it out to do some shooting this weekend. I’ll try and have some photos developed to post soon.

The camera is a Yashica Electro 35 rangefinder which is from the early 1970’s and is considered by some to be a “poor man’s Leica“. It has a beautiful lens which stops down to 1.7 so it’s a great camera for low light and for street photography. Since it’s a rangefinder, there is no mirror that flops up when you press the button, so there’s a barely audible click when the shutter opens which makes it nice for candid photos.

The camera came from my parents who got it as a gift from some friends who bought it new in Japan on a trip. They used it for a while, but soon retired it to the closet where it sat for a decade or two until I pulled it out and looked into getting it up and running again. The biggest problem was that the battery had been discontinued for several years, but upon some internet searching, I stumbled upon the Yashica Guy who sells a homemade adapter that will allow you to use a modern battery in it. A few days and $16 later, I was all set to go and I’ve had a lot of fun with it ever since. A lot of older cameras still have life left in them and they’re a blast to use so a quick internet search is well worth it before you toss your old equipment!

My apologies for the lack of posting lately! It’s been busy, busy around the studio and I’ve been working on lots of interesting projects. I should have some more things to post soon!

I did take a little time out to spend some time with my new camera and I’ve been loving it! It’s been good for me to get back to shooting on film and I find that I make much different choices on how and what I shoot when it’s a dollar per click! It’s great to have such rich depth of field and, although the Polaroid film almost has a mind of it’s own, the photos have a great quality to them. The colors are really dependent on temperature, light, etc. and so I can try my best to get it “right”, but it’s still a mystery to me what I’m going to end up with. Below are a few of the early test shots I took and I hope to have some more up soon!

I also wanted to point out a couple of wonderful articles, one is called Gone in Sixty Seconds and gives a very interesting history of Polaroid. The other is called The Branding of Polaroid, 1957 - 1977 and it’s great reading as well.

OK, so since I’ve got you here, there’s also some pretty exciting news . . .

I was just promoted to Art Director at my office at the university which will be a really exciting move for me and I’m really looking forward to it! See how I pulled you in with the cute babies? Oh, the trickery . . .

www.mattwilsonjazz.com

I’m extremely excited to announce the launch of a new website that I’ve been working on for jazz drummer, Matt Wilson! Matt is an educator/drummer/composer & band leader and a winner of several Downbeat and Jazz Journalists Assn. awards.

Over the past month or so I’ve been working along side my good friend, fellow sax player and web programmer/designer Greg to design this site. I first saw Matt perform live with his group Arts and Crafts in 2007 at the IAJE conference in New York and was blown away, so when Greg approached me about working on his website, it was a total no brainer. Matt’s a great guy and an incredible musician, so if you ever have the chance to hear him perform, be sure and check it out.

(Here’s a shot of a secondary page from the site)

Here’s a video of Arts and Crafts performing The Scenic Route live at the 2007 Elmhurst Jazz Festival. Also of note is the phenomenal organist/pianist of the group, Gary Versace, who taught here at the KU Jazz Workshop for a number of years.

UPDATE: Matt’s site was recently featured on the web-design blog, Most Inspired!

Last week, I was working out in Oakland, CA and, outside of a couple of trips to Seattle when I was younger, it was my first time to the west coast. The majority of my time was spent on an island city called Alameda which is right next to Oakland and across the bay from San Francisco. The weather was absolutely perfect while I was there and I met some amazing people during my trip.

One of the neatest things about Alameda is the architecture. There is a really interesting mix of old Victorian homes and California Bungalow style houses. The housing market is crazy, of course, and I gathered that the average home there is around $800k-$1.2m! With hardly any yard . . . And earthquakes.

However, when you see the homes up close, they all have such character and detail that it’s really a sight to see. Coupled with the perfect weather year-round, it might almost be worth the price . . .

This is a shot of the courtyard at one of the middle schools on the island and it completely blew my mind. The area at the top is open to the sky and the lockers are lined up around the edge of the courtyard. Must be nice to have such beautiful weather! I was told that even when it rains, it’s usually light and isn’t a problem at all. I think we could pull that off in Kansas for about 9 days out of the year.

The rest of the city has a lot of charm to it. It is a little weathered, like most coastal towns are, but has a great multi-cultural influence and the vibe is very relaxed and almost like a small town.

After seeing the bay in person, I realized how critical it is to keep it as clean as possible!

There is also a beautiful beach area in Alameda. Actually, some of the schools back up to the bay and so that is what they see out the window every day! I wouldn’t get anything done with a view like that!

I was a little surprised to see palm trees that far north in California, but then again, I really didn’t know what to expect.

One of the days I was there, it was really windy and so the kiteboarders were out in full force. Each of those moon-shaped slivers was a huge kite that pulled the surfers around the bay. I saw a few of them up close and the sail is really large. I think the wind was around 45mph that day, so they were flying high!

The last day I was there, I had the chance to take the ferry over to San Francisco for dinner. Oakland has a lot of shipping ports, so there were a bunch of giant ships coming in and out. Those boxes on the boat are the size of the cars on a train which gives you an idea of how huge the ships are!

On our way to eat, we stopped off at the ferry building (with the clock tower) which has a ton of food vendors, flowers and mushrooms, apparently.

We ate dinner at a wonderful Greek restaurant called Kokkari and spent about 2 hours eating, drinking and talking and eating, drinking and talking. It was a lot of fun!

It was just dusk when we headed back on the last ferry to Alameda. We passed right underneath the bay bridge and you could see the golden gate bridge in the distance as well as Alcatraz! It was a beautiful scene.

The Barack Obama Campaign has a series of art prints for sale under the name Artists for Obama. The series is comprised of images inspired by the message of the Obama campaign and they’ve had some high powered artists on board already. All money spent on the prints go towards the Obama campaign, so it’s a great way to help support his bid for the presidency!

The first print entitled “Change”, which sold out in a very short time, was done by designer and street artist Shepard Fairey. Fairey is probably best known for his Obey Giant street campaign, but has also done some incredible commercial graphic design including album art for The Smashing Pumpkins and Led Zeppelin.

The second artist for the Artists for Obama series is Scott Hansen who is perhaps lesser known, but is one of my favorite designers right now. His Obama design is the one shown above. Based out of San Francisco, Scott has an incredible eye for textures and color and I love his retro and vintage inspired designs which, in an era of retro-kitsch, is amazingly fresh and beautiful. He is also a great electronic musician performing under the name Tycho. With an ambient, atmospheric feel, his music is worth checking out.

I think one of the nicest things about biking to work is having the chance to stop and notice things along the way. The fresh air is nice and the exercise is great, but mostly, I think it’s cool not have a pane of glass between you and the rest of the world. It’s nice to be able to stop if you see something and enjoy it without having to park, get out of the car, etc. So, perhaps against my better judgment, I took a camera along on my ride today and shot some of the things that I see on my way to the office!

I see a lot of stuff when I’m at a stop sign waiting to go.

This might TECHNICALLY qualify you for Bike to Work week, but you’d probably be missing the point. You’d get a few more badass points, though . . . but just a few!

I think the morning ride is my favorite. Not only does it help wake me up, but the light is really nice. I came across these red leaves today and they were truly brilliant in the sunlight.

This is a nice car-free path that saves me about a block every morning. It’s nice and quiet away from the traffic.

I see this every day and I still scratch my head every time. To each his own!

So, those are some perks of the bike commute. When I’ve been staring at a screen for 8 hours, it’s fifteen minutes of guaranteed unwinding time which makes me much more pleasant when I get home!

This is what I carry with me on my ride to work every day. I’m sure I’ll get a lot of crap for being a “poser” with my Timbuk2 bag, but seriously, this bag holds everything, is waterproof, and has a nice array of pockets and such to hold all manner of things including lunch and a change of clothes. I can’t think of anything bad to say about it! Plus, it’s made in the USA!

I should say a quick word about the “what if I get sweaty?” issue. I’ve never really had a problem with this (although you should ask my co-workers first, I suppose!) I wear a lightweight t-shirt while I’m riding and I’ll pack another shirt to change into when I get there. I’ve used this method in 110 degree weather and it’s worked out fine, so that’s what I go by. A lot of offices actually have showering facilities and if you’re lucky enough for that, then there’s really no problem. A stick of deodorant in your office drawer is probably a safe idea, too.

Back to the gear; a lock goes without saying. No one wants to come out and find their ride stolen. I hear U-Locks are the best bet now that they can’t be opened with a ballpoint pen! I carry a cable lock and a u-lock to lock both wheels up. Plus, I can sling it over my shoulder when I’m riding. Also, a helmet is pretty much mandatory. It’ll take about a day to get over feeling like a dork and it’s worth the $30 to not be in a coma for the rest of your life.

The three small items shown here: 1) bike light which is really helpful for seeing at night, but also so cars can see you, 2) velcro pant leg straps. I hate carrying an extra pair of pants to work, so these just hold them in place so they don’t get caught in your chain. This is especially important if you’re on a fixed gear bike. More on that later… 3) A bike multi-tool. This has all manner of wrenches and screwdrivers to help you out if you have a chainring bolt come loose (like I did in the middle of 40 mph traffic!)

Here’s the machine that actually gets me around. I own a geared road bike and a mountain bike as well, but this is the guy that’s my main commuter. It’s a fixed gear bike and that’s a whole post in itself, but it’s a lot of fun and it hasn’t let me down yet. If you’re looking to start commuting, any bike will do. A couple of things I’d recommend:

• Fenders: Even if it’s not raining, you might be forced into a puddle some day and you’ll be really glad you have these. The ones I have just clip on, so they’re really easy to deal with.
• Toe Clips: I like these because it helps me feel “locked in” with the bike. Plus, you can really use all of your peddling motion to go FAST. And for me, that’s the goal.

Here’s a helpful tip, keep a plastic bag stuffed under your saddle to pull out if it rains. You never know when a rain storm will roll in and at least this way, you won’t have to ride home on a wet seat! A rear tail light is good to have, too. Again, anything that helps you get seen by cars is a good idea!

Also, here’s a tip from Naz Hamid: use the new “street view” in Google Maps to check a location for bike racks!

This week (May 12-16, 2008) is Bike to Work Week here in Kansas. I’ve been biking to work nearly every day for the past 2 years and so it’s always fun to have a week where I see other people head off to work under their own pedal power. I’ll try to do a couple of posts this week related to bicycle commuting and some tricks I’ve found to be helpful. Whether for environmental reasons, health reasons, or just for fun, biking is a great way to get out of the house and enjoy the outdoors, so head out to the garage and pump up those tires this week and give it a shot. For those if you who commute a long distance, you can still make a difference by replacing any car trip with a bike ride.

Here are a few links to help get you started…

• If you’re paying nearly $4/gallon for gas, here is some food for thought!
• Sheldon Brown - everything you want to know about bikes online!
• Great tips on commuting from Paul Dorn
• www.commutebybike.com
• Map My Ride - check here to find a route

For a tune up, visit:

• Sunflower Bike Shop - Lawrence, KS
• CycleWorks - Lawrence, KS
• ACME Bicycle Company - Downtown Kansas City

Also, if you have some tips to share, drop a comment below! I’m always looking for new things to try on my way to the office.

In his words:

“The photographs culminate 40 years of my work in the topic of Chinese migration and the emergence of China in an unprecedented pace that shocked the world. I question the process and the cost of how these monumental and irreversible changes affect the faces of the ordinary common folk of this monstrous and diverse nation.”

If you’re interested in seeing more of his work, you can visit his website at www.pokchilau.com where you’ll find a nice gallery of his photographs and you can order his book Flow China as well as his first book Dreams of the Golden Mountain. Pok Chi’s images are fascinating, shocking, humorous, haunting and beautiful and his books are a great addition to any collection. As an added bonus, proceeds from the sales of his books will used for scholarships and charity!

Also on Sunday is KJHK’s Jazz in the Park event featuring the Chicago Afrobeat Project, The Yards, and RedLefty. I have a couple of good friends in The Yards and they’re an amazing band, so get out there and support some live music! The other bands are great too, so it’ll be a LOT of fun! It’ll be at Watson Park (the train park) staring at 1:00 p.m.

*sniff*

There is some pretty amazing work that has been done with Polaroids and a quick Flickr search will bring up a TON of great examples. Two artists I’ve been looking at lately are: Heather Powazek Champ and Mike Brodie (aka The Polaroid Kid). Of course, there are tons other great artists that I’ll link to in the future and I hope to post some great new Polaroids of my own here soon!

And, of course, a special thanks to Mona since she was the source of the camera. I promise it’ll be put to good use!