9-22-2010
Classes started exactly one month ago and since then I haven't had a moment to breathe. Outdoor excursions, concerts, and wedding shoots have sent me out of town literally every weekend since the semester started and it doesn't look like that will change any time soon. During the week (in addition to editing photos from the weekends) I have been busy designing for some pretty fun projects. These include a re-design of the entire sign system for the OKC Zoo and a logo re-design for a company with the longest, most complex acronym in the medical business, AMSPDC (The Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs). Our entire class has been working very closely with Dr. Terrence Stull of the Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in the development of the logo. He has given us a tour of the center and made weekly visits to our class to be a part of the design process. This has been helpful in emerging us in the professional field and has given us a great opportunity to work with a real client. I am posting near-finished products and production sketches but I will have the final versions up by the end of the semester. In addition to working on school projects, Nick, Dewey and I have been given a great opportunity to display photographs from our trip to the Mayan ruins. We have been given gallery space in the Lightwell Art Gallery from October 11th through October 22nd and have been hard at work organizing everything that goes into this. Budgeting, purchasing supplies, printing, mounting and advertising have been a lot of work, but learning what goes in to something like this has been a very valuable experience. Once again, I want to give a big thanks to the director of the School of Art, Dr. Mary Jo Watson. She has been awesome in supporting us and helping out through all of this. The public reception for the event is scheduled for Friday, October 15th from 6:00pm-8:00pm and we would love to see anyone and everyone there. Finally, I was asked to design a poster for a university climbing competition (slated for late October) and had a bit of fun shooting my roommate on the wall. It was pretty comical watching him exaggerate simple moves for dramatic effect, but anything goes to make something look professional.
The future looks pretty exciting. I hope to be contributing to Backpacker Magazine soon and have been placed on their monthly call list. Also, this weekend I am making a trip to Horseshoe Canyon Ranch for the 24 hours of Horseshoe Hell climbing competition. I will be shooting for Pagoda climbing, and upon my return will be writing an article for the OU Daily. I also have a few engagement photo shoots lined up to round off the weekend. This weekend will mean a lot more work for next week, and although life has been pretty crazy I have been able to stay sane because I am discovering more and more that this is what I love to do. I love the work I am doing, the people I am working/in school with, and the pacing of this lifestyle. I am excited with where photography is taking me and am eager to continue to explore what photography and design have to offer in the future.
