What Happened One Day When I Took My Camera to Work...

So a couple months ago, it was kind of discovered around my department at work that I dabble in photography.  And  since then, it has been part of my job responsibilities to take and or update the staff photos for new employees for our website.  For the most part, I just used our cheap Kodak point and shoot with it's built in flash.  That is, until it unexpectedly met it's end at the hands of a hard concrete convention floor and the stampeding feet of a few over-eager job seekers.  Suffice to say, the next time we needed staff pictures, I brought my own camera :-D.

I used my trusty Nikon D90 and an SB-600 flash without a diffuser (not that I didn't want one, I just forgot to pack it).  I ended up using a simple flash bouncing technique (discovered by some random tutorial ... YAYS for Youtube!) off a close wall to diffuse some of the light.



As far as the shots are concerned, lets just say I got a few less complaints than when I used the old Kodak :-D.



You can see more HERE on Flickr.



Thanks for reading.

Hitting the Big Screen

COMING TO A THEATER NEAR YOU! (or more accurately the Harkins Movie Theater in Chino Hills)  Century 21 and Mountain West Financial proudly present:  

YOUR REAL ESTATE ANGELS!!!

So, if you ever go see a movie in the Harkins Theater in Chino Hills, come early and don't blink (cause it's only on for about a minute before the previews at each movie showing for the rest of the month :-D) ... or you might miss YOUR REAL ESTATE ANGELS!!!!

Thanks for reading. :)

Different but Equal

For the few of you who read this blog regularly (HI MOM!), a running theme with the work I produce at work is trying to find different ways to say or sell what's essentially the same thing.  It's basically what I do day in and out, but in the end, I'm still surprised by how different the same thing can feel when it's dressed in a different way.

Thanks for reading!...

The Things I Get Away With... part 2

If you haven't noticed, I have a very cheesy aesthetic sense.  I go for the big smiles, bright colors, sun bursts and cartoon sensibilities.  Which is why from time to time, I'm still baffled that it's my job to do this stuff.  Especially considering some of the crap ideas I come up with.  But every once in a while, I create something that (by some miracle) the boss's like enough to show other people.  Other people outside the company even! ;)  Case in point, this print ad they had me do for National Mortgage Professional Magazine (and the pressure was on once I learned how much they were paying for this).  


The magazine campaign included a full page ad, a cover page blurb, and an animated gif for their website.

9.75" x 13.5" Page Ad

Being the summer, and with all the superhero movies coming out, I decided to make a little mortgage parody.  The headline is a nod to the Avengers, which came out the week I created the Ad.

5" x 1.875" Front Cover Blurb

This would cover a small area on the bottom left of the cover.  ("LO" stands for "Loan Officer")

300px x 250px Animated Gif

Made for the National Mortgage Professional Magazines Homepage as one of the rotating ads.  I'm not too experienced making animated gifs, and it's tough trying to fit in movement when you only have 50 kb's to work with.


Thanks for reading!

Patriot Graphics

Happy Independence Day everyone!  In the spirit of bbq, baseball, apple pie, fireworks, social security, inappropriate Facebook statuses and everything that makes America as kick ass as it is today, here are a couple of patriot related graphics I've made for work.

Holiday Themed Logo Tag for e-mail signatures

Flyer for VA loans

VA variant flyer

Quick note on the flyer formats.  We're moving towards an automated system for personalizing flyers for brokers, so the bottom 3 inches are left blank for their contact info.  It's made designing them a bit more dicey, but I try my best to keep it cohesive .

Thanks for reading! :)

Flashing Pretty Girls ;)

A couple weeks ago, my friend and old photo instructor, Peter, asked me to assist him in a workshop he was doing for small flash photography.  I took a bunch of random behind the scenes type shots (some for me, but mostly for his blog) and here are a few random ones I've had the time to process.  I'll probably be posting more later (I shot a lot and have been a little lazy sifting through them).

Peter setting up a shot

Unsuccessfully sneaking up on Lindsey

Artificial Wind? Check.

Caitlin checks out the results

Someone cracks a joke

A break between shots

Thanks for reading!

Killing Time with Photo-Retouching!

Every so often things get slow at work, and I'm left to my own devices to try to pass the day.  Most of the time I'm on reddit, mining basketball news, or stuck in a wikipedia loop.  But lately,  I've been having fun pulling random photos (from flickr, or the random employee shots for our online directory at work) and messing with them in Photoshop.  It's surprisingly addictive, seeing how much you can tweak a photo without making someone look like a mutant :-D.   

*Disclaimer: All photos belong to those people's who's flickrs I took them off of and the last 2 specifically belong to Mountain West Financial, Inc.

This was shot by my friend from class, Anita Malony. 
Visit her Flickr HERE

This shot belongs to Phoenix Photography (whoever he/she is)

This is a shot from work that a broker gave me for her business card.

Another broker for her business card.

On a quick side note:  I intend to start updating this blog on a more regular basis, (specifically, every 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month).  So for those of you who look for updates (SHOUT OUTS TO MOM!), there you go.

As always, Thanks for reading!