I consider myself a fairly conscientious consumer (but I recognize I am still a consumer, after all). I am passionate specifically about food politics, and how our food systems affect our own health, environment, and the well-being of people across the globe. I buy locally, eat ethically produced food products, and make a conscious effort to reduce my impact on the world around me. I buy used items at thrift stores. I minimize my use of “disposable” items by drinking coffee from my own mug, water from a reusable bottle, etc. That being said, I recognize that a big part of my job as a commercial graphic designer is to fuel the consumer economy. I design ads to sell client products and services. I design magazines and newspapers and websites that exist because of advertising revenue. I design logos and brandmarks that help to establish a brand identity for companies
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Today we successfully launched the new website for Up Close Community Publications in Mesa, Ariz. The site, fully constructed using Joomla and custom coding, provides a wide array of functionality essential to a publication website. Readers can access article content, download PDF versions of the publications, contact the publisher, view a local events calendar, and much more. Very excited to have this site up and running! www.UpCloseAZ.com
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Winter is great climbing in the borderlands deserts! My favorite spot in winter: Cochise Stronghold, AZ. Quiet, beautiful, and unique climbing. Trad, sport, cragging and multi-pitch. Last month we took our friends from Montana out for a weekend in the AZ desert. Here is some eye-candy from that trip:
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A designer friend of mine recently wrote to ask me what process was responsible for creating a certain “look” of an image she found on Flickr. I recognized it as a combination of HDR (high dynamic range) photomerge, and some other Photoshop filters and tricks. While I personally think the HDR craze is a little overdone, I’ll address the technique here. Traditionally, an HDR image is created by merging 3 or more photos together that were taken at different exposures. By doing this, you maximize the details in all elements of the photo; underexposure to grab sky/highlight detail, correct exposure for midtone detail, and overexposure for increased shadow detail. However, taking three identical shots is not always possible, especially when your subject is moving. With Photoshop Camera Raw and a few other tricks, it is possible to imitate the HDR effect with a single photograph.
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Female climbers are awesome and inspiring. Climbing is one of those sports which, in theory, is entirely egalitarian. Different body types lend themselves to different climbing styles, and women can just as easily send a 5.13 as men. Granted, perhaps the style of 5.13 may be different, but it is a fact that some of the best climbers in the world are women. Lynn Hill, Katie Brown, Steph Davis… just to name a few. As a climbing photographer, and a female climber, it has been my personal mission as of late to take more photos of women climbing hard. Despite the 10:1 male to female ratio in the climbing community, I’ve been able to shoot some photos of some very inspiring ladies. Below are a few from my recent trip to Indian Creek, Utah.
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