For the second year in a row my photographs have placed as finalist in Photographer’s Forum Best of College Photography Contest. Even though I did not place, I am very happy to be published again at least. It is still a great way for others to see some of my work.
Above are both entries that have been published. Hopefully there are many more opportunities to come.
Photographing vehicles at car shows can be tricky. People can be in the way, the car can show reflections you aren’t expecting, the lighting where the vehicle is parked may not be the best. These are all things that should be taken into consideration when just shooting for fun or taking a professional car photo. The best kind of light for photographing a car is horizontal light, mainly from a sunset or sunrise. The worst lighting is at noon, where there will be many harsh shadows and no even lighting on the vehicle.
To get more dramatic images, it is best to shoot at a low angle, to make the car look as if it is towering in the photo. Many people feel this approach is over-used, because it mainly just shows a large front wheel and then the rest of the car behind it. There can be other angles to photograph a car from but a low angle always helps to make the car dramatic. Tips to remember:
• Low Angle
• Shoot sunrise/sunset, not mid day, reduces shadows. Lots of light.
• Check backgrounds, for telephone poles or trees sticking out of the top of the car awkwardly
• Find the details of the car to get more intricate photos
• Overcast skies will make for good lighting still, acting like a giant softbox
Opened in 1876 Greystone Psychiatric Park was the largest continuous foundation in the United States from when it was built until the Pentagon was built. It’s design was from the specifications of the Kirkbride Plan. This was a floor plan that included a main building with 3 wings radiating from it, set back from the previous one so patients could see the outside surroundings. This building helped many including possibly the most famous; Woody Guthrie.
Like Eastern State Penitentiary, Greystone has great Victorian architecture, that is no longer appreciated as much in this time period. All the architectural details that went into it makes this a great historic landmark to photograph.
Since it is no longer in use, it was expected to be demolished by the state in 2008. But thankfully it is still up and standing thanks to organizations like Save Greystone who are attempting to get Greystone registered as an official historic site. If Greystone wasn’t still standing it wouldn’t have been able to be used in the filming of a “House M.D.” episode.
Where he specifically was admitted to a psychiatric hospital called Mayfield.
Since Greystone was originally on 743 acres when it was first purchased in 1871. All of this land was great for the patients to enjoy, but was later sold to Morris County after Greystone closed to create a county park.
I certainly hope that Greystone becomes officially registered as a historic site because it holds so much value and history. They just don’t make architecture like that anymore, simply beautiful. Please visit/photograph while you still can….
Recently I have been taking a liking to underground caverns and mines. So I took a trip to Sterling Mine (of Lord Stirling) in Ogdensberg, NJ. This mine was originally worked as an iron ore mine. However in the late 80’s the cost of iron ore went too low to have the mine still be cost effective to operate. Thus a few years later the mine reopened for tours, visited by 35,000 people yearly.
There are many different tunnels creating the sterling mine, one of the more famous ones is the Edison Tunnel. Mr. Edison was involved in the design and construction of the mine from 1890 to 1900. Unfortunately during my trip it had recently rained and when that happens we were told, the Edison Tunnel floods. I was disappointed that the Edison was one of the main features I expected to see while there and wasn’t able to. However, I will say the Rainbow Room was much worth the disappointment of no Edison. My only hope was to have had more time to photograph the fluorescent zinc ore that glows like neon paint under black light. I was happy to take my piece of iron ore that everyone else on the tour is offered.
Right down the road from this mine is a related museum, the Franklin Mineral Museum. Since it was so close we happened to find it on the way home. It was a nice extra stop, but certainly not worth it to just drive there and look at rocks. The most enjoyable part was, the Fluorescence room. Many of the rocks found at the mine were brought to this museum and displayed behind glass, once all white light is turned off and black light turned on. The rocks looked as though they were painted with neon splatter. It also had a replica mine to walk through, which had multiple levels. If you are in the area I do suggest stopping at this museum, since it is definitely a good addition to seeing the actual mine.
This isn’t the most amazing mine there probably is to visit. But since it was so local I found it to be just right for a day trip. Hopefully the next time I visit a mine, we will be allowed to go deeper into the mine, to experience it even more. The mine elevator was not working and who knows when it last did, so perhaps it is best that the tours did not continue past the ground (entry) level. But I hope to find a mine that does still work that I could visit.
If you’ve been to this mine or have suggestions for other active mines that gives tours please comment below.
I am always in the market for new models and I am thrilled with Kvita. It was my first photoshoot using a specific prop along with the model, fellow photographer Andrew Yaniuk’s 2004 Jeep Wrangler. Since his Jeep has many upgrades I felt it was a great vehicle to have a pretty girl to model with.
Some fill light and reflectors helped to achieve some of the more dramatic lighting. It is really important if you are using a vehicle as a prop to then put it in the right setting. To me a Jeep of course belongs in an offroad environment, as a sports car would be best suited on a winding ocean front road. This goes for all types of cars, being a sports car or other offroad vehicles. It is best for a photograph when the cars are in scenery that they are known for. The same goes for a muddy Jeep, in the forest, for its “natural habitat.” These photos can be seen as the woman is modeling the Jeep or the main focus is the woman and the Jeep is more of a prop. Whichever you see it as, it’s always good to practice as much as you can with subjects you enjoy.
There’s no need to have lots of expensive equipment to take impressive photos of your vehicle. Maximize natural sunlight; if you have unwanted shadows, the use of a reflector to bounce the light in the right place will certainly help. A camera and reflector are the bare minimum supplies you will need to make your vehicle look like a showroom quality car.
Ronald Cala II’s talk at the Thinking Creatively conference was happily my second lecture of his that I have attended. Both times I have certainly found it to be completely worth my time. I was looking forward to it during the whole conference and was not let down at all.
Ronald’s lecture topic wasn’t just about showing off his work, unlike other speakers who feel this is only a forum for them to show of their work and talk and not enlighten. Ronald held my interest the entire lecture because he combined his work with the great topic of collaboration. That is the main way that he creates his work, with the exception of some very early work all projects he showed were collaborations with different artists for each project. I love knowing that by working together has added to his designs.
He spoke about how the best way to collaborate- have someone else do what you lack in. That gives you the best of both worlds, having your own design style and what it is you can improve on in your work. It is also the best way to network by making connections. If I ever get the opportunity I would love to collaborate with Ronald Cala. Overall his lecture was definitely a great experience, I love everything he has said to inspire us. If you have the opportunity to see a Ronald Cala II lecture, please do because you will not regret it and come away with a great outlook.
My first time at a Jessica Hische lecture was at the Thinking Creatively Design Conference and it was amazing. I went to the lecture already knowing some of her work and being interested in her typography. Yet I didn’t know I would come away with even more respect for her work and a hint of jealousy (wishing I was more naturally type capable.)
Jessica showed a lot of her portfolio and beyond. Since her work/style is something that I was very interested in I didn’t mind that she only spoke of her work. Which is something that I’m not usually thrilled about because I can read and look at those type of items on their websites. However with Jessica actually there to explain her work more it was much more enjoyable than I expected. Her specialty is hand lettering and illustration, which she showed us many samples of.
Unlike many designers who are very busy and don’t truly have all that much time to talk to fans or students. Jessica was different she stayed after her lecture and spoke with everyone in the room who waited around. I felt a personal touch was a great thing her fans, (including me) appreciated. The designers that actually care about talking with their fans are looked higher upon in my book. If I get another chance to attend another Jessica Hische lecture, I will be the first one there. She had a great presentation and such interesting information about her work, if you can ,you should attend also.
For the 3rd year in a row I have attended the Thinking Creative Design Conference held at Kean University. Each year I have been more and more surprised by the interesting designers who have spoken there. At my very first conference I happily enjoyed a lecture from John Langdon, the creator behind the ambigrams of the Dan Brown books “Angels and Demons” and “The DaVinci Code.” Getting one on one lectures with these designers helps to understand where they came from and how they started to work their way up in design.
This year two of my personal favorite designers were speakers at the conference; Jessica Hische and Ronald Cala, II. It was great to see Ronald in-person again and very inspirational to finally meet Miss Hische. This Thinking Creatively really gave me my money’s worth since I admire these people personally. There were of course many designers that I did enjoy but probably would not have attended the conference just for. There were two added sessions besides just designer lectures; a charrette and a portfolio review. Neither had been done before at Thinking Creatively, so I’m glad they are trying to do more than just lectures.
There are many great things about Thinking Creatively, especially how close it is to my location. However I still had my gripes about the way certain parts of it were run.
Unfortunately timing of the lectures was always an issue, since after the first one or two lectures of the morning. Having lectures run too long causing people to of course miss the beginning of the next lecture. Or people will have to leave the lecture early to get to the next one in time. I also felt that not keeping the speakers on a schedule leads to missed opportunities.
Specifically on the first day, the last lecture of the day, the keynote speaker of the first day was a Disney Imagineer. He didn’t start his speech on time, which also lead to him running over the allotted time. Unfortunately causing me to miss an entire hour more of his speech, because I had scheduled a prior engagement after reviewing the listed end time in the program. I feel as though if everything had run smoothly and on time I would have certainly left that first day much happier with the way the day ended. Needless to say I was very disappointed at the fact that I had to miss one of the most important lectures (that I was enjoying) because of their scheduling issues.
Lesson learned if attending Thinking Creatively, don’t expect it to be on schedule. I found that to be the biggest downfall of the conference.
Aside from the horrible timing this year, the Thinking Creatively conference is a great local (non NYC) design conference that definitely is running a long side with the other larger design conferences, such as How and AIGA and great competition in price. Be sure to check out the designers speaking there April 2011.
There are so many things to say about illustrator Ronald J. Cala II. He is a very talented designer/illustrator with a mind that creatively thinks in positive and negative. He has personally helped me with great creative suggestions to improve my projects when I was a student.
I appreciate designers even more when they care enough to take time out of their schedules to help other designers, especially those who may not be at the same level as those designers. I saw his lecture at the Thinking Creatively design conference back in April and he was just as friendly and personable as he had been in-person when he spoke at a graphic design class that I was in at Kean University a few years ago. If you want to meet a genuinely friendly illustrator Mr. Cala is certainly it.
I feel as though these qualities help to make Ronald even more personable of a designer, someone who cares about his fans/others that he inspires. His interview is the first in what I hope to be a series of graphic interviews. So enjoy this little glimpse into the mind of successful illustrator Ronald J. Cala II.
What is design?
I think the better question is what does a designer do. A designer is a problem solver, their job is to organize complicated information and relay it in a way that makes sense. A designer may not be the one that creates the illustration or writes the text, they are the one who organizes those elements so that the reader/viewer can understand quickly and easily the information being presented.
What inspired you to become an illustrator?
I actually never really tried to become an illustrator; it kind of just fell in my lap. To this day I have never taken an illustration class, though I have taught a couple. I started as a graphic designer and I only illustrated for my own poster designs. In an attempt to get added exposure for my posters, I began to enter the ones that did not have typography into illustration competitions. They did better then I had expected and I began to get work into as many illustration shows as I was getting into the design shows. One day I came home and there was a message on my machine from the New York Times asking if I could make an illustration for them. I of course said yes and that was the first time I ever really considered doing it as a career. However, I did always want to do illustrations for the New York Times Op-Ed page, so I guess in a way the New York Times inspired me. The New York Times Op-Ed Page is still my favorite jobs to get.
What is your process in creating the images you use to make your illustrations?
I have many different illustration styles and many different processes for making illustrations. The only thing that remains consistent with them all is that my images begin and end on the computer. I never touch pen to paper. Most everything I create I use Adobe Photoshop and I only use the most basic tools. I do not do anything more then you would learn in an intro to Photoshop class.
Who are the other designers/artists that have inspired/influenced you?
What is it about their work that makes it so enjoyable? The people that have influenced me in some way are far to many to list. Everyone and everything in my life inspires me. That being said, there are three people who I model my work after the most. As a designer/illustrator I try to conceptualize my ideas most like Christoph Niemann. I think Christoph is one of the smartest guys around and I just love his humor and quick wit. His work makes you smile and who doesn’t like to make people smile! The article Christoph Niemann wrote for the 2003 New Visual Artist issue of Print magazine has served as my guide to the illustration world for many years.
My imagery is most inspired by the illustration style of the late Shigeo Fukuda. When I first saw the work of Fukuda I was floored. It was so simple yet so smart, so graphic yet somehow complicated. It had the magic of M.C. Escher but the simplicity of logo design. His work makes you stop and look twice. I wanted that power, the power to make a person stop what they are doing and think about my work.
Lastly and most importantly my typography and overall design sense is most inspired by Joe Scorsone’s, the man that taught me everything I know about typography and design. So many illustrators can make a beautiful image with little to no effort but cannot add a beautiful line of type to save their lives. Joe taught me that you can do it all, and should.
Let me be very clear, I do not think I am anywhere close to on par with these three men. If in the end I turn out to be half as good as any of them I will consider myself lucky and successful.
How did you create your style of using negative space to create an image within an image?
I start with two silhouettes that normally come from a silhouette source book. I try to find an image that looks like the negative space of the other image. I cover the negative space of the first one and then invert and place the second image on top. I then just add layers in Photoshop and keep adding and subtracting white and black with the paintbrush tool. The goal is to do that until the viewer cannot tell where the negative space of the one image ends and the positive space of the other begins. All of my images start as a pure black and white image (no shades of grey) color is only added after the image is complete and works in just black and white. That makes it easier to completely focus on the positive negative balance. I think of them in a very similar way the way I do logo design.
If you had to have a job other than an illustrator what would it be?
If I couldn’t be an illustrator I would be the art Director/creative director at a design publication. But I am that too, and thankfully I do not have to choose. I am currently the art director of CMYK magazine and I love it. I also enjoy teaching and I think in the future I will settle into a full time teaching position at a well-respected design school. Right now I am just enjoying the ride. I do what I love, if I wanted any other job then the ones I currently have, I would quit and go get that job. Life is too short not to love what you do.
What advice can you give to students about choosing the right piece to enter into a contest?
When entering contest and trying to boost your resume, I think you can approach it one of two ways. First you can pick a few contests, maybe you pick because the fees are cheap or maybe it’s because that is the magazine you most want to be published in, it really depends. Whatever the reason, pick three to five publications/contest and send everything you have to them. The sheer number of entries you are bound to get a few things through. The second option is to take your best 2-3 pieces and enter just those pieces into every contest you can find. Both work, but personally I lean towards the second method myself. As for what 2-3 pieces to choose to enter you want to pick the work that you want representing yourself. Most of the people will only see the work that gets published so if the design that wins a bunch of awards is done in a style that you only did once and don’t enjoy doing very much, don’t enter that or you will be stuck doing that process over and over again for the rest of your career.
What do you find to be the hardest part of being a designer?
I do not really find it difficult to be a designer. I would say the hardest part is walking away from my work and having a life outside of the world of graphic design and illustration. I think the great part about design is each new job brings with it its own difficulties, limitations and restrictions. The key is to turn them around and make them as advantages. For example, Don’t think of it as “they wont let me use color and if I could use color it would be really great”; instead think of it as “now I don’t have to worry about color and what approach can I take that looks better in black and white then color regardless of restrictions. working for free. Some of the best designs are donated or used to promote a theme or idea not just a client.
In what ways do you promote yourself? What do you feel is the best way for others to make themselves known in this manner? Personal website, social networking sites, etc.?
I think each person has to promote him or herself the way they see fit. There are many different approaches and none are right or wrong. I do definitely suggest having a website with all your work and information so you can just send someone a link and they can get everything they need in one place. I think facebook is a great place to show off your work. It gives you access to so many people at once and is a very non aggressive approach to getting your work seen. Personally my main promotion comes in the form of awards and publications but I would suggest you try everything and see what feels right for you.
What are your favorite/most used typefaces for your work, which you would recommend to other designers?
When in doubt I will almost always go with a classic typeface. I think how you use it is more important that what typeface you use. Here are some of the Typefaces I commonly use.
San Serif : Gil Sans, Futura, Helvetica Neue, Block Berthold and
Serif: ITC Garamond, Clarendon, New Century Schoolbook, Adobe Caslon Pro and Bembo
Script: Dalliance, Shelly, Buttermilk, House Script and Edwardian Script
Slab Serif: Neutraface Slab, Rosewood and Rockwell
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So through out my findings on the internet, I came across this great stop motion video by Deadline. While watching I just like to wonder how many Post-It notes they used to create the video and even more how long it took to set up each scene correctly. I just wanted to share it with everyone since I thought it was a great creative video.