Distressed?

So apparently, grunge is in. What do you guys think? I've always been a fan, just never got around to experimenting with it. This is my first go at it. I'm going to start offering this type of look, especially for my seniors. Check out Jeff:

Flying Solo: T&R Single Parent Scholarships

Hi all, long time no update. Well, 10 days since my last post. That's not too bad. I've been out on vacation in Steamboat Springs, as well as my home town, Cañon City. However, I did work a few days to wrap up this logo and design work. It's for a new scholarship program within the University of Colorado; it's called Flying Solo: T&R Single Parent Scholarships. The work entailed a design of two logos, one for the Flying Solo Scholarship and one for the T&R Fund, a web site, an informational post card and poster, and lots of PDF conversions.

I love when a creative vision become a reality. I had a couple ideas for each logo and when I finally got them down on the screen, here's what they looked like:




For the Flying Solo logo, we wound up deciding on the design featured below. There is a lot of background to the logo such as the colors are those of the CU system and the bird is representative of the donors' name.


To create the final T&R Fund logo, I had my clients sign their first initials or rather draw how they envisioned the logo. I traced their handwriting in Illustrator and developed a very personal logo:


I'm really looking forward to some green grass and leaves as photography will be picking up. This is kind of a slow season for outdoor pictures, however the design never ends. The shoot with my assistant, Jesie, and her boyfriend was postponed until this Saturday. I can't wait for it! They're chemistry is going to be incredible and will make for beautiful images I'm sure. :) Stay tuned!

"One Day I'll Fly Away"

Ah.. the fun you can have with reflectors. :)Photo by Amon of Striking Images by Amon.

Calvin Says it Best

My absolute favorite comic is Calvin and Hobbes. (And actually, that's not how my cat, Calvin, was named. When he was a baby, he loved nothing more than playing with my balled up Calvin Klein socks.) Anywho, Calvin, of Calvin and Hobbes, is perhaps the wisest kid I know. He and I are on the SAME page regarding the creativity thing:

Captivated by the Light

Though I have no idea how we made it there in one piece, Jesie and I did attend this photography seminar last night, called Captivated by the Light with photographer, Ed Pierce. Three wrong turns, 11 miles of bumper-to-bumper traffic, and a visit from AAA later, we finally made it to the conference in Denver. And somehow we managed to be right on time and get decent seats! There were about 700 photographers there from Colorado. Talk about intimidating. 700 brilliant minds and 1400 creative eyes, not to mention 700 competitors.

We learned a ton of lighting tips and tricks, but honestly, the whole thing was pretty focused on selling us gadgets. We did, however, meet some great photographers from the Colorado Springs photography Meet Up group. My buddy, Ethan, who is a part of the Meet Up group and a past co-worker of mine, is an incredible photographer. He says he's just learning... whatever. Check out his Flickr. Ethan's going to be tagging along with Jesie and I at a few weddings this summer. He wants to witness wedding photography in action and is hoping to build his wedding and portrait portfolio.

I hope everyone is well. Often times, I tell you to go do something nice for yourself, but this time, do something nice for someone else. After a long, hectic week, it's easy to find yourself wanting to spoil yourself. I'm all about the random acts of kindness, so I encourage you to do something nice for someone else after their long, hectic week.

More wedding consultations this weekend and photo shoots this weekend. Actually, I'm shooting Jesie and her boyfriend on Sunday! Totally looking forward to capturing their chemistry. My vision includes some grungy alleys, grungy clothes, and lots of blue and black tones in the image.

Have an awesome weekend.

God Loves High Quality Photos

Just take a listen... It's just shy of two minutes. (And I apologize for some of my typing in the recording!)



I heard this in the middle of a 45-minute long Pod Cast from New Life Church's, theMILL. The sermon is by Glen Packiam. You know, I spend so much time on my computer working and listening to music that I'm starting to get sick of all 2,000 songs on my computer. So I decided to start listening to things that might actually teach me something. There are SO many kinds of Pod Casts out there. I had no idea!

This particular clip happens to touch upon something Jesie and I have been working at implementing into René Tate Graphic Design and Photography. We really want to "give everything to God" but couldn't QUITE put our fingers on what exactly that might entail. While we had a pretty good idea, this solidifies what we had been discussing.

Photoshop 101 & Wedding Consultation

Man, what a long day yesterday was! Up at 5:30 AM to get ready for day long Intro to Photoshop class I was teaching on behalf of Walsworth Publishing Company. The class was opened up to middle and high school teachers across Colorado Springs. We had a great time and I think everyone really learned a lot! I'm sure they were totally overloaded with information, but towards the end of class we had "play time" where the students implemented all that they learned. Below is some of their work. I was really pleased with how everyone was progressing in just a couple of hours!

We covered all sorts of stuff in 6 hours...

• making text look like it's on fire
• creating collages out of multiple photos
• layer masks - this was a huge learning. we used this is so many ways yesterday
• marquees
• cutting out subjects from a background using marquee tools, extract tool, etc.
  
• layer style properties
• text
  
• filters
• layers in general

It was very much a jam packed day. From the way everyone was talking, it sounds like a series of these Photoshop classes are in order. I'll keep ya posted... :)

The first image is Denise's, and the second is Debbie's.


After the Photoshop class, I hopped in my car, picked up Jesie, and we headed to Westminster, north of Denver, to meet with a potential bride, Stephanie, and her mother. We talked for a solid hour and had a great time! Stephanie and Kyle's wedding sounds so gorgeous. She's a woman after my own heart: a fall wedding AND brown and champagne bridesmaid dresses. (Brown is by far my favorite color. :) Kinda weird, I know.)

My church is in dire need of some photos for their website, so that's where I'm headed now. Will post some later.

Ciao!