A few interesting facts about Bristol. The Virginia / Tennessee border runs through town. You can walk State St. and criss-cross between the two.
It is an old town with character and there are several vintage signs that just beg to be photographed.
Bristol is the birthplace to country music. The Bristol Sessions were recorded by Ralph peer in 1927 on the Victor record label.
” All your life, you will be faced with a choice. You can choose love or hate… I choose love.”
Johnny Cash
If you go, definitely eat local. I ate at The Burger Bar. Some of the best parmesan fries and I’ve ever had. And the burger was awesome as well. And they didn’t mind letting this photographer take photos of the money on the walls of the restaurant. Great place to hang out.
I might have been dodging storms, but walking around Bristol made it a great day.
When I mention that one of the types of photography I enjoy producing is Lego photography, the reactions range from bemused to awesome. It’s a part of my hobby that has helped me in unexpected ways, so I thought I would expand on some of the reasons why.
How it started
In 2015 I wanted to improve my photography and participated in a monthly challenge. It was March, but our Christmas tree was still up (don’t ask). I was up late on night looking for a solution for the photo prompt and suddenly had an idea. After digging through some boxes, this was the result and my first Lego photo. I would love to say I jumped and kept at it then, but I’m stubborn.
Jump forward to 2022 and I took a photography class. I was going through some things personally and photography has always been a great outlet. We had been working in black and white, but had our first assignments to focus on color and I wanted something fun. Lego sounded colorful and fun. This time, there was something extra as well. Every time I worked with them, it made me laugh and I felt better. When I built, it gave my brain somewhere else to focus. It turns out, I’m not that unique.
Aside from the mental health reasons, Lego minifigures are 1.5 inches tall. I am constantly working to build my storytelling skills and increase my ability. I can take the minifigures anywhere and this allows me to be able to practice anywhere. My overall photography skills have improved simply because I’m constantly practicing.
I’m not sure why it surprised me that I still enjoy building and playing with Lego, but it did. However, I’m glad they found me when I needed them. If you’re in need of a pic-me-up or want to focus on a different kind of puzzle for a while, this is a type of play I can recommend.
Another school project completed in April 2023 was a redesign the cover from a classic novel. We were to create three unique covers focusing on aspects of the book using different design techniques. Additionally, we were to work to find deeper meanings within the book, rather than the traditionally popular themes.
One of my favorite books that was on our list was Les Misérables. After some additional research into the themes of the book, I found several that could be explored for covers. I especially liked Hugo’s use of birds to describe some characters and I wanted to include that motif.
Physical & Digital Sketches
My initial sketches were rough, but I had ideas about where I wanted to go with each one. Once I had sketched out some thoughts I moved on to playing with digital sketches. There were several iterations as I tweaked and refined each cover.
Final Designs
For this first cover, I found two quotes about Cossette by Hugo. In the first one, he describes her as a Lark. I found it interesting that a Lark can’t fully sing until it flies. Then, at another point, Hugo says, “Cosette was not very timid by nature. There flowed in her veins some of the bohemian and the adventuress who runs barefoot. It will be remembered that she was more of a lark than a dove. There was a foundation of wildness and bravery in her.” I used elements from my garden to create the border as well as the bird. I took macro shots of some of the flowers then used them as background for the letters of the font of the title and the author’s name.
This cover is more traditional and reflects the soldiers at the barricade. They have a vision; a reason they feel they need to go to battle. I needed to create the barricade for this cover and used Photoshop to build it then layered it with the scene behind it. Then I created the double exposure using layer masks.
For my typographic cover, I wanted to represent the theme of transformational change that permeates the book, particularly that of Jean Val Jean’s. He begins as a prisoner, a thief, believing that is all he will ever be. He is one of the, “Les Misérables.” Mercy and Love lead to change and hope. In my initial efforts for this cover, I felt my message was getting lost. So, I changed directions completely. I feel the collage captured my intent much more completely.
This project really helped me stretch. I appreciated the critiques I received. They were insightful and helped me improve my designs in my efforts to capture the themes related Les Misérables.
“Coming Home” received an Honorable mention in the Monochrome division of the same show.
A Photo taken inside historic Goolrick’s Pharmacy and Soda Fountain showing a neon sign, “No Public Restroom”. The photo of this iconic building was taken prior to the start of the current renovations.
In one of my classes, we were given the task to create a promotional print poster for a typeface for fonts.com. I was assigned Akko Rounded. Akira Kobayashi wanted to design a font that exhibited a “fun, friendly” nature. I wanted to highlight that feeling and the curves of the style of the font in my poster.
Beginning Ideas
As I first started working on ideas, I played with several different ways information could be placed on the poster. I needed to have the name of the font, the designer, cost to purchase it, where to purchase it, the font, and historical background. Focusing on negative space, alignment and overlapping seemed to work the best for as I tried to visualize this. The longer I worked with Akko Rounded the more I felt like I was moving towards designing a poster from the Eighties. So, why not take it that direction as much as possible?
Final Version
I chose a neon pallet for the poster and created a neon effect on the name, “Akko Rounded”. I wanted the rings to feel like they were flashing in the background. I gave the information about where to buy it and the amount the next level in the hierarchy, with its color and placement. The sizes and other details are next in the grid surrounding that information. Then, I placed all of that on the diagonal instead of keeping it vertical to give it visual interest. This is what allowed me to add movement to the circles in the corners. I also used the circles to create some asymmetrical balance by having one be the font weights.
I enjoyed working on this project and with Akko Rounded. It is, as described, a fun and friendly typeface.
For this project I was to select one everyday easily recognizable object and combine it in ways that illustrated the Seven Creative Strategies:
Combination
Juxtaposition
Isolation
Metaphor or Simile
Out of Context or Environment
Physical Shape Similarity
Material Change or Swap
. The first stop in my process was to determine what object I was going to use.
One of the requirements was the each final piece would have to have a title. As I worked through choosing an object for each of the strategies, if I couldn’t think of a title, I discarded the idea and moved on to another. This allowed me to work through and determine which one felt like the ultimate best match for me, DONUTS! I didn’t anticipate the consequences that would arise from this decision.
The Results
Once I had my object I set about finding images available free for commercial use. This time I used pexals.com and set about to work.
Combination – Two unrelated objects combined into something new
“Time for Donuts”
Juxtaposition – The combination of to unexpected objects
“All Roads Lead to Donuts”
Isolation – One element is given focus by visually isolating it from other elements in the design
“Donut get Eggcited” – Credit to my brother for the Title.
Metaphor / Simile – Elements are combined within the design to emphasize meaning
“Kickin the Habit”
Out of Context – Takes and object out of usual context or environment
“Sugar Fix”
Physical Shape or Similarity – Replaces an object with something the same shape. Typically emphasizes elements that don’t connect.
“Sweet Tunes”
Material Change, Swap or Focus – Swaps a property from one object or material to another
“A Donut by Any Other Name”
I enjoyed this project, however, I didn’t realize that I would crave donuts EVEN MORE than I usually do. Hindsight is 20/20!
