Website Mockup

Portfolio Description

Page 1: My logo.

Pages 2-3: A panorama taken from the shore of Whitefish Lake State Park this past winter.

Page 4:  A collection of three images I captured for Whitefish Mountain Resort marketing department in an effort to bring exposure to the bike park. Many of these images went on to be used in various capacities such as social media.

Page 5: One such capacity was for an article published in Decline Magazine. One of my all-time favorite magazines, it was a great honor to have my photo published.

Pages 6-7: Here I provide mockups of some of the video projects I did for Whitefish Mountain Resort’s marketing department to promote the bike park.

Pages 8-9: Here are more mockups, this time of video projects I worked on as the Snow Reporter for Whitefish Mountain Resort.

Page 10-11: As the Snow Reporter for Whitefish Mountain Resort it was my responsibility to capture and edit images for requests set out by the marketing department. For the most part the requests were left open to artistic interpretation. I was able to get creative and have a lot of fun with these.

Page 12-13: I got this panorama last fall at the shore of St. Mary Lake in Glacier National Park. The park was closed for the season and the wind off the lake was way colder than I expected, but the colors in the sky were spectacular. I was able to bring out the details and textures in the sky in Lightroom.

Page 14-15: In a recent class project I helped create a branding package for an imaginary outdoor outfitters retailer. As a member of our two person group, I enjoyed bouncing ideas back and forth to arrive at our designs including the logos, fonts, color palette, social icons, and patterns. Mockups are included.

Page 16-17: I got this panorama of the Grand Hyatt in Poipu, Kauai while back home visiting over the holidays this past winter. I had actually stayed up all night editing photos and, at daybreak, grabbed my camera and headed to these cliffs along the shore.

Page 18-19: We got a considerable amount of snow last december before the resort had opened up, so a few buddies and I decided to brave subzero temps and terrible windchill to ski Werner Peak. Its excursions like these, where I want to leave the camera behind just go play, that I’m always glad I brought it.

Page 20-21: While home for winter break I got a contract to photograph a few construction projects on Oahu for Unlimited Construction. One of the highlights was getting to climb up 300 ft in a crane to get shots of the project.

Page 22-23: My good friend Kyle Warner joined on my most recent trip to Kauai. He is a professional mountain bike racer and we took some time to get some shots so he could call the trip a tax writeoff.

Page 24-25: More shots of Kyle. These were taken at Waimea Canyon on the west side of Kauai.

Page 26-27: Real estate photography was some of the first work I was ever contracted to do and I have learned a lot since I started. One of the most important factors is capturing the light at the right time of day and I think these photos do well to illustrate that point.

Page 28-29: Here are some more real estate shots.

Page 30: On my trip to Oahu for Unlimited Construction, I got the opportunity to photograph some really nice cars. This is a 1967 Lamborghini 400 GT, my favorite.

Blurb Book: Part 2

Today has been a good day, mostly because I’ve been able to clear my mind and schedule of other projects and distractions. I had a Digital Illustration II project due this morning which came right down to the wire. The presentation went well and it is actually something I plan on adding to my Blurb book now.

After my presentation I had time to take further inventory of what is still left to complete with the Blurb Book. Today I finalized a rough outline of where I want what to go and got more mockups. I was also able to track down a high resolution file the Decline Magazine spread featuring my photo, not easy since the publication has since closed its doors.

Tomorrow, instead of class, I will be working on finalizing my content selection, checking format for compatibility, and begin putting everything together. I still have some content that I created during my time as a snow reporter, some photography and video screenshots, that I need to acquire from WMRs marketing department.

Beyond that it should just be dragging and dropping content into place. I expect to find some quality or format issues that I may have missed, and maybe a deficiency of content here and there, but I expect to resolve these issues with relative ease. At least I hope so.

Blurb Book: Part 1

So Adobe Indesign is interesting and by interesting I mean difficult. Step one is going to be watch a few Youtube videos in an attempt to wrap my head around it. I also need to take a more detailed inventory on which pieces of work I want to include and which to leave out.

I expect the most challenging part for me will be the organization of my content. The options to arrange and display my work within Blurb Book are vast. I’ve found that I tend to get overwhelmed by the scale of these projects so my goal is to break it down into smaller categories before breaking it down to the individual pages.

40 Day Summary

My goal for my “40 Days of Blog Posts” fell short of the 40 day mark. But I wouldn’t call the exercise a failure. I’ve written more these last 40 days than I have in a long time. I’m getting closer to understanding the “resistance” that I face and, as I get closer to understanding it, I also get closer to defeating it. I’ve learned a little bit more about myself, what I want to do, and how I can use that knowledge to define my brand.

In many ways I grew and became more determined, more accountable to myself. In many ways I didn’t grow, in many ways I fell short of my goal. I was defeated by resistance a number of times. A few times I de-prioritized my long term success in favor of short term pleasure. In my defense, the skiing has been incredible and I’m not too sure how much longer conditions like these will be possible. But that's just an excuse, I could have done more.

Although I feel short of the 40 day mark by no small amount, I am proud of what I did put out. Most of it, at least. I’m definitely getting more comfortable with writing. I’m finding my voice, which is one of the things I set out to do. I know how to move forward from here - I’m going to keep making posts. I don’t think I’ll impose the pressure of posting daily on myself, but maybe I can post 3 or 4 times a week. If I can continue to write, my writing can only improve.

Luck

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity” - Seneca

I’ve been learning how much preparation is required to get a truly outstanding landscape shot. There’s a level of time and effort that I never understood before, but now I see it in every shot that captures my eye in a gallery. Sure, sometimes you can just get lucky. But far more often I see the research involved; finding the best angle, the right light, tracking sunset and sunrise times, weather conditions, proper camera settings, the list goes on.

This particular shot is one I’ve been thinking about for a long time and the other day everything came together. As soon as I arrived at the location, Whitefish Lake State Park, I knew I had come at the right time. The way the light was interacting with the clouds on Big Mountain made me pause. As I set my tripod and took a few shots to dial in the settings, I heard the sound of a train rolling into frame. I snapped the first shot in a series I would later merge into the panorama and I knew it would be an outstanding landscape shot.

The Quiet Majority: Part 1

“I write to understand as much as to be understood” - Elie Wiesel

Occasionally I’m baffled by my own world view and far more often baffle others with it. I’m writing this in hopes of clarifying to myself, and maybe to others who, for some reason, care where I stand on issues.

Currently, there's an awful lot of noise being made in and about our society and politics. The loudest voices come from the extremes on either side; the progressive left and the alt-right. I want to believe the overwhelming majority of individuals fall somewhere in the middle with moderate, rational ideals. The media would lead us to believe that we are on the brink of civil war, but I still have a strong faith in the freethinkers of our society. I am worried, however, that moderate individuals may be compelled by an emotional response to arguments on either side to join a team. I think it is the responsibility of myself and other rational individuals to speak up and reclaim the dialogue that is currently a tug-of-war between extremists on both sides.

The most glaring example I can think of at the moment is the topic of Muslim immigration. The rhetoric of the far right would have you to believe that all Muslim immigrants pose a threat and that the most prudent course of action is a nation wide Muslim ban. The far left narrative dismisses this argument calling any concerns about welcoming large numbers of immigrants into the US as racist and bigoted. The immensity of middle ground in this argument, like most arguments, is staggering.

The only way to effectively examine this issue is no different than the vast majority of the matters we face today; with logic and objective evidence devoid of emotional bias. As an individual I am empathetic to the struggle of my fellow human beings, and there is certainly no lack of hardship for the sweeping majority of my fellow human beings amid the conflict in the middle east. And I am not blind to the fact that considerable credit for this conflict falls at the feet of the United States’s policy of foreign intervention. No rational person can deny that this foreign policy has left blood on our hands. We have helped create a mess and it is our responsibility to help clean it up.

The controversy lies in the incompatibility with a conservative Islam ideology and liberal western society. The fact is that acts of jihad are exclusively committed by followers of Islam and that a frightening percent of the Muslim world would be happy to see sharia law implemented as the law of the land (source). I am not saying in any way that most Muslims want nothing more than to peacefully integrate into western society. I’m only pointing out that, as we welcome our friends from overseas, we must also be aware of the cultural differences.

I agree that a thorough screening process is prudent and necessary in these tumultuous times, but anything beyond, any sort of ban is wildly counterproductive and deeply un-American. Set aside the fact that we are a nation of immigrants, any sort of Muslim ban only gives strength to the radical Islamic agenda.

Welcoming those of different beliefs has never been more important, not only for the people suffering overseas, but for the future of a peaceful world. We have a great opportunity not only to save suffering people, but also to give them a platform to redefine Islam as a religion compatible with modern, liberal society.