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.