Yes, this is a picture of a polaroid of a Polaroid also taking a polaroid of the Polaroid which took the polaroid that you are currently looking at. It’s also a picture of a very talented designer by the name of Kinsey Gross. Check her out!
We look at our computers all day long (at least it seems like I do). Whether it’s a laptop, or a smartphone, or an iPad tablet bla bla, our eyes are often glued to some type of screen. But that also means these high tech devices are looking back at us, right? Why not.
So with that in mind, Compeoples were born – digital faces you add to your computerly devices to bring out their inner personality. Check them out:
All the computer wallpapers are built to 1440×900, but if you’d like any different size, just email me and I’ll make one up. Same goes for colors or faces (if they work for the proportions). I also tried to get the iPhone5 wallpapers to fit nicely in between the lock screen UI, and to work nicely both vertical and horizontal for the iPad. But either way, I hope you guys like them and actually use them. I know when I pull out my phone and see it smiling back, it does kinda brighten my day in a small way. Obviously my computer desktop is usually too cluttered with crap for that to happen much, but it certainly can’t hurt.
I really love cereal. And after I found this, it’s good to know cereal loves me, too.
Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone.
When it comes to a pair of pleated slacks, simply head down to the mall and buy yourself a pair. That’s not the case when we’re talking about Carhartt work pants – the toughest, hardest working, longest lasting pants the world has ever known. Because you don’t just “buy” a pair of Carhartt’s, you hire them. You enter into an unshakable bond between man and pant. A loyal co-worker who will be with you every step of the way. Which is exactly how it’s been since Hamilton Carhartt founded his namesake company back in 1889. And that won’t be changing anytime soon, either.
So the next time you have a job that’s bigger than any one person can handle, look to Carhartt. And Hire These Pants.
Anywho, this was a super fun campaign to work on with Carhartt, and one of my personal favorites since being at Wexley. Not only is it always a pleasure to wrap your head around such a great brand, the end product turned out great and our clients were super happy, too. That always helps. And we also got to work with the extremely talented John Keatley to shoot our badass pants. And if that wasn’t enough, Mr. Andre Vriesman even got to be the pant model. Unfortunately we had to photoshop him out in the end, but if you don’t believe me, here’s proof:
Recently I picked up a Dremel electric engraver to, you guessed it, engrave some stuff. So for a little practice I took an old soup can and made a new receptical to hold our X-Acto knives around the office. After sprucing it up a little, of course. And the engraving went easier than I thought, too. So hopefully this is just the start to many projects like this.
I don’t know how lucky you have to be to find three rolls of old, lost film over your lifetime, but apparently I’m that lucky. Film that went forgotten about for decades and decades, locked away in a camera that was also forgotten and locked away in some box in a closet somewhere. And somehow these rolls of film keep finding me.
What’s extra interesting about this roll is that I actually have been able to find out a little about it’s background and the people in the photos. Here’s the story:
One of my all-time best friends back in Minnesota, Katie Yernberg, came across five old cameras at a family garage sale for Steve & Bev Steberg, who have been very close to her since she was a wee girl. Knowing me, she knew they would make a perfect Christmas gift for a guy who collects vintage cameras. Also (from what I hear), I’m apparently difficult to shop for, so Katie was just relieved to find me anything I’d like. But little did she or the family know, one of the five cameras she gave me contained another present, a roll of Kodak Verichrome 620 film.
So after I got them developed we found out a little more about the backstory. The cameras belonged to the family’s late-grandfather, Clifford Steberg, the older gentleman in the photo above. It should also be noted he was a veteran of WWII, where he lost a leg and was obviously a total badass. The photos were taken around 1964 to 1965, and had been waiting patiently in a Spartus Full-Vue camera. On a side note, the camera is actually built for 120 film meaning someone had re-spooled it for 620.
The first three photos were from when the family was moving a new house onto the farm near Willmer, MN where Steve’s mother, Val was actually born. The kids in the photo are Steve when he was about 8 years old, his older brother Jim, and their cousins Gary and Mary on the right. From what I hear, this was a pretty big event on the farm, and it’s pretty cool since you can actually see the blocks and the crane they were using to lower the new house onto the old foundation.
The camping photos were taken at a state park somewhere in Minnesota where we find Steve at the water fountain when he was about 9 years old. Not only does Minnesota have numerous state parks, but they also run thick with water fountains, so it’s difficult to pinpoint which state park they could be in. The car to the right of the awesome camper trailer is apparently a ’56 Chevy Station Wagon, and the young man crying in front of it all is a friend who was visiting for the camping trip. What had him so upset is lost to history. The mother, Val Steberg, also makes her first appearance. And I may be to blame for the black stripe across the top of the last photo. I didn’t expect there to be a roll of film inside the camera when I first opened up the back, and unfortunately it wasn’t completely rolled through.
But either way, it’s always incredible finding a roll of film that had been lost for almost 50 years. The family was as happy and surprised as I was to finally see the pictures, which it felt good to actually be able to get them in the hands of some true owners. Which was rewarding and an added bonus (that hadn’t been the case in the other two rolls I’ve found seen here and here). And it’s another good lesson in always keeping your eyes open for hidden treasure.
Be on the lookout for some fun, quirky new commercials for Taco Del Mar soon. It stars a long board surfer riding on a never ending wave of deliciousness and a few of this friends from the sea. Oh, and he really loves the new TDM Shrimp Tostada. A lot. And he wants everyone to know.
CLIENT: Taco Del Mar | AGENCY: Wexley School for Girls | DIR: Fred Northrop Jr. | PROD CO: Southdown Creative
Another side project I’ve tasked myself with this year is to update a few things around my apartment, starting with the art on my walls. Obviously it needed a good ol’ fashioned cleaning too, but it doesn’t hurt to have nice things to look at and distract you from whatever crazy mess might be going on around it.
So over one weekend I finally mustered up the courage to put a bunch of holes in my 85 year old apartment walls, and hang up the signage type I bought recently. It also worked out to be a nice home for a few of my vintage cameras. I’m not sure how old the letters are, although I did get them all from the Pacific Gallery Antique Mall in SoDo Seattle, but I’m pretty sure the “E” is from a Blockbuster Video. Which isn’t very antique-ish. At least not yet, anyway.
Seattle is one of the few cities lucky enough to now have a Carhartt Store in its limits. Because of this, Wexley School for Girls and I were lucky enough for the opportunity to design a few t-shirts for this new store, one of which was picked to be given away during the Grand Opening held back on 3/22/12. And if that wasn’t awesome enough, they even invited me down to sign each and every shirt during the event.
It’s already quite an honor to work on and wrap your head around a great and historic brand like Carhartt as it is. But then for the opportunity be at the Grand Opening of only their fifth retail store, representing both the brand and myself as a local artist, was unbelievable. I still almost don’t believe it actually happened. Everyone who came through the door was directed toward a table with a big pile of black t-shirts, and me with a silver Sharpie in hand. And the coolest part was how happy everyone was about the shirt and to have my signature on it. I was sure people wouldn’t give two shits about me and my signature, but was I wrong. People were taking pictures of me, and with me. One with someone’s daughter holding up my shirt. Everyone had great things to say (a nice woman even complemented me on my dimples). People actually wanted me to sign it. And of the 120 total shirts, I’m positive I signed at least 116 of them (unfortunately a few people grabbed a shirt and immediately wandered off into the crowd).
Anyway, the experience was amazing to say the least, and I’m really happy with how the shirts turned out. And I hope everyone who received a shirt at the Grand Opening gets many happy years out of their new Carhartt Seattle shirts. You should also stop by to see the store in person. It’s beautifully decorated like an old logging camp, and the attention to detail is impeccable.
If you weren’t able to be there for the Grand Opening, here’s a quick video to encapsulate things a little. And in perfect Carhartt fashion, the ribbon cutting was replaced by a section of drywall that was busted up with sledgehammers by baseball legend Edgar Martinez and Carhartt CEO Mark Valade. And if you watch closely, you can even see me pop up a few times when the camera pans to the left during the ribbon cutting, and in the store signing the t-shirts.
Perched atop the Swiss Alps exists the International Tennis Court, the game’s highest, oldest, smartest, best looking and most respected governing body. For over 138 years, people have trusted the Tennis Court to deliver some of the toughest decisions in the sport of tennis. They were there for the monumental cases between Borg vs. McEnroe, Sampras vs. Agassi, and who could forget the pivotal Wood vs. Steel trial of the late 1960s.
Now the watchful eye of the ITC has turned to the new and controversial Wilson Juice and Steam rackets. Do they create an unfair advantage with possible illegal amounts of power and spin? Only the Tennis Court can decide. Join us as we follow the trial of these two new rackets.
Scientists still haven't gotten to the bottom of whether or not bears actually shit in the woods, but if they do, I’m pretty sure they look like this whilst doing so.
Since we’re in the thick of winter, I thought I’d dig up a little something from summer. This is Mr. Alex Smith, producer extraordinaire, showing off another one of his talents out on Lake Washington during Seattle’s Seafair. Unfortunately moments after swimming out of frame, poor Alex was hit by one of the hydroplane raceboats. This one to be exact.
I’m a little bummed out I wasn’t able to use a tripod (or have been a little steadier) to keep the loop a little smoother, but what the hell. It’s just for fun.
Recently I was summoned to jury duty and the experience, while pleasant, reminded me of this very short story I wrote back July of 2006, recapping the first time I was called upon to do what Abraham Lincoln described as, “the greatest service a citizen can perform for his country”. At least I remember reading something like that on a poster in the courthouse.
. . . . .
Through the doors of the US District Court of Minnesota I go. Right on time too. Well, actually a couple minutes late, but that’s right on time for me. Then empty my pockets to pass through the ultra-tight security, only to find out I don’t pass.
“Next time take your belt off,” says the little old man as he waves his hand-held metal detector over my crotch. Was he coming on to me? I blush the rest of the walk up to the juror assembly room.
Once there, me and the other 41 people selected got to watch twenty minutes of the most enthralling instructional video, “The Dos and Don’ts of Being a Juror” (copyright 1995) which was hosted by a wonderful lady in the brightest blue suit in the northern hemisphere. Of course she was accompanied by “The Asian Juror”, “The Black Housewife Juror”, “The Senior Citizen/Retired Librarian Juror”, “The White Farmer from Anytown, USA Juror” and probably a construction worker or something. The stereotypes all began to blend into, “who cares since you’re obviously all paid, bad actors”.
Now that the video was over we play a little game called “The Waiting Game” until the judge needs us up I the courtroom. It goes like this. First, you play it cool…and wait. Second, you go get a bottle of complementarity orange juice and continue to play it cool. Still you wait. Then, when things get rough, you pullout the emergency book, in my case it was “Barrel Fever” by David Sedaris. And after you’re three pages into it, “Okay, they’re ready for you all”. Damn, somehow I lost this round. But there will be more waiting to come.
We’re led up to the thirteenth floor, “Hey, I can see where Leena works from here” and then off into the courtroom. Inside we all sat on the wooden benches in the back and got the run down before our names were picked at random to see which 32 of the 42 would be widdled down to the final 13-14 actual jurors. I started doing the odds in my head. “Well, I have a better than 75% chance of at least getting picked to be questioned. Those are good odds and that will be fun.”
I didnt get picked. What are the odds? Oh yeah, less than 25%. Round two of The Waiting Game starts now, only I can’t read my book. The ten of us leftovers got the pleasure of listening to the judge get the whole life story of the other 32 jurors, only to find out that the video lied. There wasn’t any Asian or Black jurors. Although, there was a lot of old, retired, white people, one of whom was a farmer. As usual I was by far the youngest. Where the hell are all the 23, soon to be 24 year olds? I had an hour and a half to think this over.
After that we had a 15 minute recess (not the jungle gym kind, unfortunately). Mostly everyone jumped to their cell phones as we got the liberty to turn them back on again. I did the same.
When my text message recess concluded, we were all herded back into the big wooden room and asked to sit in our same seats as to not confuse anyone. Seconds later the judge began reading a list of those who could leave. “Mr. West-brook” was called off. Close enough I thought, and made my way to the exit.
Back in November, we got to help Ford promote and run an awesome event they were doing in conjunction with the Seattle Auto Show. The plan was to let people test drive the new Ford Focus around the warning track of Safeco Field (which is across the street from the Auto Show) that uses all these fancy cameras and sensors to track you as you drive the course. Then after people do the drive, they get a video sent to them showing the whole experience as if it’s a video game. It’s very cool. So cool in fact, that’s it’s almost one of those “build it and they will come” situations. So our job was fairly easy.
It should be added that getting to walk and drive around one of the most beautiful stadiums in the country is a pretty awesome feeling. It’s sort of magical with a side of, “I’m not supposed to be here.” Which makes it all the more impressive that Ford was willing to do such a thing, and do it for free. You can even check out my drive around the bases right here:
A few months ago my writing partner, Andre Vriesman and I, were brought in to do some early concepting on a top-secret project that, in retrospect, we knew little about or were unsure if it would ever happen. But as luck would have it, the project later dubbed (at least internally) “The Big-Ass Phone” actually did happen just two short weeks ago. And looking back over the timeline and the event itself, I’m really proud that we were able to play even a small part in such an awesome and literally huge thing for the Windows Phone, Wexley School for Girls and all the people who were there to enjoy the show. Not to mention all the other talents that came together for everything to go so wonderfully.
I’ve been wanting a new logo for myself for quite sometime, so yesterday I just sat myself down and cranked one out. Bam. There you go.
It’s based off an icon I had been using for myself for a little while that always seemed fitting, but wanted something that was a little more fitting and striking. Obviously the “A” and “W” come from my initials, but the gear always seemed to be a nice representation of my hardworking, Midwestern roots. And the orange, black and white are a nod to my hometown and the school colors back in good ol’ White Bear Lake, MN. One should never forget where you come from.
It’s funny thinking about having to get to know a piece of equipment, but I’ve found myself having to do just that with an old camera of mine. People obviously have quirks and moods, but apparently inanimate objects can too. So a while back some friends and I made a trip over to Harbor Island in the Port of Seattle to do just that with my Toyocaflex TLR.
Being that it’s over a half a century old, it sort of behaves like an old man. The viewfinder is a little dark and cloudy, sometimes the shutter sticks at low speeds and it’s a bit heavy. It also has a bladder-control problem and eats dinner by 5:30pm. But I still love it, and I enjoy learning new things about how it behaves every time I take it out.
Fashion photography isn’t something I’ve done a lot of in the past, but it’s always fun whenever I get the chance. So a few weeks ago when I was asked to do a photoshoot with my good friend, the lovely Miss Laura Haithcock, I had to take her up on it.
Laura operates Birdie Royale Adornments and a corresponding blog of all the cool stuff she makes and thinks. And it was because of all this, she being featured on the Seattle fashion blog, FreshJess, thus needing some nice new photography of three outfits she wanted to showcase. That’s where I came in. So we set out across Queen Anne and Pioneer Square dodging wind, rain and random bits of sunshine to capture said photographs. It all seemed to turn out pretty nicely, too. Although, it definitely helps having a good model to work with like Laura.
She also gave a nice interview on her style, influences and thoughts on the Seattle fashion scene. So be sure to check out all the photos and the end result right here.
Last week our team at Wexley School for Girls launched our very first campaign for Taco Del Mar. We’ve been working super hard over the past few month on this, and it’s extremely rewarding to finally see this stuff out in the real world. And basically, here’s the idea behind it all:
Does Taco Del Mar have the biggest burritos on the planet? Of course. Does Taco Del Mar have the greatest Fish Tacos on earth? Of Course. Does Taco Del Mar make your food exactly like you want it with the most tantalizing ingredients? Of course. Does Taco Del Mar make your food fast? Of course. Is it filling and satisfying? Of course. And when your friend calls and asks, “Hey man, want to go grab some Taco Del Mar?” you’ll love it so much the answer isn’t just a single “Of course.” It’s an emphatic, “¡Of Course! ¡Of Course!”
It’s not often that one of your favorite pieces from a campaign happens to be a billboard, but it’s hard to see the “Cougar Fight” billboard and not smile. It still gets me, even though I’ve looked at it a thousand times. And as we roll out more work in the next few weeks for the campaign I’ll be sure to keep adding in the new stuff. So be on the look out for it. The whole campaign is going to be super fun and stupid in a good way.
Last week I bought a fancy new camera, and this is the first thing I decided to do with it. Although to be honest, I didn’t take the picture of the shark.
Hopefully there’s only more to come.