Tag

creative growth

How I got into design

By | Blog, Design | No Comments

I suspect I got into design for the same reason that many other designers did… I loved to draw. I wish I still had one to show you, but when I was a little kid, I used to draw some pretty elaborate farmscapes (house, barn, fences, livestock, rolling hills, sun, etc.). I could never really draw anything out of my head so instead always had to copy a photo or the object/scene itself. In high school art class, my attention to detail started to come out. I didn’t have an illustration style, but I did have a whole lot of patience. I mostly liked working with pencil, or with pen & ink (the dip kind, not the technical kind) and watercolour.

When it came time to decide what I wanted to take in university or college, I sort of wanted to be an archeaologist, but I mostly wanted to do something creative. I was pretty certain I wasn’t going to make it as an artist, so when a friend of my brother-in-law was visiting and told me about graphic design, I was sold. I still had no real understanding of what graphic design was, but I applied to two colleges (Medicine Hat and Red River College in Winnipeg) and was accepted into both. At my RRC interview, it was suggested that I attend the student Open House to see what it was all about. Seeing the work there made me decide to stay in Winnipeg. I remember being really inspired, and finally having a sense of what I was getting into.
Read More

How I got into photography

By | Blog, Photography | No Comments

A friend asked me the other day how and when I got into photography… which got me thinking. I don’t remember why I started taking photos (although Mom & Dad always had a camera so I was likely modeling after them). I do remember being fascinated by the old film cameras that my parents had stored in the hallway closet—one of them was an old Konica of some kind and I think it had a really cool expanding flash surround with small blue flash bulbs.

In any case, I remember having access to a small film camera pretty early on. At first, I was mostly interested in taking pictures of my pets and my toys. I think I was around nine years old then. Around age 13 or so, I took a 4-H photography course, and learned to do photo stories. In high school I was mostly into candid shots of my friends or family (especially my little nephews and nieces), plus some photos for art class, and I remember filling albums and albums of photos. In third year college, I had the chance to learn black & white photography, including developing my own prints in the darkroom. I borrowed my parents Canon AE-1 for those, and learned to shoot manually. That’s when I finally started to learn technique and to think about composition and concept.
Read More