Obligatory Spring Has Sprung Wrap-up Post

May 7th, 2012

Nerdy friends and colleagues from around the Okanagan crowded The Bike Shop Cafe on the night of April 24th to watch the OKDG's presenters, graphic design maven John van der Woude and prolific photographer Shawn Talbot talk about their passions. We'd be putting it lightly calling it an absolutely stellar evening.

John stepped up first with his presentation entitled "How Hockey Has Made Me a Better Designer", philosophically paralleling the success of writing for his hockey blog to creating purpose driven design in his professional career as a designer. You can get more insights on his presentation here.

It wasn’t all about hockey, but rather more about what I like to call Purpose Driven Design – that every element of every design that I (or any other design) puts together, there’s a purpose to including that element.

Next, Shawn Talbot revved up our visual sensors with a rally of beautiful photography and gave us the inside scoop on some of the stories that surrounded some memorable past photo shoots. He's a creative with a 14 year track record of producing stunning photos and wanted to relay the importance of maintaining a level of quality in the photography that represents each company's brand.

I spent two evenings with these cormorant fishermen on the Li River near Yangshuo. The light on the bow of the raft attracts the fish and the birds are trained to dive down, catch the fish and bring them back to the fishermen. After catching roughly 8 fish, the birds are trained to expect a reward. If they do not receive one, the birds will simply quit working for the night. This is one shot where I did not use any supplemental lighting. This scene was lit entirely by the lanterns.