So far, I have done a series of portraits—some in the subjects' natural habitats, others with a blue wall as a background. For the blue background shots, I am using a two strobe set-up, with soft boxes on each light. The ad below, which features these portraits, ran in the Thanksgiving 2014 Gazette.
Photography I recently did for the marketing department at Kirkwood popped up on an electronic billboard at the Lindale Mall in Cedar Rapids. The "This is Kirkwood" campaign features the many faces of Kirkwood—faculty, students, and staff—and tells their stories using their voices. There are going to be videos, too! The multimedia for the campaign represents a closer collaboration between Marketing staff—coordinators and designers—and Media Production (currently, me). The experience has been very positive. Previously, jobs came to production as requests, "do this, this way." The new model brings together the expertise of both parties to shape projects from the beginning. When the collaboration goes as planned, both the quality and the fun factor of my projects goes up. So far, I have done a series of portraits—some in the subjects' natural habitats, others with a blue wall as a background. For the blue background shots, I am using a two strobe set-up, with soft boxes on each light. The ad below, which features these portraits, ran in the Thanksgiving 2014 Gazette. My photos made it to the homepage, too! This new campaign holds a lot of potential. I can't wait to dig into the videos, for which shooting begins this week.
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Image homage to Iowa snow. One photo "during" from around the neighborhood and some "after" trudging about MacBride Nature Recreation Area.
This video, produced for KCELT, Kirkwood's Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning, highlights how changes to the interior design curriculum result in graduates better prepared for careers in design. The video will be embedded on the KCELT blog, which is geared towards current Kirkwood faculty and other educators. This video, produced for KCELT, Kirkwood's Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning, highlights how Kirkwood started dialoguing about diversity at Collaborative Learning Days, a two-day learning experience for faculty. The video was embedded on the KCELT blog. The blog's audience consists of current Kirkwood faculty and other educators. In this video series, I got to work closely with Kirkwood's Continuing Education Department. After making these videos, I know what a "90 degree back," "offset back," and "straight-line back" are, but I wouldn't want to have to perform them. I hope, however, that these videos help truck drivers in-training master these complex maneuvers! This video is the first of many that will constitute the "Creative Kirkwood" video series. The series aims to showcase different Kirkwood creatives working in a variety of media.
Happy New Year! I wanted my resolution to be "more blog posts," but "continue to intermittently blog" will have to do. I've updated my portfolio to include photography that I am producing for Kirkwood Community College. Catch a preview in this post, but check out the whole slideshow here.
So far, I have loved working at KCC. There is huge variety in the work—I've photographed basketball games, celebrations for International Week, and an impromptu rehearsal in The Café by the concert chorale. One of the best opportunities for me has been to expand from video into photography. I have a Canon 5D Mark II, a 7D, and a beautiful variety of lenses at my disposal. By far the greatest boost to my abilities has been my colleagues, Greg Ennis, Director of Media Technologies, and Matt Murphy, a fellow Media Producer. Rick Severin, who held my position until he retired recently, has also been a huge help, coming in to the office to share his decades of photography wisdom and to show me the ropes in the portrait studio. All three have been generous with their knowledge—both technical and aesthetic—and have provided me with feedback that pushes me to innovate, generating photos with more compelling composition. You can follow Kirkwood Media on Instagram for a steady stream of awesome shots by Greg, Matt and me. It has been great to dig my nails into photography in a more focused way, but I'm still making videos, too. In my next post, I'll share some KCC videos I've helped to produce. At first, when yarn art appeared on a few small trees in downtown Iowa City along with late autumn chills, it warmed my heart. I was familiar yarn graffiti known as "yarn bombing" and felt special for catching a glimpse of this stealth art. Then, as more and more trees became swathed in intricate and beautiful knitted and crocheted pieces, I became concerned. Clearly, a large group of organized knitters must be sending some kind of message. Are their intentions pure or nefarious? Is the threat contained? My paranoia quickly dissipated after a couple people commented, "Oh, yeah. The trees have on their winter sweaters." What? This operation is City-sanctioned? Apparently, the Iowa City Downtown District helps organize the installation. The unique and beautiful tree "sweaters" are the most elaborate yarn bombs I've ever seen, which is saying something considering my previous residence is known for Webs, America's largest yarn store! If you'd like to know more about Iowa City's downtown tree yarn bombing project, check out this article from The Gazette or this one from KCRG News.
I gawked at the sight before me and then pointed to my camera, indicating that I wanted to take a picture. The three men shifted slightly as I squatted down to take the shot. When I later reviewed the photo, I was struck by the sense of ease their posture emanated. One of the farmers came over, "You've never seen this before?" He had to shout over the sound of the tractor powering the grain chute to be heard, but even with all the noise I sensed incredulity in his tone. His family had grown corn for generations. Was it possible one could get a ways into their adult life without confronting a stream of golden corn kernels? I tried to explain that I was from Los Angeles and no, I'd never seen grain gush out of a wagon and get sucked into an enormous grain tower. Wayne, as I would later learn was his name, invited my mother and I to harvest some corn with him in his combine, which waited for him about a mile down the road. My mom was immediately on board and I warmed to his friendly and genuine offer. Grain towers are often the tallest features in rural Midwestern landscapes. They rise above fields of corn and soybeans and as in Riverside, Iowa, add an industrial edge to small towns. Riding in Wayne's combine, harvesting corn grown on land he rented from his aunt was a unique and unforgettable experience. His combine harvested six rows of corn at once. The biggest combines harvest 16 rows at once. The machinery is impressive, simultaneously cutting stalks, ingesting ears, husking them, and shearing off kernels, which burst out of a spigot, filling tractor's bed. At one point during the ride, the tractor's cabin got dark, and I noticed that the back window of the cab had been completely drowned with kernels, blocking out the sunlight. After harvesting 12 rows of corn, Wayne transferred the kernels from the combine to a wagon pulled by a different tractor. The other tractor transports the load to the elevator where it is weighed and unloaded. Thank you, Wayne, for this memorable and educational experience. Fields begin to turn early fall, verdant green becoming a rich gold, and finally a crisping to brown. Once thoroughly dried, corn and beans are harvested. This year, harvests began mid-October and lasted through the end of the month. I can't do a post titled "Iowa Gold" without also including some Hawkeye-related photos. College football is a deeply ingrained culture here. Tailgating for a Saturday morning game oftentimes begins early Friday. Perhaps more entertaining than the football itself (for the less sports-oriented), are the creative ways in which fans show their colors. These donkeys were not too excited to be decked out and dragged through the Hawkeye homecoming parade. This post is the second in the color series.
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Clarity GuerraI produce concise, authentic video stories that help small businesses and nonprofits engage online audiences, disseminate brand messages, and fundraise.
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