NO- The other way!

Nothing is quite as hilarious than watching my niece and nephew play soccer with a group of other 4 year olds. One kid is making snow angels on the hardwood floor of the gym, another staring into space with a finger up the nose and of course every parent yelling "no- go the other way! that's the wrong goal!". Ah' classic.

You got like three feet of air that time!

We set up this seriously wicked bike jump in the back of the crooked porch. This shot of some random kid pretty much perfectly represents how awesome our ramp is. Bring your bikes.

Power to the people.

shot in mo-town at high noon.

Shred This

• Sweet high altitude moves this weekend at Arapahoe basin courtesy of Stonehouse.

Meanwhile in the advertising world here is a great article by Marc Brownstein via the small agency blog. I think his observations on the subject of being "plugged in" every hour of every day is spot on. Enjoy.

http://adage.com/smallagency/post?article_id=126279

Auto X

Enjoy these great images taken by Lee last weekend at the autocross event that Handcrafted organized for one of our favorite clients.

Shocking!

Credits go to Greta Schmidt for this intriguing and engaging photography.
Thanks G!


www.flickr.com/photos/gretaschmidt

Good things can still be handcrafted.

Pretty inspiring; cool to see that you can still do amazing things without fancy 21st technology...

perfect circle.

Better Archive This

Just in case David, (thats David E Pippenger) asks us about HDR again we can just point him to this blog post.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_dynamic_range_imaging

ps- David is a director, writer, producer, cinematographer, i.e. an artist ;)

First this, then that

Having been held hostage in my request for Miles and Lee to take and post HDR pictures (that means high dynamic range for those of you not into still photography.  I know because I have asked what it means about 5 times.) um... wow that period before the end parenthesis looks weird... where was I ?  Oh yeah, HDR pictures of the Crooked Porch, I have been forced to create this blog posting against my will.

It is my intent that blog postings be created only when the person posting the blog actually has something worthwhile to say.  I, as one of the founders of Handcrafted Media, rarely have anything worthwhile to say, so therefore will rarely have anything worthwhile to post.  I am not an artist, or a photographer, or an animator... therefore the only thing I can post are words.  Well, words and this goofy photo of me I made in Photo Booth.

I have made several comments in the past, but that does not seem to be sufficient for Miles or Lee, even though I was complimentary to both.

However, since the words were uttered just moments ago ("We'll take pictures when you post to the blog.") I am fulfilling my side of the bargain.

Expect HDR pictures shortly.

The Crooked Porch

What is the "Crooked Porch"? It's so many things, it's desks made out of salvaged cubicle parts, it's a mini-bar made out of cubicle parts. It's a 100 year old farm house moved into "downtown" Monument. It's no account executives. It's random crazy people walking in the front door. It’s an idea or even better, a culmination of many ideas. Yes it's where we work, but more importantly it's being original.

David has been asking me for/four weeks now to put up pictures so that people can see what the Crooked Porch entails; what all the hubub is about. While I haven't taken the pictures yet, I definitely plan on doing it so people can get an idea (see what I did there?) of this mystical building.

However, in writing this I think I've come to realize why I haven't taken the pictures yet, "The Crooked Porch" in itself is an experience. Everyone that has walked in has said we have great juju in this building. Would pictures really do it justice?

As far as the animation goes; it was a collaboration of all of us but "mad props" to Jonathan for the hand drawn illustrations.

~Lee

Pic Pic Pic

This is number 3. It is of snowy trees. It is a lovely picture; please enjoy.

Taken by this guy.

Addy's are for sissies? I don't want to be a sissy.

Handcrafted's Miles McIlhargie picks up three Addy wins for his 2007 work.

Gold - Out of Home - FREX Buses - Art Direction, Project Management and production oversight.
Silver - Out of Home - Cheyenne Mountain CB&T Zoo Van - Art Direction, Project Management and production oversight. Original art by Bernard Sandoval.
Silver - Elements of Advertising - The Gilded Artisan Logo - Design and Art Direction.

FREX work can be seen here:
http://www.coroflot.com/public/individual_file.asp?from_url=true&individual_id=42388&portfolio_id=682983&sort_by=1&0

On a separate note awards don't really mean anything, it's a combination of client satisfaction and effectiveness that counts. Let the work speak for itself.

Whats yours is yours and what's mine is yours?

I love design. I love advertising. But what I dislike about this industry is all the back stabbing, gossiping, smack talking, passive aggressive attitudes, conniving natures, etc, etc. And believe me, a lot of these things exist, especially in a smaller local community. I try to stay away from all of this and feel I have always focused my primary attention on giving my clients the best work possible along with the best communication and and attentiveness.

It seems though that so many others in my line of work choose to focus instead on creating bad blood for the sake of their own egos. Why? If we truly enjoy what we do then we should be having fun, cheering each other on, being proactive, thinking positive and creating a better industry altogether. It's about the clients - not what Joe Blow is doing and who he is talking too. I guess what I am saying is, can't we all just get along? Because in the end it's about relationships, and don't we all enjoy good relationships over the opposite?

Smack down!

Well, it finally happened, after weeks of long hard work, I reached Ice Vampire **Level 4** ! This is exciting news people, next up Ancient vampire. I only need 520 more vampire bucks before I can purchase this sweet chainsaw and really take care of business!

Second Pic

Image shot with my Cannon EOS 400D (Rebel XTi) at ISO 800, 4.0 f/stop. Most importantlee taken in my basement where a kid can be a kid.

Photo, Lee Stonehouse, as seen on flickr.com profile: prospicience 101.

Shout out

Mad props are hereby officially delivered to Stonehouse #2 for his huge contribution in getting our site to look and work great. We would also like to express gratitude to Stonehouse's neurotic little dog Sashsa for being so damn cute.

On a similar note Sasha mentioned that she would like to make more trips to visit the crooked porch.

Being thrown around the office

Scrub: this guy standing next to Elway.

2 : an egotistical yet irresponsible man, esp. one still living with his mother "THE SCRUB TOOK ME TO MCDONALDS LAST NIGHT!"
-syn KNOCKA, MARK, PUNK, SUCKA, TOY, CLOWN, NEWB, PIGEON.

Big ups to KnockKnock.biz for this great definition.
And thanks to Lee "Ninja" Stonehouse for being such a great sport. No pun intended.

First Pic

This image was shot using a Nikon D40-X with some unknown f-stop and related film speed. More importantly however, was that it was taken at Chuck e Cheese where a kid can be a kid.
Werd.

Photo, Miles McIlhargie, as seen on flickr.com/photos/photospective.

Our new website is live!

Check it out!
http://www.handcraftedmedia.com