What we wanted to be when we grew up.

Why? Why not, thats why.

Lee, a ninja turtle or cowboy
Jonathan, a pilot
Miles, a pilot or marine biologist
Joy, a veterinarian or scientist
David, an advertising guy (no, really)
Wicket, a little man

This says it all.

Anyone want to carpool?

Old school

This is actually the first shot taken at our offices. The image is of an antique push mower we found in the garage after moving in. It's a nice touch on our front porch.

A vast landscape.

More Chi-town scenery. You can walk for days on end to take in all of the amazing architecture the city has to offer. This building is not particularly amazing but we enjoy the composition and intriguing allure that it has on the viewer. This shot is all like, "hey!, look, im a big cool building, and i have a lot of friends, come check me out." More to come...

Road Trippin'

So I went for a road trip last Thursday to see some friends in Texas and float the Guadalupe River. The drive down through north texas is pretty awesome, albeit a little boring at times. You go through a bunch of tiny towns that have some pretty grand photo opportunities. This just happened to be one of them.

I actually stopped to take pictures of some grain elevators but saw these three cars all lined up next to each other. So I shot 1 picture of each car and here they are. Don't remember the name of the town... I want to say it was Childress but I'm not positive.

Road trips are great, not to mention ones with a new car.
~Lee

Get on your power and STEAM!

Well, the title doesn't exactly work as well as Miles' did but whatever. I took this picture about 2 months ago (maybe longer).

During the winter in Colorado Springs I always thought the steam coming from the power plant downtown looked pretty awesome. So naturally, as with all things awesome, I decided to get up early before work and take a picture. It ended up being a tough panorama to take because the steam was moving pretty fast. I'll probably try to get a better picture again next year.

More power to ya,
~Lee

P.S. I also got a new car yay! And since it is also awesome I took a picture of it as well.

Get on yer bikes and ride!

This shot goes out to all things bike. Taken via the D40x at the family farm this cruiser is at least 50 years old and it shows it's age well.
The weather has been amazing the past few days here in Colorado and half of the Handcrafted team are commuting in on their cycles.
Enjoy this little video... If freestyle biking from 1899 and the warm sunshine can't get you out there then nothing will.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=YvKeuq0nLSQ&feature=related

L-Train

Straight outta Chi-town.
shot by miles after a recent trip to visit the sis.

One Quarter Turn of The Planet and Everybody Smiles

Spring has sprung! Which means warmer weather, budding flowers, fresh fruit, green fields and if you work at HandCrafted Media green... screens.
Yes, this equinox we increased our production capabilities by adding a sound stage to the office. We were finally fed up with all those commercials with used car salesmen outlined in an icky green halo. So we decided to take matters into our own hands and build the sound stage we always wished we had. Your eyes will thank us later.

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.