Demolition Derby- Plankinton, South Dakota

Holy Moly! It was Demolition Derby time at the annual Pheasant Festival in Plankinton, South Dakota over the past weekend. There was plenty of jaw dropping metal crunching mayhem! I hope you have as much fun looking at these as I did shooting and processing them. You can veiw the entire gallery on my sister blog RCRphotography here.

The Process in Making a Sibley Motors’ ad

Often I am presented with some scribbled notes to design my ads from. This particular instance I was handed some scribbled notes, a dealership memo, and some cut outs of various logos. Any help gives me a quick start to visualizing the ad before I begin. I was able to take all the different ideas given to me and turn them into one cohesive ad while staying well within the expected parameters of the ad. All design work was done in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop CS4 on a Mac OSX system.

Copy:

Finished Ad:

Variations of Sibley Motors’ Ads

These two ads illustrate how flexible I have to be while working at the Plainsman. The first ad was designed from the original copy presented to me. By the time the ad went to the press the two trucks featured were sold. The customer needed the same ad space but wanted to run different copy. The other concept was presented to me and I had to alter the ad within the closing deadline. I stayed within the same concept and framework of the first ad and completed the second ad with plenty of time to spare. The customer was happy and the ad was printed in the statewide State Fair publication. I used both Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop CS4.

Original Ad:

Revised Ad:

Sibley Motor’s Tent Event

Chrysler’s Tent Event is a national promotion and Sibley Motor wasn’t about to sit this event out. They wanted a full color ad to show the Huron, South Dakota area that the deals were real and so was the tent. I had the pleasure of designing this ad for them. I used Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop CS4 on a Mac OSX system.

The Daily Plainsman, Fall Sports Preview 2010

Back to school means back to sports! The most exciting sports season in high school is Fall. This is the time of the year high school offers bone crushing football, smash mouth volleyball, gut wrenching cross country running, and a plethora of other compelling sports. The Daily Plainsman is at center of this ultra competitive universe with it’s annual Fall Sports Preview section. This is a full page section within the paper and not a pull out tab. Every year they need an eye catching cover to entice it’s readers to look through the pages of interviews, rosters, stats, and schedules. This year it was my turn to design the cover. I picked the obvious Autumn theme and went from there. I designed most of the cover in Adobe Illustrator and rounded it out in Photoshop. Both programs were version CS4 on a Mac computer.

Aberdeen, South Dakota BMX

I traveled to Aberdeen to checkout their BMX track and take some photos. The track was very impressive and I was able to get some great shots. You can see the entire gallery on my photography blog.

Twin Cities Wacipi, Fort Pierre, South Dakota

My first ever Pow Wow did not disappoint. From the pageantry to the songs and the dancing. This was an event I will remember the rest of my life. The organizers were gracious and welcoming and let me shoot plenty of pictures. The dancers were fluid and passionate making every photo I took a work of art. There will be definitely more Pow Wows in my future. All pictures were taken with my Canon 20D using my 70-200mm F4 L Series lens. Post production was done in Photoshop CS3. You can see this gallery in it’s entirety on my photography blog.

Super Truck Load Sale!

Our TV Guide publication at the Plainsman is one of the most important sections of the paper. It comes out twice a week, Saturday and Tuesday, and we offer full color, full page advertisements. Anderson Furniture knows how important to have an ad in this section is. I have made several ads for them for the TV Guide. Here is the latest. It’s a full color, full page ad advertising their Super Truck Load Mattress Sale. I was handed a flier made by the manufacturer, Sealy and had to emulate it. I looked it over a saw where the improvements could be made and I went to work. I used the “Russian Poster Art” color palette in Adobe Illustrator for the colors.  I did all the layout and design in Illustrator as well.  I modified the truck in Photoshop.

Slot Canyon Hummer Adventures

Slot Canyon Hummer Adventures is an adventure tour company based in Page, Arizona. They recently wanted to advertise on the internet in the local market. They turned to Page’s news leader, The Lake Powell Chronicle. Being a newspaper owned by News Media Corp. it was up to me to build the ad. They sent some stunning photographs and I was able to incorporate them into the small ad. This is a great example of “less is more”. This ad doesn’t offer a lot as far as upfront info for the company but, eye popping photos and good contrast between the typography and background really set this ad apart. And that will garner A LOT of attention. You can view their website here for more information on their services.  All work was done in Adobe Flash and Photoshop CS4 on a Mac computer.

Irene Rodeo, Irene South Dakota

The Irene Rodeo in South Dakota was a first class rodeo complete with clowns, wagon rides and cowboys and cowgirls, of course. A heavy down pour didn’t dampen the spirits of anyone who attended. I was able to move around the arena and get shots from multiple angles. All imgaes were shot with my Canon 20D and post production was done in Photoshop CS3. The entire gallery can be viewed @ RCRphotoblog.