Christy and I decided to take a day trip to Seattle with our friends Liz and Angie. While we were there we decided to drop in on the Seattle Central Library. Turns out it was everyone’s first time in the library, and it was AMAZING! We had such a great time. I got a lot of really great shots inside & out, and am hoping to go back again soon to get more. The architectural design of the library is reason enough to spend a day exploring all eleven stories of the building. Unfortunately we only had about an hour and a half left in our day before we had to head back to Portland. Anyway, I thought it would be dope to post the photos I got from our trip. These aren’t all of them, but I’ve only had time to edit these few. I’ll be sure to post more later. BTW, the principle architect responsible for this beautiful library is Rem Koolhaas, and the general contractor responsible for building the library is Hoffman Construction Company from our very own Portland, Oregon.

Enjoy

- m / Colorcubic™

Christy and I decided to take a day off today (for once) and head on over to the Enchanted Forest. Our good friend Liz was kind enough to join us on our “enchanted adventure.” For me it was nothing more than a harsh awakening from a beautiful, nostalgic, dreamlike, childhood memory. Definitely wasn’t like I remembered, but it was fun to experience it with Christy and Liz, whom, I might add, have never been to the Enchanted Forest before. If you’re not originally from Portland, then you probably have no idea what I’m talking about, but if you happen to come through Portland, Oregon, definitely make a stop through the Enchanted Forest. At least once, just to experience it. I promise, you’ll never forget it.

Anyway, on the way back to Portland, from Enchanted Forest, we made a quick stop by a nearby vineyard and had a little photo shoot. I’m really happy with the way these shots turned out, so hopefully we’ll end up using them in one of our experimental print projects. The top one is probably my favorite out of the lot, and just so happens to feature Christy fiddling around with her Diana F+. I can’t wait to see how the photos turn out that Christy got on our adventure while using the Diana. We’ll be sure to post them when we get them developed.

Enjoy.

- m / Colorcubic™

We just recently (about 4 weeks ago) purchased a Canon 40D digital SLR. We’re still familiarizing ourselves with it, (as there is somewhat of a learning curve initially). We did, however, take a little road trip over to marine drive by the Portland Airport to have a little photo shoot adventure. It seems that most of the shots we took were pretty right on, although I suppose that’s the result of several weeks of tampering with settings just to get the initial shots the way we want them to turn out. Anyway, we thought it would be fun to share the results. These shots were taken with the stock EF28-135mm lens that comes with the 40D. I must say, we’re pretty satisfied with the results so far. Anyway, hope you enjoy.

- m / Colorcubic™

There is a reoccurring phenomenon that my buddy Toyo and I have been experiencing for several years now. He used to live in the same city as me, but his visa expired and he had to move back to Nihhon / Japan.

Ever since, we’ve been mailing each other gifts, packages, letters, etc…

I noticed that every time he sends me a gift I’m always really impressed with the mailer I receive. It’s so delicately designed. The colors are perfect, it’s easy to understand (if you read Hiragana, Katakana, or Kanji). Even if you don’t you can tell the directions are pretty simple. They even lay everything out for you in steps.

Then I’m faced with the embarrassment of sending off a USPS mailer to him. Not only are our mailers fugly as hell, they don’t always make it to their destination. I have a theory about that actually…

I believe it’s because our mailers are so damn ugly that they don’t make it to their destination. Seriously, who wants to look at an ugly piece of crap like that.

It’s pretty sad actually. It really made me think about how little America is concerned with aesthetics, but also how important aesthetics are, and how it is potentially detrimental to the delivery and retrieval of information, mail, shipments, etc…

I’m sure if you have someone who lives out of state from you, or out of country, you spend a lot of time mailing gifts, or letters to those people.

It’s a psychological fact people would rather look at, and receive something beautiful rather than ugly. I know I do, and what really gets under my skin is the shit the USPS post office, or FedEx expect us to write on, or use for sending gifts. That crap is embarrassing as hell to use. Even UPS got it wrong.

That’s sad too, because they had it right the first time, but they messed everything up by listening to whatever clown persuaded them to change their image to that glossy piece of web 2.0 crap they’ve plastered on the side of their trucks and planes that are now seen everywhere. I say web 2.0, because that’s exactly what it is, but it’s also used for their package design. Seriously, someone should tell them that their new “logo” is for the web only, and not for print media.

I mean, c’mon! How hard is it to produce a good looking mailer? In my opinion it takes more time to produce a piece of shit in the toilet than it does to produce a beautiful package.

Maybe this is why digital media has taken hold of everyone in this country. Nobody cares about stationary anymore, well… unless you’re a designer, or you’re 13, and even then that’s few and far between.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the internet, and I love technology, but I also really appreciate beautiful packaging. Honestly, aesthetics in any medium play such an important role.

Oh well, maybe USPS, FedEx, and UPS will get it right the next time they take their shit to the printers.

peace,

- m / Colorcubic™