Welp. It's been quite a handful of weeks. If you had asked me what my plans were about 2 months ago I would have said something about maaaaaybe planning a trip to Mexico. Weeeeelp.... then I got laid off. 

Suddenly I had no plans AND every plan. The sky was this limit, but did I feel comfortable reaching for it? I had savings, but living in NYC, how quickly was I going to burn through that? Should I move? Should focus my energy on securing a new job? But any job? Or should I wait? Should I travel, volunteer or concentrate on making some art? I had a thousand questions with no "right" answers. 

I had a crash course in finding myself. Eat, pray, loving from the comfort of the boroughs. The first few days I was of course bummed, angry, stressed and scared, but as time passed so did those feelings. As much as I wanted to take the time to relax, it is just not in my nature to do so unless I know I've done the work to earn it. So I started up the hustle, reaching out to anyone and everyone by email, linkedin, facebook, calls, job boards, etc. After that things started to fall into place quickly.

Interviews started to be lined up, my budget seemed relatively on track and suddenly for the first time ever I actually had the time to enjoy the beautiful NYC spring. I walked along the waterfronts and across bridges. I went to interviews from Uptown to Downtown and planned lunches, movies and museum trips in between. Spring time in bars, rooftops, tattoo parlors, dance parties, backyards and front stoops.

Answering the stock interview question "so what are you looking to do?" over and over actually made me think about it. The first few times parroting back the typical semi-generic goals, but then I found myself actually internalizing and contemplating the question. I was finally coming to realization that I am no longer a student, an assistant or an apprentice. I am a woman with skills, talent and a career. So what do I see myself doing? 

Then I landed a freelance gig with a magazine called Man of the World. They have a really talented, but small team that just needed someone with production experience to step in and help them out. This projected ended up being a completely awesome reinvigorating work experience for me. I got to tap my skills, creativity, experience and conjure something really fun out of it. Issue No. 4 on stands soon! And yet again it really helped clarify the question about what I actually want to do.

I recently accepted a position with Urban Studio as a production manager. I am super excited about working with another group of talented people and finding out how I can fit in and help create some more great stuff. Since I was laid off I went to DC, Alabama, Vermont and I'm about to go to Mexico for a few weeks before I start the new job. I am happy to say when someone asks me "what do you see yourself doing" I can confidently answer, "This!" 

Like it or not the stories of the commerce of art are as intrinsically linked to it's development and documentation as the historical and aesthetic movements behind the work. What inspired the art, the process of creation and then who in turn chose to buy or preserve lead to me view it at an auction 80 years later. The question of public/social vs private/capitalistic aside it was a pleasure to be inspired both artistically and ethically. Thanks Scott! Here is a portrait I drew of him!

Netflix is completely worth the monthly fee solely for it's amazing documentary selection. Lately I've seen so many jaw dropping, inspiring, informative and compelling films that I would have completely missed otherwise. My friend Peter pointed out that sadly, instead of seeing this plethora of streaming choice as a positive for the documentary world, this just goes to show you how undervalued documentaries are. Apparently Can't Hardly Wait is too valuable to stream, but Oscar winner Man on Wire is fair game?

Some absolute classics of the genre including Thin Blue Line, Paris is Burning, Grizzly Man, The Up Series & Hoop Dreams are currently available on Instant, but Netflix's newer selection is even more varied. They have "hot" titles like The Queen of Versailles, Jiro Dreams of Sushi & The September Issue, but if you are going to start somewhere I would recommend any of these three films:

The Imposter, Dreams of a Life & How to Survive a Plague

These documentaries go beyond the informative talking-head structure of storytelling. They employ new techniques that completely capture and change the emotional involvement of the audience. Seemingly inspired by Errol Morris' creative-artists-meets-journalist trail these films tell intriguing stories in fresh and personally unique ways. These amazing films exceed any limitations you might have previously held about the documentary genre.

Finally actual photographs from Taiwan added! Check them out! 

In the meantime, I just wanted to point out this rock formation I spotted off of the coast of the Green Island (綠島鄉). Looked a bit familiar to me for some reason...

"A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

The Ugly Baby Response is the gut-reaction semi-polite reply after being assaulted with the hilarious visage of someone's un-photogenic progeny. All babies a miracles, but some are more "Old Dancing Man from the Six Flags Commericals" doppelganger-miracles than most. Instead of squee-ing out a lie about "how cute!" or "adorable!" the child is, you can only muster a qualifier-less statements of fact i.e. "Oh my God! Wow! What a baby!," "Look at those FEET!," or "That. is. a. BABY!" The Ugly Baby Responses end up with the sonic quality and cadence of a compliment, but are in fact merely a damning statements of unadulterated reality. 

Luckily I'm confident with my new 'Do (I've had it this short a few times before) so I take the "you are so brave!" and "I wish I had the face for that!" comments with the eye rolls and chuckles they deserve. I made a little animation below to show off my new style! / Play around with Photoshop CS5's updated animation timeline features (basically a mini-After Effects!)

haircut from somethingelsa on Vimeo.

Media Coverage: THE DAILY BEAST, GQ, REFINERY 29, STYLE.COM & FASHIONISTA

 

The world of media production is typically fast-paced with extended lead times that often lead to a "onto the next one" approach and an "out of sight, out of mind" attitude towards finished projects. This working situation can become a frustrating cycle that doesn't allow any time to fully appreciate the fruits of your labor. One of the great things about my previous job working at a busy post-production studio in NYC was that I often saw the projects I worked on all over the city. Bus stops, billboards, taxi tops, pop-up shops, commercials... the campaigns were always all around you. Now in my most recent job on the agency side things, I manage a much larger scope of the campaigns' production and design, but for a smaller roster of clients. So now I am much less likely to run into my jobs out in the wild. 

Since I've finally had some relative downtime (haha!) recently and I've passed my one year anniversary at Laird I thought it would be a good time to update my portfolio. Combing through my archived files, reviewing past design and ultimately finding the work now "live" has been really satisfying. I will try to update this page with those kind of examples more often to not only to better document my work, but as a bit of a pick-me-up and pat on the back in an otherwise hectic industry!

So check out my updated portfolio to find some of my latest jobs and let me know if you spot any of them around!

I have put off updating this site for way too long. My Valentine's Day resolution is to get back in the habit of posting more frequently. Let's see how this goes!

I went to Taiwan for nice 10 day vacation this month courtesy of my ex-step father / still good friend John. We visited with his lovely wife Chingling, her friends & family mainly in Taipei, Taitung (her hometown) & the nearby Lyudao (Green Island). Taiwan was a full of friendly people and natural beauty. Much less crowded or hectic than typical metropolitan areas with plenty of historic sites to visit and amazing local food. I didn't have a deep knowledge of China or Taiwan before I visited, so I was eager to discover and luckily met many people who were excited to share.

We left at the beginning of the Chinese New Year week of celebration which was a great way to end the trip. Happy New Year of the Snake!

You can check out my iPhone/Instagram taken shots in the photography gallery here. I might add some more photos later if I can find enough good shots from my actual camera.