Photo set: Dinner Series 2012

It really doesn’t get any better than having a delicious dinner at a sleek restaurant surrounded by some of the big players in the advertising industry - Tribal DDB, KBS+P, tag, Y&R. Cundari, Mediacom, and Three Training. In its second year running, Ad Lounge’s Dinner Series was another successful networking event for the bright up and comers. 

I had my chance to wine and dine last year, and if there is one thing I learned from that night, it’s that the advertising world is small - in a good way. I made connections and kept those connections. This year, I was invited to cover the event in photos.

It was a much darker room than I remember since the curtains were down, and I didn’t have my flash (If I were being honest, I wasn’t really planning on using one), and the lighting seemed to be slightly different in various corners of the room. So my 50mm f/1.4 worked real hard, with the help of ISO and exposure tweaks, and I’ve never appreciated it so much. Safe to say that with some tweaking post-shoot, the photos turned out well. See what you missed here.

Finally, a logo!

Next month presents Ad Lounge’s Conversuasion, and guess who got her second invitation to be at the event and take some photos? *woot*

This event, back in 2010, was my first “gig” in photography and helped me realise two important things:

1. I really enjoy event photography
2. I might really enjoy working in advertising

So who knows what’ll happen this year…

Anyway, this event finally pushed me (maybe a little too quickly) to create a logo. While I can’t say there won’t be any rebranding in the future, I’m pretty happy with what I ended up with, given my limited skills…

(And thanks to free fonts from fontsquirrel.com…!)

Thoughts? :)

15 days of January…ok, well, close enough.

My one-photo-a-day attempt, hasn’t worked as well as I’d hoped, but it’s only been 15 days since 2012 started, I’ve got more chances.

Here are some of the things that kicked my year off (clockwise from top left):

1. My second 1,000 Places to See Before You Die calendar - This reminds me to never forget to discover the world and its people. I learned so much from my exchange term and my Europe trip, and this calendar has 365 amazing photos of countries I’d like to see in my lifetime.

2. The Narcissism Epidemic - From reality shows like “My Sweet 16”, facebook statuses with drunk photos from “THE MOST EPIC NIGHT EVERRR” to our obsession with celebrities, our North American society is incredibly self-absorbed, it’s really scary to think what our future holds. I’m fascinated by this cultural phenomena and this book sheds some light on how it started, and what we can do to prevent major disasters.

3. I saw this poster on a recent trip to Urban Outfitters. I laughed and took a photo because I’ve been doing a lot of whining and complaining to get hugs, smiles, and warm fuzzy feelings. Is that too much to ask?
Also, it costs $40. $40 for something I can create on Photoshop and print out.
The economics of this doesn’t make sense to me. Are there people out there who will pay for that?! 

4. Polaroid photos from the VERN Christmas, 2012 edition. I only see these girls a few times every year. I’d say this is one of our best Christmases yet.

5. The most thoughtful present I have ever received. My friend Gen is the absolute best at presents. This year, she took some of her favourite photos of mine and framed them for me. If that doesn’t inspire warm fuzzy feelings, you have a heart of stone.

6. Last but not least, mate. The coffee cup of Uruguay. This is a traditional South American drink, of yerba mate leaves infused in hot water (similar to full leaf tea here in North America). It’s a very social drink, usually shared, with everyone drinking for the same straw - you won’t see North Americans doing that anytime soon. I’ve got a kilo of yerba mate leaves and it’s about time to see why Uruguayans are so addicted to this stuff. Supposedly it’s way better than any caffeinated drink we’ve got here.

Well, there’s 6 pieces of my 2012 year so far. Next time, I won’t cheap out with Instagram.

Cheers.