ATC Internship Update #1

Hello, my fellow internet denizens! I've been working really hard at the ATC and doing some really cool stuff, but I finally got some time to write an update about how things have been going and the work I'm doing for them!

First off, I would like to say that the people I work with are super awesome, friendly, intelligent, and just all around fun people to hang out with and that makes the environment a great place to work and feel welcome in! I get to interact with staff members from almost every department in the organization due to it's small size and everyone is great! Some days I even get to chat with the director of our company in the break room as we get coffee (which is for me and not being fetched for other staff members.)

 John, my supervisor, the graphic designer/web developer and Javier, the director of the Communication department are especially awesome to work with. Both of them allow me to be creative with any project I work on and from there, help me refine my ideas to fit company branding standards.They also assist me with any technical problems I run into. Overall, they exceeded my expectations of what it's like working in a professional environment, and while I understand that not all directors or supervisors will be that cool, I am very thankful that mine are really understanding, supportive, and honest about my work and my experience at the ATC.

As far as the work Im doing, I have mostly been working on graphic design projects for the organization such as logo, poster and flyer design, but I do some other things as well regarding video work, photography and marketing/advertisement campaign advisement, but for now, I want to exhibit some projects I completed earlier in the semester.

For my first project, I was tasked with creating a logo for T-shirts and other merchandise with a sporty feel for hikers who hike from Georgia to Maine using the abbreviations for the states to make the acronym GAME. In just an afternoon, I was able to come up with a rough concept of a pair of crossed hiking poles with block type to make it feel sporty, emulating sports logos for reference.  

This project was a fun way to start my work with the ATC because the project was something that they had been wanting to work on for a while but never had the time to work on it. It wasn't something that was time sensitive or that had a deadline so I got to work on it freely without any external pressure. Shortly after though, things got busy again so I couldn't spend any more time on it, but hopefully it will see it's way to the printing press someday!

That concludes my first update post about my internship! I will be sure to post another update in a few days about some more projects I have finished and ones I am currently working on. Thanks for reading in the mean time though!

   

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy Welcomes Me As One Of It's Interns!

As a senior, part of my curiculum in the communication department here at Shepherd University requires me to work at least 140 hours interning with a company or organization that has a division who's purpose is related to my field of study.

Now, the Panhandle of West Virginia isn't necessarily the hub of all things media and communications related, so I knew that finding a an internship that I liked and that I felt would help me get a good job in the future was going to be difficult so I started my search at a job fair and applied for a Discovery Channel internship and a radio station internship in Greencastle, PA which I was accepted to work for. My hope was for me to get the Discovery internship since that one was paid and also a lot more impressive, but alas, I was not selected for a position in their program.

I was pretty bummed that I didn't get that one and I honestly wasn't too excited about the radio station one because of bad hours, no pay and a long drive, so I applied for a intern position at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) in Harpers Ferry last minute hoping that I could get accepted there, and sure enough, out of 500 plus people, I was selected along with 5 other people to be part of the the marketing department there. The internship wasn't paid, but I didn't really mind because of the short drive and the steady work schedule. I was also really excited to work with a not for profit organization because I have concerns about my lending my skills to an organization that seeks to simply make money and nothing else. I want to be part of something bigger with a constructive purpose so the idea of being part of something bigger then business and money was really appealing to me (The casual atmosphere of this place is a plus too!)

In the end, I made peace with my rejection by the Discovery Channel and embraced the opportunity I had been given with the ATC and so far, everything has been wonderful, educational, and fun and I'm very thankful for this experience. I'll be sure to share some of my experiences here in the coming days!

Okay, folks!! That's a wrap!!!

As the yellow exporting bar finally reached it's render goal of 100%, I got that feeling that I believe that all creators get when they finnish one of their works. They take a deep, proud breath and breathe a sigh of relief mixed with a sigh of accomplishment. That was me tonight. Seeing that bar fill up and then ding was like music to my ears.

After a month and a half of planning, writing, filming, editing, designing, printing, more editing and waiting, I have finally completed my final product. My film, "Living Life Offline," is finally complete!!
I feel very proud of this accomplishment given the amount of time and the resources I had to work with which was a sparse portion of each as my time was also being shared with other projects and my equipment and financial situation was minimal.

The process to get here though was very difficult and was sometimes, sorry, most of the time very frustrating as there are always unexpected bumps in the progress followed by redoing something that you thought was good but wasn't, to forgetting where certain files were and then staying up all night fixing it and so on and so forth...

But, I still had a great time making this film and if anything, it has confirmed that even though this field isn't easy it is a great feeling to make your vision come true and that makes it all worth it. Plus I actually enjoy shooting and editing so that helps a lot too! I look forward to a future full of creation, inspiration and sharing my visions with the world.

If you're interested in seeing the film, I will write a blog with a link to the Youtube link or you can view it soon on my film's Facebook page

The home stretch

As the date for showcasing our projects nears, I scramble to get everything in order for presentation.

Most of it is assembly work. 98% of the shooting is done along with the editing, audio, motion graphics  and the poster for the film is done.

I plan on doing just one or two more interviews before I wrap this whole thing up since I only have interviews given by younger college aged people and a teenager. I wanted to cover a larger range of age so hopefully my older interviewee has time to answer a few questions for me.

Other than that, I feel like the bulk of the project is done.    
My attention now turns toward working on blogs and and getting things ready for show.

I'm working on organizing my deliverables like my interviewee's signatures and information all filled out and getting ready to work on an online portfolio in a few days. I also will have to set aside some time to get some research information ready for the show.  
Here's where it would have payed to not put them off so long but I'm confident in my abilities to have everything ready for the show. 

Research Update: Getting the facts in place.

The time has come yet again to update you guys on the status of my project and I have some great news: Everything is going well!

I have been busy creating motion graphics for the intro, filming interviews, collecting more research and editing my studio footage. All in all, things are moving along very nicely. 

But to be a bit more in depth, I want to elaborate more on the research I am doing for this project. Due to the the lack of applicable information regarding the creation of ethnographies, that is the video documenting ideas and concepts with facts not playing as much of a roll. Not to say that they don't but they're not as critical to the idea.

The research I am doing for this project though relates to information regarding studies done by universities, software companies and doctors about the media and how it relates to the public on a personal and social level.

One of my sources for the medical side effects related to media.

 So pretty much that means that I'm looking up numbers regarding how many hours a week people spend online, health fallouts branching from an overexposure of media and also information on what kinds of mediums spend a lot of time on. As for the actual information I collected, well, you'll just have to wait and see it in the film which I will eventually provide a link to.

Other than that, there's not too much else I felt like I needed to research. As i stated, most of this project is mostly a collection of a group's ideas and concepts of what they think about my topics of discussion. 

Proof of Attendance: Artomatic Show

For the whole month of October, Jefferson County has it's own art spotlight with the opening of the Artomatic art gallery.  Located in Charles Town at the old Rock & Tile building, the gallery features local artists from around the area ranging from photographers, sculptors, painters and musicians and is open to the general public free of charge, which is why I decided to swing by. The Shepherd University art department also had a presence there with some pieces by students and professors so that was another reason to go.

I went to the Emerge art show earlier in the day so art was still on my mind and I was ready to see some local work and compare works and compare I did.

While I did enjoy some of the works at Artomatic, mostly the Universities' pieces, I felt a definite change in atmosphere in this art environment compared to Emerge and not on a finance level, but on a creative level. The art in Artomatic felt more like a hobby exhibition than an art gallery and Most of the pieces there failed to engage me as the day's earlier exhibition. It may have had something to do with me already have gone to a show, but in terms of concept, composition, creativity and execution, the works were a bit lacking.

Most of the artists were local and a bit older in years so the whole thing had that feeling of a social art hangout spot for them to meet, share their works and maybe, just maybe sell a piece to a casual art collector looking to spice up their place, which isn't a bad thing. It's just not what I was expecting from an art gallery.

Overall, I didn't have a bad time, but I would have loved to have seen some more interesting, contemporary work.

The show will be held every weekend until october ends, so If you want to experience some casual art or take the family out, then this is a great event and if you are a serious artist, don't pass it up because art is still art. It may not be next level, but where there is creative energy, there can be inspiration.
 

Proof of Attendance: Emerge Art Show

Once a year in Washington D.C. there is an art show called, "Emerge,"

and it features some of the nations finest contemporary independent and gallery artists.

I was able to attend this event along with fellow students a few weeks ago and it was truly a wonderful experience. The event was held at a hotel and from the parking garage to the restrooms on the 2nd floor almost every area of it was chalked wall to wall with work from different artists.  

In the brief 2 hours thatI was there I must have seen over hundreds of paintings, photographs, sculptures and installations from artists all across america. 

From chandeliers in the swimming pools, to beautiful paintings made from oil and silk, the amount of variety in the artist's creations were both fascinating, provoking, and inspiring.

As stated in an earlier blog, I mentioned that the more art I see the more inspired I am and that still rings true in this case. In fact, I saw so much great art that by the end of the day I had a bit of a headache from all the pieces and it took me the rest of the evening to process it all before I finally was able to rest my mind. 

Emerge was definitely worth the time and money to attend and I highly recommend that artists and art lovers attend this event next year and partake in the great joy of contemporary art.