Ducati Monster in Florence Italy

Here is a little ad that I made for fun, from a picture that I took when I was travelling in Florence. I’m currently working construction so sometimes it’s nice to get my creativity going, and perhaps attempt to sharpen my Photoshop skills.

I was walking all day around one of Europe’s best cities, when I came across my favourite motorcycle: The Ducati Monster. Naturally, I had to snap a few pics. Which isn’t unlikely, considering I filled up a 2 tb hard drive from my pictures and videos during the 6 month trip. So yeah, I took a lot.

But there was something about the image that seemed to connect with me. It must have been that the bike is Italian made and just happened to be parked perfectly on a small Italian side street; which in hindsight I realize isn’t very unlikely either. But I snapped the pictures and continued exploring.

Social Media: A Few Of My Favourites

Would you like a Tropical Caesar with your Brunch? Yes Please!

During my time working for a digital marketing startup in Vancouver, one of my main duties was updating and advertising for our clients’ social media pages. One of the clients that I managed social media for was a restaurant in Burnaby called Cozmos Cafe + Bistro. Another client that I was in charge of was an established realty and property management company in Vancouver. Here are some of my favourite posts and social media content that I created.

I made this post when interstellar had just hit the theatres. This idea popped into my head when I was trying to think of posts for the upcoming week. I needed to promote the restaurant and wanted something timely and relevant. On a few occasions I would use the “dinner and a movie” idea to keep Cozmos in the mind of potential customers when their hunger strikes. So when I saw that Interstellar was in theatres, the cosmos pun came to me pretty quickly. I’m always trying to think of a good play-on-words, and to be honest I probably think the joke is a lot funnier than it actually is.

Video: European Christmas Markets

Here’s a video that I filmed and edited during my recent trip through Europe. For this video, I put together all my favourite clips from the footage I recorded at the Christmas markets that I visited this past December. The Christmas markets that I visited were in Marseille, Paris, Bremen, Hamburg, Brussels, and Nürnberg.

The highlights for me were taking in the sights and enjoying the Christmas cheer. It’s amazing how lavishly Christmas is celebrated in Europe. Their many different traditions are reminders of how rich and extensive their history is. A few of my favourite things from experiencing European Christmas are the traditional food, drinks, and activities.

Design: Shifting Gears Album Art

This is the album art that I designed for the EP of a small local band (Dirty Mike and the Boys). They came to me asking for a design for their album called “Shifting Gears.” The band gave me a few images from Google to point me in the direction of the “vibe” they were looking for. So I gave them a few samples from those images and we headed in the direction of the final image (top).

Once I had a good idea of the band’s ideal image, I started the design from scratch. I decided to try a more simplistic design with emphasis on the typography to try and make it appealing and easy on the eyes. Originally, I showed the band a preview of the art with a flat black and white background (right), and they had asked to see something with more going on in the background to give it some texture. So I started to think of what I could add as texture. I ended up thinking of the idea of crumpled paper because I wanted the image to reflect their band and their album title. The reason I thought of crumpled paper is because I thought of it being their first album from a relatively new band. It reminded me of the process of writing a song. The ideas on paper, writing them down, thinking and then starting over, crumpled up paper, shifting gears.

Video: My Vacation in Cuba

Here is the video that I filmed and edited of my amazing vacation to Cuba with my girlfriend Jenna. It was filmed entirely using a GoPro Hero 3 black edition over the course of one week in August.

Our all inclusive vacation in Varadero was an extremely relaxing break from reality. We ate lobster and drank mojitos by the pool and on the beach. We rented mopeds, went scuba diving, drove four by fours, sailed along the beach and drank coffee right from the farm. We took a day trip into the historic city of Havana where we saw beautiful classic cars and the bar and hotel that Ernest Hemingway spent most of his time. We bought and smoked cigars, and drank Havana Club, just because Cuba.

It was a truly amazing vacation and just reminiscing about it now is making me wish I was back there. If you’re thinking of your next vacation destination and want to try something a little different, I would definitely request that you book a trip to Cuba.