Entry for Creative License Competition
By Danny Nathan
7 Aug 2007
1. What kind of designer are you?
Art Director/Graphic Designer
2. What did you want to do for a living when you were a kid?
That varied on a daily basis, but it usually revolved around theatre and acting.
3. What is it about your design work that makes your photography better? And vice versa? Where do you see parallels between the two?
My creative eye as a designer and a photographer helps create a solid balance between my design and photographic work. In many ways each is simply balancing the elements within the field of view (whether that's a piece of paper or a viewfinder).
4. What do you find most challenging about your work?
Keeping my professional work as fresh and exciting as my "extracurricular" work. Of course, the opportunity to meld the two into one paying passion would be ideal, but that's easier said than done.
5. Do you have design heroes? Photography heroes?
So many that they're hard to keep track of. I have websites out the wazzoo bookmarked on my home computer. Sites that I continually check back on to see what someone is doing now, what they've changed, etc. I'm also really interested in work that blurs the lines between photography and design. Vault49 does an amazing job of that style of work.
6. Name some unexpected sources of inspiration you've had.
Young designers. I'm constantly amazed by the number of up and coming designers who are doing fantastic work before they're even out of high school or college. I constantly kick myself for not having had the foresight and discipline to explore my visual interests earlier. Or to record my theatrical endeavors in some manner that could have grown into my current work.
7. Do you have any regular habits/exercises that make you a better designer? Photographer?
I try not to become too habitual in my conceptual work. I guess my best habit is continuing to study the tools/programs at hand to better my familiarity with them. I think the better you know your tools, the less you actually have to think about how you use them and the more they can become a part of your workflow.
Lately I've also been constantly trying to remind myself to look for smaller moments in my photography.
