Branding: PRB

For some reason I hardly post my designing on this blog (which actually takes up most of my work week - business has been great)... it always seems more interesting to post photography and personal stories... but just incase there is anyone out there who appreciates some design, here's a concept I came up with for a client called Pacific Resource Brokers. A clean, modern approach to the Natural Resources Business. As I was researching their competitors, they all had the same "look and feel" - Rustic & Rough. With their business plan in hand, I decided to focus in on a few key words that they used to express the way they want to do business: "Forward Thinking, Earth Friendly, Clean, Modern, Fresh...". I think this logo, color scheme and brand package captures who they are and is accurately geared toward their target market... they thought so too!

We're heading to California tomorrow for a wedding and to visit friends and family. Courtney is going to eat at ALL the places she's been craving the past view months that Bend doesn't have - like "Rubios", "In N Out", "REAL" mexican food, "Rockin' Jennies"...etc... and I will probably gain some "sympathy" weight during this trip :( But hopefully will surf it all off before we come back to Bend. We'll keep you posted on what's happening in Socal through this blog. LATER.

BIRTH: Oliver Blue Dykstra

GREAT NEWS! Oliver Blue Dykstra was born early this morning. Here's his stats: June 14th, 2008, Bend OR, Room 152, 1:30am delivered, 20.5 inches long and coming in at 7lbs 8oz ... he is a happy and healthy little guy. What an unreal experience. So many emotions mixed with so much joy. Great job Randy & Kristin, you guys made all the right decisions and are truly blessed with this baby. Thanks for letting us share this unforgettable experience with you. Here in about 4 months, we'll be journeying through this same situation ... good thing we have more time, b/c we're definitely not ready yet ;) Neither of us have ever been apart of anything like that, so it was a good introduction of what's to come and what we can hopefully expect - A successful delivery! Oh, we had our doctors appointment yesterday and our Doc thinks our baby is a girl... not completely sure... 50/50 ;) But I think we're going with it. Any ideas on girl names?

If you want to see more of the Dykstra delivery, visit our Photography website (CLICK HERE) and navigate to "YOUR IMAGES", Type in the password "Maternity" and the delivery photos are towards the end of the maternity shoot... the complete package :) Enjoy!

CD / DVD Designs

Just finished up with a few antioch CD / DVD designs: "Antioch Guest Speaker Audio/Video" discs, "Kids Minsitry Music Vol 2", and "Mother Kirk Sermons Series" (on the importance of the church). All good stuff! For some reason I've really been into textures, stickers and a certain kind of roughness in most my designing this week. Next week, I'll probably go back to a more clean feel... but who know these day...

Man Trip 201

In 2007 we had our first official Man Trip, and this year we decided to try and do multiple trips that were both "Burrly" and "______" (fill in with manliest word you know). So this trip some fellas and I ventured out for the weekend to hit up the famous Salmon Fly Hatch on the Lower Deschutes River and catch some trout on the ole fly rods. The first day was trout-less, but we had a great time hangin' out, camping and cooking. We thought we were a bit early for the fly hatch, so we decided to head back to our local spot on the Upper Dechutes River and put in the drift boat for the afternoon. The minute we did so, massive thunderstorms started rolling through the area and it was a torrential downpour for several hours! However, in the middle of this rainstorm is when I hooked the fish of the trip! Finally! And then the weather broke and it was a beautiful evening! I brought home the trout to my gorgeous wife, who was stoked I finally brought back a descent enough sized fish ... we cooked and ate it ... delish ... fulfilling my role as "Hunter/Gatherer" :)  End of Man Trip 201.

We [still] Heart Bend

Yup, we still heart Bend, even if it refuses to be summer! We had some uber-fabulous friends from Maui over at our house for the long weekend (Casey & Mele Butler - who recently moved to the Portland area), and the crazy thing is that we didn't even get one picture with them during their visit! Bum deal! We had a killer weekend though... hicking around, eating out, doing a Deschutes Brewery tour, catching some concerts, and all the while wearing our winter jackets :( It's been down in the 50's and a bit raining. But hey, that doesn't stop Bend-ites from getting out-and-about and having some fun. We were able to catch The Decemberists, Modest Mouse, and Death Cab for Cutie (shown in pic) all in concert this weekend at our outdoor amphitheater in the Old Mill District (Bends new "hip-kat" place to be).

Our house is only a few blocks from the Old Mill so we were able to walk to all the weekend "happenings". In doing so, we ran across our favorite little creatures... "Yellow Belly Rock Chucks", or some mights say "Marmots". There is a whole "gaggle" of them here in Bend. We actually have 2 of them that live behind our house on our property and constantly watch us (and we constantly watch them). They are actually cute and cuddly...but rather large! Don't let the photos trick you... they are bigger than house cats! Anyways, that's our crazy weekend! Good Times, Great Oldies... Kool105

Maternity - "Oliver Blue"

Courtney and I were able to do some maternity photography recently with our good friends Randy & Kristin (she's do in a month - having a boy named Oliver Blue). These two have an incredible story! In short: they're newly weds, moved here right after their wedding, didn't have jobs, no insurance and found out they got pregnant on their honeymoon! In addition to that, Kristin finds out she has cancer and is seeking treatment! It's been a real testimony of faith and we feel honored to share life on a weekly basis with such extraordinary people!

PLEASE visit our photography website for a slideshow gallery of the photos we took for the Dykstra's Maternity Session:

CLICK HERE and navigate to "YOUR IMAGES"

Type in the password "Maternity" and enjoy the show.

Warning: some photos are kind of "revealing", but don't worry, Courtney took all those photos :)

Mums-Day

We went down south for a surprise visit to "The Christenson" side of the fam - in honor of Mums day. It was GREAT to get out of town and to just have some fun with the fam. We did a little "Guitar Hero" action... never played it before, but it was really entertaining! Here's some photogs of an evening rocking out with our nieces and nephew!

Austin, TX - Engagement

Introducing Jessie Woods & Craig Gipson! Their wedding date is August 9th (in Laguna Beach, CA) and Court & I will be there capturing it all! What a fun, romantic, cute, energetic couple to shoot for engagement photos! I had such a great time with them Monday afternoon & evening! I flew out for the afternoon and spent about 4+ hours running around Austin photog-ing up the place! What a great city... such character! First we went to the Botanical Gardens, then to the University of Texas (Jessie just finished Grad School and Craig is prepping for the BAR - they are both HUGE Longhorn fans), then we went to the capital building to finish off the shoot. Afterwards they took me out to celebrate Cinco De Mayo at this rad little "TexMex" place with a live mariachi band. 10 hours later I flew back to Bend. What a great quick trip! Congrats Jessie & Craig! Thanks for letting me get a sneak-peak into your life together! Your love for each other is inspiring ... you are an outstanding couple!

The Art Book Event

This Sunday evening marks the ART BOOK EVENT, where we will raise awareness (and hopefully some fund-age) for the publishing of the Art Book and it's partnering network we created called "LAB" - short for "colLABeration". The Art Book is antiochs tool to begin connecting local artists together. Come and find out more information about the Art Book and LAB.

The DL: Sunday night, May 4th, 7-9pm at the Old Mill Marketplace. Address is 550 SW Industrial Way, Ste 44 ... Bend, Oregon of course... Wine, Food, Live Music, Art Book examples (that yours truly designed), voting on the cover and some art presentations will be a-happening! See you there!

Oregon Beach House

We just returned from a stellar weekend at the Oregon coast. We stayed at our friends beach cabin right on the water just north of Tilamook... the best news was that the coast was absolutely beautiful! Clear skies and warm! Yah, who would have thought! We were prepared for the rain and cold but were delightfully surprised the whole weekend. We made the trip with the Parlas (Anthony, Heather, their baby Samantha) and the Fithes (John, Jamie, their puppy Aspen) ... and then there was the two of us ;) Once we have our baby we'll fit in a bit better with most of our friends and their kids / dogs. It was so good to spend time and reconnect with the Fitches and Parlas. It had been way too long!

Although the trip was a couples get-a-way (well, semi-family get-a-way) the boys were still able to get a descent amount of surfing in on Friday and Saturday - thanks girls :) The surf was chest high, clean, and it wasn't that cold! The air temp was in the 50's and the water temp was high 40's. Still cold compared to good ole Maui, but totally doable! Oh, we also went to the Tilamook Cheese Factory... call me "old fashion" but factory tours are so interesting! I feel like an old man writing that, but the fact is that I enjoy finding out how things are made! Just look at those blocks of cheese! So weird!

Grandpa & Grandma Keating

Courts folks were able to come visit us this last week from SoCal! It was so good to celebrate the news of the upcoming baby and be genuinely excited for the little bugger inside Courtney. Dennis and Marsha are overly excited to be GRANDPARENTS (this is their first grand baby on the way) We had an awesome time with "Grandma & Grandpa Keating": snowshoeing, downhill skiing, eatin' out, playing games, catching a movie, walking around, making fires and having meaningful conversations. Dennis spoke at antioch this last Sunday on Psalms 42. Watch the videocast by CLICKING HERE... he spits truth! Well, we're off to the Oregon Coast for the long weekend with our good friend the Parlas and the Fitches! We'll catch you upon our return - with a story and some pics I'm sure.

Antioch Art & Music

The last couple Sundays, as we've been prepping for the art book at antioch, I've had my camera(s) at the morning service... so I snapped some photos of the music and art that we partake of at antioch on an average Sunday morning. Tom Monson & Lori LaBissoniere - above. Justin, Kim, Ian, Travis, JC and Shaun - below

Our Wedding Book

I surprised Courtney on her b-day and gave her a coffee table book with our wedding images (I wrote the story and designed all the layouts). Our photographer, David Hessemer, flew out from Maui for our wedding...amazing imagery! So I put his images and our story into a 40 page book and got it printed just in time for Courts birthday. The book is beautiful! The print quality and construction is superb! This is something that I offer to my photography clients...I take the pictures, design the books, and will even put your story into the design of the book (optional). Everyone I know hardly USES their wedding images after their wedding (even us), so this is a great way to show them off and keep them forever preserved! People LOVE looking through the book and reading our story! Everyone that comes over takes a gander at it and wants me to put their story & photos in a wedding book! Although it is an investment, it's well worth it!

New B.Cards

Got some new business cards in the mail today that will complete my new branding scheme... and I'm really excited about 'em! If you take a look at my website(s), blog, b.cards, quotes, invoices, marketing materials ...etc... you will see a uniform "look & feel." This is something that I stress to my clients - Consistent Points of Contact.

Oh Marriage!

We just got back from an antioch marriage retreat in Portland, OR. There was tons of couples and it was loads of cheeky fun! Here's a picture from the weekend - Disclaimer: some folks may find the image below disturbing...so divert your eyes and don't look. We were downtown Portland and went to the IceBreaker store (New Zealand based clothing store) and they had these sheep pictures with cutouts for your head...thus the following image...

Ooooop! :)

It is official, we're 11 weeks pregnant! Surprise SURPRISE! The story goes like this... We were informed of this shocking news on the 2nd day of our vacation in Maui. We were originally supposta be in Africa (but that trip changed (for the better), so we took ourselves off the team), and then we found a similar trip that was leaving the same day as the Africa trip, but it was going to Nepal to make a documentary on human trafficking (which we couldn't get all the funds together, so that fell through at the last minute). So the two trips happened without us and we couldn't go "save the world", BUT we were able to take an unrehearsed trip to Maui instead...which seemed ridiculous that God would let us go "sun ourselves" in Maui, but not let us go make those documentaries - which we would rather be doing anyways! It didn't make sense to us until the second day we were in Maui and Court took the test...well, three tests just to make sure! 

It was the perfect place to process this shocking news!... away from the day-to-day grind in Bend. It was PERFECT timing and we were able to get a lot of wisdom and guidance from our mentors and friends in Maui.  This baby was no doubt given to us by God, because we were using like three birth control methods to make sure it wouldn't accidently happen. But it did... So, we're still figuring out what this all means and what life will look like with a little baby ...we'll keep you posted! Check back often for updates on Gary Jr ;)  Play the ultrasound video below...

GOOD TO GO!

Alright folks, I finally have everything officially ready to go for my biz (well at least in my head). I "legitimately" launched my design and photo biz back in Jan and things are a-rocking! 2007 taxes are good to go (one of my arms and a leg will be mailed to the feds on April 15th:), my 2008 bookkeeping will be overly organized, and I have all of my websites in working order. If you go to www.garyachristenson.com you will see that I basically have 3 websites...to separate everything out. I have one for Graphic Design, the middle is a Blog (for updates on life and work), and lastly I have a new Photography site that's strictly devoted to my photo biz.

Let us pause for a second and take a look at my life right now.

Here's the quick rundown:

1) Married for 19 months, 2) work part-time at antioch as their Creative Arts Director, 3) run my own businesses (Graphic Design & Photography) in a different office across town, 4) helping launch a non-profit organization 5) just started a business venture with some friends - forming a Media Group - website is still under construction (it's a one stop shop for all things media (audio, video, web, photo, graphics, production...)) Sometimes I hate being an entrepreneur! And I still find time to have fun and travel! What a life...at least it's fulfilling :) Even if my bank account doesn't show so... Life is good my friends!

(re) Web

I just wanted to release the latest design I've been working on for the new and improved antioch website. Should be up in a few weeks! In January antioch outgrew it's old venue and moved to a larger venue for Sunday mornings (Summit), so before the big move I completely rebranded antioch. It was a lot of work recreating everything for their new look (logos, documents, print collateral, signage, banners...). But it's worth it! Everything looks fresh & clean, and it all has a unifying look and feel! This webpage is the final blow to their rebranding. I always tell my clients how important "consistent points of contact" are in their business and sometimes they don't really understand. Thankfully, antioch is all about consistency in how they look, operate, and communicate.

Visit: GaryAChristenson.com

Art & Community

I feel very fortunate to be apart of a community and church that really values artists and the work they do. Antioch values artists so much that they have TWO people on staff to drive the arts ministry...and the crazy things is that the church-plant is only a year and a half old. Some exciting projects and art shows are coming up that I can't wait to be apart of! The project I'm most excited about is the ART BOOK (yet to be named) that will be published this July featuring talented artists from the community (photography, visual art, written word, illustrations...etc).

Maui Recap

Well...our time in Maui has come to and end :(  We've decided that we'll return to the islands sooner than later. Maybe next fall or so. We really did have the best of times revisiting our old stomping grounds! This is goodbye...for now... Alo-freeking-ha! We'll catch you all back in Bend!