iLife is Hurtin' My Life

I was so excited to download iLife '11. It has new features for organizing photos, a variety of templates for making memory books and easy slide show options. With the holidays approaching, I can use all the help I can get organizing our photos from the year and designing calendars for our families as gifts. Offering calendars to clients would be a great holiday service.

The download went fine. My pictures and videos converted to the new version quickly. But my excitement was short lived when I went to make a calendar.

The first red flag came when there was no 'calendar' option from the handy display menu. I checked every drop down menu from the toolbar. I couldn't figure out how to find the option to make a calendar - let alone make the calendar - which really seemed counter intuitive to the most intuitive program I've used.

When I attempted to open a previously published calendar, this is the message I got: "Editing and ordering calendars is not currently supported in this version of iPhoto"

WHAT?!!

How can Apple release a new version of iPhoto so close to the holidays and not offer such a high demand option as a calendar?! I was baffled. Can I remove iLife '11 and reinstall my previous iPhoto? What does that do to my photos, which have already been converted to the new versions? Ugh.

I'm pretty disappointed. So disappointed I caught myself looking at this new gizmo from Dell.
It would be fine to work with another online photo ordering company such as shutterfly or  snapfish, but I've been an Apple fan for ages. All of the memory books, cards and calendars I've ordered have worked out perfectly and with no inconvenience. Until now.

Stop Dot

At print > pixel we love pictures. So naturally, that means we love stop motion video, the process of taking still photographs and running them together to form movie-like action. This is an amazing short movie shot on a Nokia N8 cell phone connected to a microscope.

My life should have iLife '11

Apple announced the newest upgrade to their photo management/movie building/music making suite, iLife. There are some pretty cool updates to utilize, but we here at print>pixel are super jazzed about the iPhoto features. Little enhancements like uploading pictures directly to Facebook, a geographic map display using Places, and a full screen display are amazing. There are more options for building slide shows, photo books and cards. There is even....wait for it...a letterpress card option! I could barely contain my excitement while watching the info film on it.
iMovie also has a number of improvements. In addition to Aperture, we do put slide shows together in iMovie for expanded presentational possibilities. Making trailers, gaining more flexibility with audio soundtracks and new 'one-step effects' will be fun to play with.

This very user-friendly package works for the majority of Apple's customers. The tools make our work easier, making it easier for clients to catalog or share their treasured memories. The Apple site has a number of tutorials and if you're a new user you can take advantage of the one to one sessions, where you can work with a creative professional at any Apple store to learn the software or complete projects.

NGHS, All Right! Yeah!

Business has picked up this month, which is great! But I have to say the project I'm most excited about this week is a slide show for my 20th High School Class Reunion. Print and digital pictures have been sent to me by my classmates, and I'm scurrying to put all of these hilarious images together. I've had '80s songs drumming through my head since I began this project (that's ridiculous if you know me; I always have '80s songs drumming through my head!) But here's a cover by Bay Area duo Pomplamoose that I've been jammin' to all morning. It's like, totally awesome!

Summertime Blues

This is my third summer as a stay-at-home parent. However, it is my first summer as a work-from-home parent.

During the summer vacations I try not to book my older daughter into too many activities or classes so we can have lounge time together, read, work in the garden or tackle home projects (she has painted many walls with me in our house). My youngest still requires an afternoon nap, so we plan our errands or park outings for the morning, come home to have lunch and some quiet time. We stick to the back yard later in the afternoon or eat dinner outside.

Our first summer with two kids was pretty stressful. I was still unpacking from our year in California while tending to a baby and attempting to convince my oldest she still had my attention. My husband was also changing careers.

We had a better groove last summer, where both kids (then ages eight and one), were content in the wading pool while I brainstormed ideas about a home business.


This summer I have had time for one role only: Referee.


My girls, now ages nine and two, are constantly bickering. #1 attempts to reason with #2. #2 repeats everything #1 says. #1 gets mad, yells. #2 yells back. Sometimes I let them yell it out until they call for me. Sometimes I just separate. Most times I give threats. Once in a while, treats.

In June, I imagined the girls could play together long enough for me to squeeze in an hour or so of work. It hasn't really happened that way. When my husband took some vacation time, I thought I'd be off the hook, but that was almost worse.

I always knew I needed to put certain expectations aside when my children were young. That self satisfaction would have greater limits: Fewer date nights, less time with girlfriends, fewer books read, stricter budgets. I even accepted that my "work" now exhibited itself within the minds and bodies of two little girls. But now that I have a mentally stimulating and creative outlet - a business -  I need to restrict myself in other areas in order to make room for the business.

Restricting time with my family just doesn't seem right for me at this point. So the business gets shifted down the priority chain a notch.

But I'm not powering down entirely-I'm taking some time to build a website, stylize our logo, organize our branding, marketing and packaging so that once the first leaves fall from the trees we'll be able to boost print > pixel's visibility. Then, at least, I can push that 'Referee' title further away.

Travis! You're a Year Too Late!

 If you're looking at this blog, you can see that print > pixel is a big fan of letterpress (if unclear, please see business card sample, above).

So I am salivating at the new print shop Levi's opened on San Francisco's Valencia Street. The neighborhood is an amazing testament to the best big cities can offer on an intimate scale. The Bay Area branch of Dave Eggers' 826 fabulousness  is located there, creative design mecca The Curiosity Shoppe stands across the street, along with Dog Eared Books and a number of restaurants, design spots and cool shops. It was just a year ago this week that I was there last, taking in the eclectic heartbeat of that part of SF.

Apropos to say 'salivating' because the Levi's Print Shop will have a session for students from a local Edible Schoolyards program with Chez Panisse founder, Alice Waters. The students will put together a book of their printed works after a discussion with Waters about finding art in the garden.

Knowing the issues Levi's has had in the past decade to stay hip and current in the age of high-end denim (not to mention solvent and scandal-free), I think this is a pretty shameless ploy to carve a niche. But brilliant? Definitely.

If you've never rolled the cuffs on your Levi's to match the cigarette pack you rolled into the sleeve of your white T-shirt or worn your shrink-to-fit 501's in the bathtub, then this is the perfect opportunity to jump on the crafty bandwagon and gain some exposure to the company that defined denim. Design and handicraft are gaining exposure every day. As much as the next generation loves technology, print is taking on entirely new dimensions.

If this communal hub isn't inspiring enough for you--and as a business owner I am very inspired by companies who choose to not only put a face, but a philosophy behind a brand--Levi's takes it up a notch. This year, Levi's is collaborating with the city of Braddock, PA. They've invested in the town's community center, library and urban farm to help rebuild a city that needs rejuvenating. There are a couple of short films on the site introducing various townspeople and the "Ready to Work" campaign.

I was awed by the stories they told, the images of a once-thriving mill town looking more like a ghost town. But the hope these residents share, their commitment to their town is inspiring. It felt like a positive step and I had my own hope that maybe Levi's would build a factory in Braddock, bringing not only jobs, but truth to the tag, "Made in the USA."

In case you weren't quite sold on the idea of stacking a pair of Levi's next to your 7's, Joe's or Citizens, the site also offers free music downloads on their Pioneer Sessions site from happening musicians like She & Him, The Shins, Raphael Saadiq and The Swell Season. The artists do a great job covering older tunes. I especially love The Swell Season's rendition of "Young Hearts Run Free."

So check out the site. Watch a movie. Download a song. And if you aren't putting some jeans in your virtual shopping cart, I'd be surprised. Yes, it's an advertising campaign. But it's also giving some good people some good tools for their futures. We can't really say that here at print > pixel yet, but we're keeping watch and taking notes for our future.

Oh, and here's a little extra something, just for fun:

Diorama for Dada

I know this is a bit late, but while snooping through our photos, I remembered this fun project we whipped up for Father's Day.

Inspired by Photojojo's tutorial we were able to pick a couple of pictures, cut out the figures and glue it all together in a matter of minutes. Not bad for a late card idea. This diorama was for my father-in-law, who always loves pictures of the grandkids, so I added an envelope to the bottom of the page to insert a few extras.

You can do so much with this idea, whether you want to create an entire cityscape with people walking around or cut out paper wings for your little angels to float around a blue sky. Or, if you have vintage photos you can re-create some fond memories. Wedding photos come to mind...
We'll experiment more to get some exciting scenes together.