Monthly Archives: June 2011

Dolce Far Niente

June 24, 2011

I met some friends from out of town for a late breakfast at one of my favorite restaurants, Normandie Cafe. They use to live in Salt Lake and go to this same restaurant, so there is a kind of kindred connection with it. As we were sitting on their amazing patio, sipping hot coffee, and chatting, I had the extremely relaxed thought that life was meant to be lived in this fashion. Enjoying the company of friends and family, eating good food, and not taking life too seriously. I am more guilty than most for not living this way. I always have a project or eight that I am working on and my brain never stops working. I often wake up in the middle of the night with thoughts of something I was trying to work on earlier in the day. But here I was sitting on their cobbled patio, with the sun warming my back, thinking about how I should live a more relaxed life.

This brought back a quote from a movie I had seen recently called Eat Pray Love. In this movie, Julia Roberts is trying to figure out who she is after a series of break-ups and she ends up in Rome. She befriends a girl from Amsterdam and a local group of Roman men. The one scene in particular is Julia and her friend in a barber shop with their two Roman friends and they are talking about how Americans take life too seriously.

Luca Spaghetti “Americans. You work too hard, you get burned out. You come home and spend the whole weekend in your pajamas in front of the T.V.”
Liz “That’s not far off, actually.”
Luca Spaghetti “But you don’t know pleasure. You have to be told you’ve earned it. You see a commercial that says: ‘It’s Miller Time!’ And you say, ‘That’s right, now I’m going to buy a six pack.’ And then you drink the whole thing and wake up the next morning and you feel terrible. But an Italian doesn’t need to be told.”
Giovanni “We call it ‘dolce far niente’, the sweetness of doing nothing.”

Dolce far niente. Say it again. Dolce far niente. The sweetness of doing nothing. Sitting right off of the busy Murray Holladay Road watching the world go by as I had breakfast at 10:30, I was reminded of the sweetness of doing nothing. It was one of those quiet moments that you wish would never end. But it is those rare moments that make you appreciate them that much more.

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Gretchen - Well said!July 10, 2011 – 4:44 pm

Gretchen - Well%20said!July 10, 2011 – 4:44 pm

Kirk - Thank you Gretchen. You would love this place. It feels very European.July 11, 2011 – 9:32 am

Intentional Design

June 23, 2011

I can’t tell you how many times I have spoken to someone about design or branding, only to have them tell me that typography, color, branding, etc. doesn’t matter. Normally, I just blow this off as a person that doesn’t know, nor care to understand the time and effort that go into creating a brand. That is okay. It is the same as saying that I should understand calculus (which I don’t) because it is important to a math professor. Whether it is calculus, marketing, or politics, all of these are relevant in the world we live in.

I read this article today on the new campaign that Benetton is putting together. If you are still reading this then you may find the article pretty fascinating. The thought process and effort that went into their design is pretty incredible. One thing that really got me, was their design book. It is incredible. Here is the article posted on Brand New. They do a fantastic job of diagnosing new branding of different companies. Just so you know, there is one of Benetton’s ads that does show a woman’s breast. FYI.

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Headshots

June 23, 2011

A local company called me up and needed a rush on some headshots for one of their new reps. I was in the middle of doing some product photography on white seamless and it just happened to work out that they wanted a white background. So an hour later they showed up and we got a few quick shots that they could use on their marketing.

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NEW Hydro-Force SX-15

June 23, 2011

SX15-email-sheet-horizontal
mag-ad-SX15SX15-brochure_openSX15-brochure-backSX15-brochure-detail

This is a project that I have been very excited about, and now that it has been released I can share some of the marketing materials that with accompany this awesome new product. They were very open to suggestions for the look and feel of this design, and I am glad that they decided to go with the darker and more dramatic look for this product. The darker background, similar to an all white background, focusses your attention singularly on the product and not a busy “design” background.

This is a brand new product and there were a lot features that they wanted to highlight. Keeping the copy to a minimum on the magazine ad and brochure, and using large headlines with the photos, means the reader can digest the entire idea of the product very quickly.  Of course, there is much more descriptive copy if the reader so chooses to read more.

I am very excited about this release and seeing the branding and marketing people opening up to new ideas.

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Jars Filled With Summer

June 10, 2011

I read this article on Sweet Paul Magazine (a must read for great photography and food lovers) and I am quoting it here. It really struck a cord with me as I had a very similar experience with my grandma and her apple tree. Perhaps it is the innocence and wonder of youth, but I can’t eat an apple pie now without thinking of her. Funny how none of them can compare to hers.

“Jars Filled with Summer

“My grandmother’s cherry tree and her jam.

“When I was a kid we had  a huge old cherry tree growing outside our house. My grandfather planted it when he bought the house and it had reached the roof when I was born. It was so beautiful and really the talk of the neighborhood.

“As a kid I could stand at my bedroom window eathing cherries. They were warm, sweet and juicy. My grandmohter and great aunt would pick the tree every summer and turn the cherries into jam. The whole house would smell sweet for weeks. They filled up our pantry with not only cherry jam, but strawberry jam, apple chutney, apple sauce and lots more. All winter we had jars filled with summer.

“That’s what my grandmother would say: ‘Paul, lets go down to the pantry and get a jar of summer.’

“She would use the jam as filling in pies, serve it with roeasted chicken and simple spread it with butter on freshly made waffles. The sad thing in all this is that a few years later the whole treeneeded to be taken down. The roots started to ruin the foundation of the house and simple had to be cut away. I remember my grandmother crying when they did it. I’m sure she had lots of happy memories of the tree.

“To this day I still call a pot of cherry jam ‘a jar of summer’ and I make it every year, the same old recipe that she used. And now I’m passing it on to all of you. Enjoy!”

Mormor’s Cherry Jam

Makes 4 8oz jars
4 cups whole sweet cherries
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 tablespoons rum
1 teaspoon powdered pectin
4 cups sugar

1. Rinse the cherries weill. 2. Pit and chop up the cherries and place in a large saucepan. 3. Add lemon juice, lime juice, rum, pectin and sugar. 4. Let the mixture simmer for 20 minutes. 5. Sterilize your jars by boiling in water for 4 minutes. 6. Ladle the jot jam into he jars, seal with the lids. 7. Place in a large saucepan with a little water on the bottom. 8. Place the cans inside and let them “cook” for 5 minutes. 9. Let them cool, they’ll be ready after 24 hours. 10. Store in a cool place.

As summer is finally beginning to hit Utah, I can’t wait to go buy some fresh cherries and give this recipe a try. I too want a little jar filled with summer.

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Gretchen - Love this! I too, always think of Grandma when eating apple pie. We planted two apple trees in our backyard 4 years ago because I want my kiddos to grow up with fruit trees. Do you remember the apple tree in our front yard? Sometimes on Sunday afternoons in the fall we would pick apples an make fresh apple pie!June 10, 2011 – 3:51 pm

Kirk - I do remember. It is gone now, but I guess that is part of evolution. It is great that you give that experience to your children. Making a homemade pie (or anything) seems to be something that is going away. It is so much easier to go buy a pie. I will let you know how ours turns out.June 23, 2011 – 11:08 am

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