one of my personal projects keeping me busy in between other things is a re-brand of our company. this is a little peek at what’s to come. our new logo and company name - being wicked. once the site is launched, i can go into more details. we’ve debated on a lot of things, but hopefully we’ve made some great steps in the right direction for us and where we want our company to be in the coming years.

We, at ATG, also want to I invite all our readers to de-lurk and comment tomorrow as we will randomly pick one lucky commenter to receive a free copy of The Boss of You. So, if you are keen to get your hands on a great book, or just looking for some really good advice on being a good boss, make sure to head over tomorrow.

In this latest issue I interviewed author, foodie rockstar and truly wonderful friend, Felicia. I’ve mentioned Felicia’s book, The Sky Isn’t Visible from Here, before and for this interview I got to ask Felicia a few questions about her book, and then of course food. Our conversations must always get to food eventually. I “met” Felicia online back in 2002. She, along with 4 other people, had items in the very very first All Things Girl issue. Yep, we’ve known each other for a really long time, but sadly have yet to meet in person. One day soon though. I owe her a few great dinners at least, and perhaps she can give me a lesson or two in the kitchen. She has always been incredibly supportive and, thanks to her, Dynamic Vantage has received a number of clients via word of mouth.

I’m working with her and Suzanne on a new project which I am really so excited about - Crave The Dish (didn’t I say everything comes back to food?). I am hoping to have more on this in the coming weeks. I’m pretty chuffed with how the design has turned out, so I’m looking forward to getting it all built out and ready for launch!

Dockworkers in South Africa have blocked a Chinese arms boat from reaching Zimbabwe… but the crackdown continues. As the ship moves up the Southern African coast looking for a new port–and China weighs whether to recall the weapons–African unions, citizen groups, and church organisations are launching a campaign to stop arms from fuelling the Zimbabwe crisis.

If you need some incentive, simply visit This is Zimbabwe and view some of the photos of what is happening to people in Zimbabwe. Their crime? Voting against a tyrannical party. Expressing their freedom to vote. Speaking out. Forewarning: some of the photos are rather difficult to view.

How to Work Better by Fischli/Weiss (1991). Love this! I’m thinking I may want to print this out on a really nice bold colour background and frame it.

for real news about what is going on in zim, this is a great blog:
This is Zimbabwe

gotta love this:
Young Me - Now Me

things are getting more asinine for photographers just trying to enjoy themselves:
Verboten

this cracks me up. “how do you answer that?” well, exactly:
Hillary can’t answer

gotta try kuler now. veerle gives some great colour tips:
Adobe Kuler update and color tips

Failure can be a stepping stone to success. It all depends on how you deal with it really. I love the idea of looking at failure as a good thing. A learning experience that will allow you to get closer to success. Admittedly, I often roll my eyes at the in-your-face morals that Disney movies seem to throw at you, and in all honesty the moral of this story is just as obvious, but in the setting with these characters and story it worked perfectly. Definitely a movie I recommend.

On a completely different note, we are off to Ireland for a few days. Hopefully I’ll have some good photos to share when we return.

I’m not big into a lot of the tricks you hear about when it comes to photographing food (I actually like to eat a lot of what I shoot), but I’ve learned a few things:

(more…)

Cutting that cord was a scary moment. I had debated doing it for the longest time and had even cut down my hours to just 3 days a week since DV was bringing in so much work. I finally realised though that I wasn’t going to build my business while having to spend so much of my time elsewhere. My husband and I work together for ourselves now. It’s still a scary thought at times, especially when you worry that you won’t have enough projects lined up, but I’m still so glad I took the step. So far, things have been going brilliantly and the projects continue to come in. We are fortunate to work with some really fantastic clients, so it’s an exciting time.

Recently, a friend asked for some advice about going freelance and starting up her own biz. I’m not sure I’m really qualified, but I think I’ve learned a lot (sometimes the hard way) over the years. If I can give anyone advice on starting their own design business, it’s this:
(more…)