My first post-grad review wasn’t the trial by fire I feared. It went pretty well and once I get my thoughts together after a deep rest I’ll post the final project. Teaser image for now…

I decided to give my photography web site a new look. I still love the horizontal scroll so kept it around in the new design, but ultimately decided that hot pink and lime green would have to take a backseat to a more subdued, refined look. Guess I’m starting to be all groweds upped, huh? Check it out here.

I was approached by private distribution magazine, The Affluent Page to create a companion magazine called Affluent Page Luxury Index. The project spanned just two weeks from initial concept to final production. Flip through the entire magazine here.
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With a very short breather between the midterm and the rapidly approaching final, I have some time to compose my thoughts and push forward. The jury comments were very helpful and the discussion centered around how to further flex the project by reconsidering the scale and configuration. How will this encompass a debate with 500 people, but also a rally with 80,000 people. The first step will be to choose a site and further explore how the platform can engage in diferent locations. Also, to further think about what the moveable skin can project - what are the possibilities of a future technological billboard. Campaign Fever 3010!

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I visited the New Museum on the Lower East Side today. It was designed by Tokyo-based architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa and is an interesting juxtaposition to the buildings that surround it. No photography was permitted in the galleries, and, unlike usual, I wasn’t in the mood to sneakily get some shots off, so I only managed to get shots of the “sky room” and the exterior. Check out a fun time-elapse video of the museum’s construction here.
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I photographed Casa del Bianco’s new studio on the Upper Eastside last week. We also did several product shots of their custom-made linens. I really dug their beautiful fabrics with intricate details and unique colors. Robb Report will be featuring some of these shots in a future issue. More images after the jump.
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One of Olafur Eliasson’s Waterfall installations under the Brooklyn Bridge. New York City.

Literally three weeks after the studio lottery we had our first review. I’ll try not to post too much school work here, but since it’s pretty much all I do everyday and my twos of fans are clamoring for images, I present the first phase of our project - the stump speech platform. I was looking at the idea of an easily deployable core component structure that can be arranged in multiple configurations. The form that hangs from the structure can be adaptable to the situation, from the single expandable billboard of Barack Obama’s individual stump speech that can be unfurled for a rally, to the rolls of paper the candidates run through, when they face eachother at a debate. All the projects in the studio were really exciting and it will great to collaborate on ideas together. As we move forward, I hope to get more hardcore into the parametric and fabrication aspects of the project.

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At last we’ve completed our cross country journey, from the desert Southwest to the plains of Texas to the marshlands of the Creole South and all the way through the Midwest. We were able to see ghost towns, Amish country, mining towns and even held a live alligator. Click to see photos of our journey across this beautiful country.

I always saw my dad write this when he first put a sheet of paper in the typewriter or when we hooked up the new word processor. I thought it was some type of newspaper man’s inside code until some cursory googling revealed that the phrase was a 19th century typing exercise. I still think it sounds better than the ‘the quick brown fox…’ and with tomorrow’s final democratic primary it has an even more urgent political message.

The Summer 2008 issue of Luxury Resorts magazine is now on stands. We photographed two of the 100 properties covered in this lovely magazine. You’ve seen the images of these properties in previous postings, but we couldn’t help but brag about the publication.

Our cross-country travels brought us to yet another destination we may have never otherwise had the opportunity to see. Once the most polluted riverfront in the country, the portion of the Tennessee River that runs through downtown Chattanooga has flourished in recent years in large part due to the new Hunter Museum of Art addition. John briefly worked on this project at the beginning of his employment with Randall Stout Architects and it was a surreal experience to walk through the galleries of something he only until then knew in terms of blueprints and 3-D renderings. The museum perches upon a cliff overlooking the newly revitalized river and its city, making for breathtaking scenery indeed.
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We crossed the country last week in the lap of luxury known as a 12-foot Penske truck. However, the freedom of unemployment allowed us the freedom of time and, as such, we were able to stop at many roadside attractions that we may never otherwise have had the opportunity to see. Stop #1: Cadillac Ranch, Amarillo, TX. Next time you are in the area, pick up a can of spray paint at the nearby Home Depot and make sure to leave your mark like John and I did.
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We loved our unique Venice apt., but the narrow layout posed some challenges in arranging the spaces. Thus was borne a tv stand unique in its own right. Like Norma Desmond theatrically strutting into a room, the design snakes around the awkward corner created by the protruding rear door. It maximized the space in a way so efficient that our landlord chose to keep the can-can dancer around for future guests in what will now become a vacation rental.

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Three and a half years can really fly by. This was taken from a series of portraits I created for my coworkers. Great people and good times. (Unfortunately, the top dog Randall was missing)

We photographed a rental property in Malibu with an amazing view of the ocean. There is literally nothing but a few feet of sand and the Pacific from the edge of this house. Some of these images will run in the August/September issue of Vacation Home magazine.

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I wanted to add a thank you page to my portfolio, something I could give to my family, and was interested in trying a workflow that spanned from rhino to illustrator. Frequently, we use the rhino “make 2d” function to convert a 3d model view into a 2d vector line drawing, and then import into autocad. Here I wanted to incorporate something that also included text. The curving form came from a generic branching script (tree of life?) with the boxes oriented perpendicular to the curve endpoint, like flowers that would contain various names.

Once the shape was constructed in 3d, it became a matter of choosing an appropriate view and running the make2d command. Then bringing the vector lines into illustrator and adjusting lineweights and color. There’s some difficulty in continuing the inherent dynamism of a 3d model into a 2d drawing, but there are absolutely some great possibilities.

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Sure 3d modeling is an efficient way to quickly experiment with the shape of objects related to architectural or automotive design, but it also has vast potential for graphic design applications. There are a lot of great designers out there blurring these boundaries and just like any other field, exploring the possibilities afforded by new technologies. It becomes easy to imagine that a 3-dimensional mark becomes as much a part of the branded identity as a letterhead. While logos become 3d objects to interact with or even inhabit by avatars in the virtual second life.

Alas, after two long months, I have finished my dual site for both my design and photo portfolios. Click on either of the above logos to visit each of the sites, or just go to jackiecaradonio.com.

Took a nice weekend trip to photograph the lovely Montage Resort + Spa in Laguna Beach. The pool is fantastic. Makes the $18 cocktails taste like they are worth their weight in gold. Some of these shots will be featured in the summer 2008 issue of Luxury Resorts magazine, which comes out early May.

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