WHITNEY

The one thing I know about myself more than anything else: Being creative is the most sure way to make myself happy. I try to do it as much as I can — in my role as a Creative Director at Great Minds, while I worked for Scholastic, doing freelance projects, or creating more personal work on the side. I married to my favorite person in the world in June 2012 and we continue to find new ways to put our creative energy together. As parents to two amazing kiddos, we’re learning how to be creative in completely new ways.

SKILLS and ASPIRING TALENTS

I've been using Photoshop since 2002, Illustrator since 2003, and InDesign since 2004 and I'm very proficient with all three programs.

I designed book covers for years and I have many years of experience in print production from "New Document" til "Proofs Approved". I also love to do typesetting and text design. At the end of those processes, it's really gratifying to be able to put all these elements together and to hold a printed book in my hands.

I have been a lover of printmaking for a very long time and hope find time to do that more in the future. The projects I feature in my portfolio are woodcuts and silkscreening, but I also love linoleum and plan to try my hand at letterpress someday.

I lived in Germany from 2014-2017 and worked hard to learn German upon my arrival — I can manage most conversations at this point. While living there, I collaborated with the German American Center (DAZ) in Stuttgart in various capacities as the “token American”. I got to meet lots of Germans, and teenagers in particular. I enjoyed talking with them about what their lives were like and answering their questions about life, politics, and culture in the States.

On the side, I cook a lot and enjoy attempting new dishes and learning different methods for improving food I already have in my repertoire. I take pride in knowing I have a few "restaurant quality" meals that I can make and even mistakes don't taste too bad most of the time. 

If I'm not doing any of the above, I may be exploring new places with my family, pulling weeds and overgrown saplings from our garden, or (if I’m really lucky) digging in to some creative project for fun.

SAM

I try my best to surround myself with the people I value and the things that can stimulate me to keep exploring. I spent my post graduation years working in the New York film industry as a lighting technician. I've found that work to bring me together with many interesting and talented people as well as a ever changing environment. 

I found myself a partner in crime and decided to do the next big thing: quit living in New York. 

In the spirit of true explorers we worked out a road trip across the United States, before we finally moving to Germany in the late summer of 2014. It was important to me, because before finding a new place to call home, I wanted to see how to other people live: How does one decide this place is better than that one? What do I do to make my life, our life, more fulfilling?

For a complete switch, from 2015-2017 I was cutting my teeth as a media planning technician in Stuttgart; learning about the architectural, media, and lighting design of exhibitions, showrooms, and trade shows. Now I'm back on the east coast, doing film lighting and other photographic work.

WORLD VIEW and COMPETENCE

I bring with my upbringing and schooling a free thinking point of view: When I'm going to find a solution to a problem, I'll find it through making it my own. 

I'm a visual guy: Photos and Video have been in my blood ever since I can remember. I'm intrigued by the way the world fits together, the geometry of it all. Taking pictures and making maps for example are the ways I study and learn. I relentlessly catalog and tag the photos I take using Lightroom.

I am technically minded. You kind of have to be if you want to mess around with electricity, heavy equipment, lights and computers, right? And in Spring 2015 I started using VectorWorks so that my ideas can have a concrete plan.

I like to see things through. Being tasked or tasking myself with a project, a dream or a responsibility to me means respecting whatever that may be. Continuously checking and re-checking (and then adjusting if need be) a project gives me the sense of satisfaction in life I seek.