editorial

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Wednesday, February 12, 2025
February 12, 2025

Letting Pictures Talk

Do you ever read through the news and get the feeling that you’re missing something, that somehow all the context isn’t there? That’s where I’m at this morning. The new stories feel incomplete and, since I’m not sitting in every newsroom worldwide, I can’t easily push for more info. I’m frustrated. There’s too much going on that’s fundamentally important while we’re simultaneously being bombarded with bullshit such as the Gulf of MEXICO.

Where I do find some clarity is in the different images and editorial cartoons that cross my path. I can’t share some of them because I can’t validate their core premise. But for those that I can confirm, let me give you a taste of what I’m seeing.

Will Bunch, Philadelphia Enquirer

Last one:

I did have a long and interesting conversation with G yesterday afternoon. I know it’s easy to think that the kids aren’t paying attention to what’s going on in politics, and some don’t, but here are some of the topics our 16-year-old raised:

  • The relationship between advanced math and critical thinking skills.
  • The importance of the Department of Education
  • The need for colleges (all of ’em) to provide vocational education in addition to traditional courses of study
  • The basic illegality of DOGE and everything it does
  • How ads that are more entertaining than informative hold your attention longer
  • The reality of teachers being unable to police mistreatment of non-cis students

They see what we’re doing to their country. More than once he mentioned that it is his generation that has to deal with the fallout from the stupidity of my generation. He’s not wrong. We’re leaving the kids a world that is inherently fucked up and not letting them have the resources to fix it.

He’s convinced that by the time he’s 30, the US as we know it will not exist.

The kids are paying attention and know more than you think.

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Editorial  /  Photography  /  Portrait
An Afternoon Along The Wabash
September 27, 2020

At least, what’s left of that famous river…

Two things built up my confidence for this week’s trip to Lafayette. First, was that I survived last week’s shoot without catching anything. Protections work. Second, my visit with doctor number 87 did not predict imminent death. Wasn’t too worried about that one, to begin with, but a win is still a win. So, feeling a little confident, I tossed a message at Cassandra to see if she’d be available to shoot and when she agreed I started making plans.

Lafayette is one of those towns I’ve been through dozens of times but only stop at convenience stores along the interstate. Some ten or so years ago, I had a photo hanging at a gallery there for some contest of some kind, but I went directly there and back home. I’d never driven around, getting to know the city nor the university it hosts. Having cleared the day, I took some time and drove around, happy to find that Purdue students were staying inside and that finding a parking place didn’t mean driving in circles for 30 minutes.

Cassandra joined me in the early part of the evening as the sun was perfectly placed in the sky. Quickly enough, street lights began to pop on and the shadows grew long enough we couldn’t get decent natural light without invoking tremendous amounts of noise. Black and white with a touch of grain is fine, but there’s a limit. As for the Wabash, well, it’s at an all-time low, shallow enough one might walk across it in places. Sigh. So much for that “majestic river” vibe.

This is the first of what will likely be three posts with Cassandra. I enjoy the fact that she always comes prepared for multiple looks. As always, click on the thumbnail to view the image full screen. Enjoy!

[tg_masonry_gallery gallery_id=”17284″ layout=”contain” columns=”3″]

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Editorial  /  Photography  /  Portrait
Conversations With Friends In The Park
September 22, 2019
Conversations With Friends In The Park

The late photographer Horst P. Horst had a preference for working with friends over “professional” models. Of course, in his earliest work prior to World War II, there was no such thing as a professional model, so convincing friends from within his social circles to pose was the only option. But even after the war, when the Ford Agency redefined what it means to sit for hours in front of a camera or wear a designer’s clothing for hire, the legendary genius of the lens preferred to work with people he knew well, citing their ability to pose comfortably, take direction more precisely, and carry on a decent conversation.

Working with Katherine Reiling recently reminded me of Horst’s musings. It’s been roughly seven years since Katherine’s been in front of my camera; not that we haven’t tried to shorten that distance on numerous occasions, but schedules and life so often get in the way and maintaining friendships become more difficult as life grows more complicated. So as we met and began the process of taking pictures, there was much to talk about. In fact, had we been taking account of the time talking versus the time shooting, I’m sure we spent nearly twice as much time in conversation.

Of course, having friends who also have experience as models is the ultimate win. While the atmosphere was calm and relaxed, Katherine knows how to pose without needing a lot of direction. I could tell her the shot I was wanting and she was beautifully accommodating in making that image happen. But while experience always makes a difference, so does the ease with which we were able to move from image to image while carrying on conversations about family and travel and heritage and health.

I like having people in front of my camera with whom I can relate and enjoy the time even when we’re not actively taking pictures. For me, the pictures have a deeper resonance and while the depth of that resonance may not be felt by everyone who views them, I am convinced that friends always make for better pictures.

Click on any of the thumbnails below to view the images full screen.

[tg_masonry_gallery gallery_id=”15663″ layout=”contain” columns=”3″]

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Art  /  Editorial  /  Fashion  /  Photography
Rain Delay: A Gallery
January 15, 2017
charles i. letbetter - rain delay

Our first editorial shoot of the year didn’t go as planned

Model: Cassie Kerns
Hair & Makeup: Kat

charles i. letbetter - rain delay

Hey, look! A brand new gallery with brand new pictures! How long has it been since we did that? Uhm, a long time. And this one almost didn’t happen, either. The weather this week sucked and I woke up Thursday morning wondering if I could even hold the camera. The first thing I did was pull the camera from the bag to see if I could keep it steady. I could, but it hurt like hell. The thought of canceling crossed my mind. A year ago, I would have. I really needed to shoot, though. I needed the chance to be expressive. Plus, I didn’t want to let everyone down.

Our original plan was to shoot most of this set outdoors. I’ve not shot much outside the past two years and was really anxious to get in some winter shots, even without the snow and with all the grey clouds. I knew I could make that work. That wasn’t going to happen, though. As we prepped for the second look, the rain that had been a mild annoyance whipped itself up into a major problem. Wind blew a hard, cold rain sideways. Our outdoor plans flew away. I was pissed. I really wanted those outdoor shots more than anything. I struggled to keep any sense of composure as I mentally re-worked the concepts for the limited conditions.

We continued shooting, Cassie and Kat keeping a positive, professional attitude despite the lack of space and forced changes in concept. My hands felt like they were on fire as I held the camera. Cassie was wonderful, even finding a way to sit in the window when there really wasn’t any place to sit in the window. We worked through the last two looks and I felt certain we had some strong images. I was hoping that I wouldn’t open them to find them blurred by a trembling hand. I kicked myself for not pulling out the tripod.

Much to my delight, the number of blurred shots was minimal. In fact, curating this set was quite challenging. Cassie’s experience as both a model and an artist comes through quite strongly and I was pleased with how Kat’s makeup communicated just as well in black and white as it did in color. There are more images we’ll save for a later day.

What we have today are the images that appealed to me on first pass. That’s not to say there aren’t others that might end up being stronger, but these are the ones that shouted at me as I poured over the RAW images. I’ve divided the four looks into six visual sets of five images each. These include the teaser images we released earlier.

The first two sets are fashion editorials based loosely on concepts and styling from Unconditional vol. 4 Winter and Poland’s K Mag No. 85. The changing background color represents the versatility of the trench coat, something that has become a fashion staple regardless of the season. The high-waisted slacks are a more of a fashion argument, a continual theme that designers explore then drop, perfect for that blank expression so popular in Europe.

Stretch and Hold is the concept enveloping the second two sets. Our purpose here is two-fold. First, it’s a muscle study with an emphasis on the obliques, upper trapezius, serratus anterior, deltoids, sternocleidomastoid, and anterior scalene muscles under the stress of holding a stretched pose. Those are best seen in the black and white images. Second, the stretched deltoids and latissimus dorsi muscles gave us a good opportunity to highlight the beautiful artwork on Cassie’s back and sides. The muscles pulling upward give us an especially good look at the details of the center artwork.

I Am Real is a set of five portraits based on the tattoo on the inside of Cassie’s left arm. The struggle to be real, to be one’s self, is one with which a lot of people can identify. Full of emotion, we struggle to create individuality, pulling ourselves from the amber haze of social nomenclatures and fighting to find clarity and focus amidst insecurity and uncertainty. Cassie does a wonderful job of giving physical embodiment to emotions many have difficulty expressing.

Rain Delay is the title set and I think everyone’s favorite. There is a peacefulness to sitting in the window wrapped in the softness of a cable knit sweater while sipping a hot beverage (coffee, in this case). The wind and rain has subsided a bit at this point, but the raindrops clung to the window as a reminder of the contrast between the harshness of the outdoors and the comfort of being inside. Thoughtful and contemplative, these images capture a warmth and beauty we all want for our winter’s survival.

I hope you’ll take your time going through the 30 images below. If you click on any of the photos, the display transitions to a slideshow for easier viewing of the individual photos.

Our tremendous thanks to Cassie and Kat for their incredible effort and help in making these images possible. I’m still hoping we get to do those outdoor shots, somewhere, somehow, very soon.

[tg_masonry_gallery gallery_id=”9518″ layout=”contain” columns=”3″]

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Editorial  /  Experimental
Editorial Experimentation
February 25, 2016
charles i. letbetter - editorial experimentation

Photography has always been about documentary, the depiction of the instant, a moment, sometimes a place. Each project is somehow an experimentation of a specific context or a character. —Hedi Slimane

 

charles i. letbetter - editorial experimentation

The world of editorial fashion relies on entire teams of creative professionals. Hair stylists, makeup artists, wardrobe stylists, art directors, lighting engineers, and a host of other people all do their thing before a photographer ever picks up their camera. No matter how good a photographer might be, it is the strength of the team that ultimately makes a good editorial picture. Many of the same people work to keep runways sharp and attractive during this Fashion Week season. One is less likely to see what styles are worn on the runway if the hair and makeup don’t match that intensity.

Keeping a good team together is challenging. Creative and talented people are always looking to expand their skills and broaden their horizons, something that is difficult to achieve if one feels boxed in by the team with which they work. Experimentation is key, and that means taking risks that not everyone on a team may not want to embrace. While there are myriad beauty schools always turning out new stylists and makeup artists, only a small precentage understand or even care about editorial work. When we come across one who does, we celebrate and try to help that person grow their skills.

So it is with our friend Owen Tate. Owen is a 19-year-old student at Aveda Fredricks Institute in Indianapolis. Though he won’t graduate for a few months yet, Owen has already demonstrated a willingness to engage in a higher level of experimentation and shows a particular talent for creative problem solving even when plans a, b, and c don’t necessarily work as expected. Owen pushes himself by entering various competions. A recent editorial contest gave us the opportunity to work together with a set of models who really didn’t know what was going to happen. Our time frame was short, which created its own challenges, but Owen proved himself dedicated to the task, working late into the night even after having spent 12 hours at school.

What you see below are some of the results of that editorial work. Owen worked from a concept of art coming alive, a premise where he felt the models would not arrive neatly coiffed and made up, but rather messy and disheveled from having escaped their canvas-bound prison. We found Owen’s interpretation quite creative and well developed for one still learning. There’s no telling where Owen might land once he graduates and gets a bit more experience under his belt. I feel confident that he has the ability to become one of the best in the industry.

Please join me in celebrating the editorial experimentation of Owen Tate and thank you for supporting Owen and other cosmotology students like him.

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Advertising  /  Fashion
When An Editorial Isn’t
January 16, 2016
charles i. letbetter - when an editorial isn't

There is no need for advertisements to look like advertisements. If you make them look like editorial pages, you will attract about 50 percent more readers.—David Ogilvy

charles i. letbetter - when an editorial isn't

Not every editorial is what it seems

Editorial spreads are the meat of any fashion magazine or website. These creative pieces show us the latest fashion and stir our imaginations with romantic and exotic dreams of what life is like when one is wearing clothes from labels such as Armani, Prada, Dior, and others. Editorials are the primary reason people buy fashion magazines in the first place. Even more, fashion labels rely on those editorials to advertise their goods. When we see an editorial that excites us, we’re more likely to buy those styles.

David Ogilvy wasn’t the first advertising executive to think of placing ads that look like an editorial. He was, however, masterful at knowing where to place them. He worked with publishers such as Condé Nast, publisher of such fashion titles as Vogue and Vanity Fair, to not only place editorial-looking ads within the pages of the magazines, but on the covers as well.

Yes, my friends, covers can be bought. They’re not cheap, of course, and publishers are understandably reluctant to admit that what should be an editorial decision is based more upon the size of someone’s checkbook. In fact, it has long been known among advertising insiders that the cover of Vogue comes with a substantial price tag, though publicly the magazine’s editor in chief, Anna Wintour, will adamantly deny such.

At the same time, we all know that tie-ins are crucial to marketing a new movie and the much-anticipated Zoolander2 has the best fashion tie-in potential of any movie since, well, the original. Already, we’ve seen Derek Zoolander and Hansel walk in Valentino’s Fall 2015 runway presentation. That act alone seemed over-the-top and was the talk of fashion week the rest of the season. This week, however, the movie scored the ultimate tie-in when it was announced that Zoolander would appear on the February cover of Vogue, complete with an “editorial”  spread shot by Annie Leibovitz.

Vogue

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that Zoolander is a lot of fun in an industry deserving more than a little parody. Even more, the success of the first movie enabled actor/producer Ben Stiller to gain the cooperation of almost every designer and fashion editor they approached. As a result, we can expect the second movie to be a veritable who’s who of fashion’s top personalities.

Getting the cover of Vogue, however, is an impressive coup. Ms. Wintour guards the cover of the brand’s flagship publication with no small amount of severity. There is no greater standard for fashion importance than Vogue’s cover. Anyone who thinks there wasn’t some form of deal between Stiller and Wintour is naïve. While it’s doubtful that Stiller simply wrote a check in return for the obvious favor, one can expect the film paid significantly for use of the brand’s name throughout the movie, and any number of other financial considerations may have been applied as well. The options are many.

What the move underscores, is how fashion is not now, nor ever has been, the level playing field some expect. When the Internet first began uncovering the ability of e-commerce to elevate the visibility of smaller brands, some thought it might become the great equalizer, that new, young designers might be able to make a name for themselves without putting in the years of thankless assisting at established houses. That dream has proven to be untrue, however, and this Vogue cover is a perfect example of why there never will be such an equalizer between small and large brands. So long as money and influence can buy editorial space in the most influential of magazines and websites, smaller players don’t stand a chance.

All that being said, I’m looking forward to seeing the movie, which comes out right smack in the middle of the Fall 2016 ready-to-wear runway season. I fully expect to see multiple additional tie-ins, and perhaps even personal appearances, at more shows. Stiller does a great job of poking fun at the industry and we all do well to take ourselves a little less seriously, though.

Let there be no mistake, however, this cover was purchased. Advertising wins.

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Editorial
A Sexy Bohemian Summer
July 31, 2015

charles i. letbetter - bohemian summer

This is the summer of casual bohemian chic and Kat wears it very well

I’m a girl from a good family who was very well brought up. One day I turned my back on it all and became a bohemian. —Brigitte Bardot

This is officially the wettest summer Indiana has seen since someone started keeping records. We have surpassed the record amount of rainfall set all the way back in 1875 and I’m finding it difficult to complain about that too terribly much. Of course, we’re not the ones with trees uprooted by high winds or basements flooding on a weekly basis making the battle against mold never-ending. For us, the summer has been delightfully mild and, on those rare days when it’s not raining, we’ve had a delightful time being out in nature.

Our biggest challenge to the summer is not knowing exactly when rain might hit. Scheduling photoshoots gets difficult when the weather forecast changes multiple times an hour. We might start the day with only a 20% chance of rain, then it changes to 80%, then back down to 40%, up to 70% and all over the place. I’m not inclined to take up someone’s time getting makeup and hair done only to be rained out. Fortunately, we have an in-house model and when we do get a break in the weather Kat is ready to jump in front of the camera for a few quick shots.

Bohemia is the dominant look this summer and that fits in quite nicely with Kat’s personal sense of style that makes comfort and practicality a priority. The loose-fitting, flowing dress is perfect for days when the humidity is high, especially if there’s a little bit of a breeze flowing. The thin cotton breathes well, looks good, and holds up to repeated washings. Other days, especially when we’re out traipsing through the woods as we’re prone to do, jeans and a crop top are more appropriate. The biggest challenge on those days is keeping Kat in shoes. When we come across a chance for her to go barefoot, Kat quickly takes advantage of it, especially if there’s water involved.

We haven’t been able to do many shoots this summer, which makes me rather sad, but it’s nice to know that when we do get a chance to go out the results are going to be fun and exciting.

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Editorial
Where There’s Water
June 18, 2015
charles i. letbetter

As summers go, this one has, to date, been rather mild in Indiana. We’ve had only a couple of days where the temperatures have squeaked above 90 degrees and the humidity has managed to spend the majority of the time below the 50% mark. All in all, we’ve certainly seen worse. Of course, it’s not over, but we’re not off to a bad start.

By contrast, 29 Palms, California, where my Marine son is stationed, has seen highs around 112 this week. Go ahead, talk about how it’s a dry heat, but what he’s doing means going without air conditioning, either. I’m pretty sure I know what he would tell someone to do with their “dry heat” argument. He’s a lot like his dad in that way.  Poor kid doesn’t even have a decent tree to sit under for shade.

Summer is a time of beauty and where there’s water we just naturally expect to find pretty girls. So we were quite happy to enhance some of the local scenery by taking model Jenn King out to a place where the flood waters were not raging (which has been an issue) and letting her play around a bit. Sure, nature is quite lovely on its own, but can you honestly think of any stream that is not enhanced by a model in a crocheted swimsuit? Jenn was even a good sport and didn’t throw rocks at me when I suggested she actually get down in the water, which was apparently quite cool.

Cool and relaxing is exactly how we would describe these pictures. What better way could one find to spend a summer’s evening. Our thanks again to Jenn for coming out to play. We hope you enjoy the pictures.

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Editorial
Genetically Modified People
June 10, 2015

charles i. letbetterMost of the intelligent world, and by that I mean the portion whose reasoning is not polluted by mythologies, understands the necessity and general concepts of evolution, especially in regard to human development. While true evolution takes place slowly at the DNA level over hundreds of generations, one need not look back much more than a couple of generations to see the more immediate environmental impact of changing conditions. As a species, we are generally taller, more sedentary and therefore, more obese, and living longer. We have largely eradicated the diseases that killed our great-grandparents but succumb to autoimmune diseases that were once quite rare. How this might all balance out on the evolutionary scale remains to be seen, but without question the actions we take today affect what our species is tomorrow.

charles i. letbetter

How much control do we have over our own evolution? Some would claim that we are in total control of our evolution with technological and metaphysical advances that allow one to choose not only physical traits of our children but also their temperament and even the basic structures of their belief system. If we develop the means by which to conceive, gestate, and give birth to live humans totally outside the physical body, is there any real limit to the changes we might make in human physiology? Eradicating disease is one thing, but might our attempts to make ourselves smarter change the evolutionary construct of the brain in ways we cannot anticipate? Does giving one the ability to run faster change the skeletal and muscular evolution of our legs?

Some suggest that genetic modification interrupts and eventually might bring an end to evolution; that by preventing latent genes from dying or promoting certain DNA strands out of order, we deter the species from its natural course of adaptation. Yet, are we not, through natural biological processes, doing the same thing when we choose with whom we mate? Two red haired parents are more likely to produce a house full of red haired offspring. The combined DNA of two track champions yields children with a higher potential for physical development.

charles i. letbetter

Genetic modification might change the appearance of one person for one generation, but in order for that modification to become part of the greater human genome, it must be duplicated identically across the whole of the population for multiple generations until that modification itself becomes a part of our very nature. For such modification to overtake the natural course of evolution, the population must first surrender all personal choice.

One must then ask, at the point humans surrender their personal choice, are they really still human?

We don’t just make this up. Here are our sources:
http://www.who.int/gho/mortality_burden_disease/life_tables/situation_trends/en/
http://www.livescience.com/13081-8-reasons-obesitiy-americans-fat.html
http://www.livescience.com/45376-why-did-humans-grow-four-inches-in-100-years-it-wasnt-just-diet.html
http://www.livescience.com/36217-early-bacterial-exposure-immunity.html
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20131210130858-75054000-big-idea-2014-you-will-transform-your-own-biology
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/artificial-wombs-are-coming-and-the-controversys-already-here#
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1911
Miller, Geoffry F. The mating mind: How sexual choice shaped the evolution of human nature. April 1, 2001. Anchor Books, Random House, New York.

This article was originally published in EspritNu, Vol. 1., November 2014.

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Photography  /  PotD
Right Smack In The Middle
June 10, 2015

charles i. letbetter

Pin This (2012)

“More than ambition, more than ability, it is rules that limit contribution; rules are the lowest common denominator of human behavior. They are a substitute for rational thought.” ― Hyman G. Rickover

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Stop and think for a moment what you might do if there was no one to tell you no. Ever. You want ice cream for breakfast? Go for it. Wear a yellow jumpsuit to a funeral? Sure, why not? Build an elevator into space? Others have talked about it, let’s see how you do. One of the biggest stumbling blocks to innovation and progress is the fear that someone will object to what you do. There are too many people who are afraid of upsetting the status quo and that keeps them from ever venturing into an area of imagination and experimentation that could quite possibly lead to fantastic inventions and dramatically wonderful changes in society. But first, one has to be willing to break the rules.

Breaking the rules in photography is actually rather easy. First, there are too many damn rules and most of those are under-supported and fail to take into account all the possible variations one might encounter when shooting. Second, those rules are generally not explained too terribly well, even in photography courses, and some of them are so confusing as to make it difficult to know whether the rule is actually being broken or not. Breaking photography rules is about as easy, and pretty much as earth shattering, as rolling out of bed in the morning.

Breaking the rules of society, not just society in general, but the very specific society of which you are immediately and constantly a part, is more difficult, though. Why? Because you have to live there. If you venture out and make a mistake, the people around you know about it, and might possibly remind you. Constantly. Cruelly. Taking risks to do something as different as changing the brand of coffee used in the office means taking on the possibility that others, especially the boss, might disagree. Breaking rules in life, no matter how small they are, can have some very large consequence and that risk is enough to keep the majority of people quiet and toeing the line.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Today’s image is sneaky and breaks a visual framing rule that may not be noticeable to anyone who is not a photographer or works with visual layout on a regular basis. This is one of those violations of good imagery that rather sneaks past the rule checkers without immediately setting off any red flags. The model is attractive. The set looks good. There are strong leading lines. Makeup, hair, accessories, styling, are all pretty much on point. This is such a quiet little bit of rule breaking that some might not even think that it is worth mentioning at all.

What’s wrong is that the model is positioned right smack in the middle of the frame, which is actually a fairly strong framing no-no. We would much rather have positioned her slightly to the right just a bit. Making the rule violation even worse is that the positioning puts the dead center of the image right at the model’s crotch. Awkward. And now that I’ve mentioned it, you won’t be able to not notice. We went ahead and broke this rule for two reasons. 1. The leading lines created by the car put our eyes there whether we like that or not. 2. Size restrictions of the frame made it impossible to move left or right without creating additional visual problems. Sometimes we have to decide which rule to keep and which to ignore.

Earth shattering? Not hardly. You’ll go on about your day and quite possibly won’t give it a second thought, unless you spending time looking at a lot of pictures. The picture won’t cause the overthrow of any dictatorial government or change the economic policies of the Midwest. But our whole purpose this week is to reinforce the idea that breaking rules is not something we should be afraid to do. Should we give thought to the consequences? Yes. But if more of us were willing to break rules, even the simple one such as this, we might be surprised at how wonderful the changes would be.[/one_half_last]

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Editorial
Shades of Blue
June 4, 2015

Want to drive a graphic designer crazy? Tell them you want something a primary color and then complain that it isn’t the exact shade you had in mind. Stand back and watch their head explode. Every time. Even the most patient designer eventually grows tired of the thousands of shade variations to any given color.

Blue seems to be especially difficult. Everyone has some sense in their mind of what blue is. My coffee cup is blue. The handle on the scissors is blue. The cover of the book next to me is blue. Yet, none of them are the same color. Get into the intimate nuances of graphic design and simple differences of opinion become horribly complicated and difficult. Making things all the more challenging is the fact that hardly anyone actually color calibrates their computer monitor, which means anything viewed online is going to look different on every computer by just a little, and sometimes that “just a little” is too much.

Fortunately, for our purposes, it is perfectly acceptable to combine and interchange shades of blue. We can take our background from teal to indigo and change the entire tone of the image with a simple nudge of a color slider. Could they all be exactly the same? Sure, we could have taken that route, but where would be the fun in everything looking the same, especially when our model, Tiffany Beckett, came all the way in from Utah to give us such a diverse set of expressions? Such wide-ranging emotion deserves backgrounds that are as equally malleable.

Of course, all those variations give graphic designers headaches as well. They would much prefer we stick with one specific shade and run with it. All this moving around and adjusting things is distracting and takes away from the cohesion of the project.

Damn good thing I’m not a graphic designer, isn’t it?

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