This is a post about Wale Ariztos, a photographer friend of mine from Washington, DC. According to his website... "I am a photographer based in Washington DC. I shoot weddings, families, kids, various events and any other random projects that catch my eye here and all over the world. This blog serves as my own personal journal for all of my professional work, personal imagery, travels, and other randomness."
Wale called me in early 2011 for a logo and business card design. A fan of custom lettering, he wanted something slightly old fashioned, so that's exactly what we did. (You might have seen this logo before in the Identity section of the portfolio)
Personal communication and attention to detail are the focuses of Wale's work as a photographer, and he wanted to convey that in the business card. We elected a letterpress process, and made one side of the card appear to be "flashing" like the bulb from a camera.
Here you can see the letterpress impression of the logo, as well as the yellow highlight on the edge of the card.
And here is the new logo on-screen on his website...
Olivia (my amazing wife) has been wanting to have photos taken of us for a while now, so we elected to do an exchange of services: I would design his logo, and he would do a photoshoot for us in Princeton in the fall. Here is a beautiful photo he took of us...
Note: Exchanging services can be very beneficial for those who run their own shops, or are a relatively small business. In many of these cases, including my own, small companies like this run pretty lean financially, and have more freedom to do work than spend cash.
In an exchange of services (or bartering) both parties are taxed on the value of the service they receive, just as if that service was income. Since Wale and I run our own shops this is simple enough.
Wale claims his strength as a photographer is shooting people; after spending a brief afternoon with him I can see why. His friendly manner put us right at ease, and he is able to discover what his customers want from simple conversations without having to ask too many details.
Though weddings and romantic scenes are his specialty, I highly recommend Wale for any shoot you may have; he is based out of DC but is free to travel, mostly up and down the east coast. Here is his website: http://waleariztos.com/