Batch of photos from a recent trip to the National Aquarium in Baltimore.  They have a really cool jellyfish exhibit right now, and I tried my best to capture some shots of the little guys in action.

Click on any of the images to view a larger version, or click here to see them all as a slide-show.

We made a trip to Baltimore’s Sherwood Gardens this past weekend, just in time to catch the height of the tulip bloom.  Every once in a while my son paused long enough for me to stop chasing him, and catch my breath.  I tried to take advantage of these brief rest-stops, and take a bunch of photos.  Click either of the images to see the whole set on Flickr.

With Spring now officially here, I guess it’s about time I posted a couple photos that I took this past Fall. The first two are from our pumpkin pickin’ trip, and the third is from one of our many weekend trips to Loch Raven.  Only about 5 or 6 months behind here… I’m working on it.

It’s been a pretty busy couple of months here, with the holidays, post-holidays, new job, being dad to the coolest little dude in the world, trying to kick-start a personal project… among other things. Somewhere in that blur, Jen and I designed and launched a new site for my father’s insurance agency.  So, if you’re looking for car, homeowners, life, health insurance, or anything in-between, stop by frankdippelagency.com and give them a shout. They do have the handsomest insurance website in (at least) all of Maryland, after all.

We also designed a site for Jen’s brother and his wife a little while back. Round log siding – get it while it’s… round!

Why do you deserve to be considered one of Baltimore’s Best?

Viral spot for Baltimore Magazine’s 2008 Best of Baltimore Party. I took care of all of the animation and audio/video editing. Created in After Effects.

These are two motion graphics pieces that I created recently at work. Above is an introductory video that plays before every lesson in an English as a Second Language video learning series, produced for Wall Street Institute. The videos are set in the office of an aging soda company, so we wanted an intro that evoked the company’s history, while introducing the characters and the basic premise. We went with a pop art look that might mimic some of their older advertising, add a little inferred backstory…

The ad below was created for local cable broadcast, for Downtown Partnership of Baltimore. If you’re in the area next weekend, you can take a free tour of a bunch of high-end condos and apartments in the Inner Harbor, Fells Point, and Federal Hill areas.

Click either of the images to view the videos.

Wind Power at the Inner Harbor from Planit on Vimeo.

That’s right – wind turbines were recently installed at the old Power Plant building in the Inner Harbor, bringing the city of Baltimore to the forefront of the green-energy movement.

OK, they’re actually part of a viral campaign that I helped out with. I modeled the actual turbines in 3ds Max, and one of my coworkers composited them into some shaky hand-held camera footage. We posted the vid on a local tourism site and sent the link out to friends and family. We even managed to dupe a Baltimore Sun reporter. Check out her article about it here.

click the image to see a different version of the full-page print ad.

Stereo face created in Maya, rendered with Mental Ray. All text elements were added by the print department. WYPR is Baltimore’s NPR news station.

We went to the wedding of some good friends a few weeks ago at the American Visionary Art Museum in Federal Hill. Great location and cool architecture. They couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day for the event, either… even lucked out with a fireworks show in the harbor that evening.
Click on any of the photos to view larger versions of the whole set.