by Elsa Jensen | Mar 18, 2015 | Blog-category, Designs
I don’t think I will ever get sick of cinemagraphs. They are so captivating and tell a story in a different way that leaves me wanting to make and see more and more cinemagraphs. So naturally, I had to make one again. While I’ve spent time looking at other cinemagraphs, especially the beautiful ones from the most talented and professional Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg from Ann Street Studio, who began the sensation of cinemagraphs are the experts, if I do say so myself (really though, I could watch their cinemagraphs for hours), I’ve noticed that the key to a truly captivating cinemagraph is the selective movement. Their fashion and beauty cinemagraphs have always inspired me and I decided to give a try at one. I wanted to make a selective portion of movement, so I decided to only show the movement of her hand putting the lipstick on. Making cinemagraphs always teaches me new things and I want to continue to make more in the future and refine my skills in...
by Elsa Jensen | Mar 15, 2015 | Blog-category, Designs, Photos, Videos
As part of the Communications program at BYU-Idaho, one of our final classes is a senior project. For this class, we pick a project that will showcase everything we have learned while in the communications department and spend 50 hours throughout the semester working on this project and present it to the school at the end during the Senior Showcase. With an emphasis in Visual Communications, I wanted to come up with a project that would showcase all of the things that I have learned and loved while in that department. I’ve shared the story time and again about my family and our pizza tradition. My brothers and I have talked to my dad about starting a pizza delivery business once or twice a week to earn a little extra money and have more fun making pizza. My dad has bugged me time and again about making him a logo or coming up with pizza box ideas for our pizza, but while I’ve always been too busy, I decided that for my senior project, I would finally get to work on this pizza design. I decided that I would start up and create all of the visual and creative aspects that a pizza business would need to begin. With my module set in advertising, it was very helpful for me when I was deciding what it was that I needed to have done for this business and process. I began by branding the company with color schemes, font choices, overall looks, and a logo to be used throughout the branding. I then worked on designing the collateral needs like...
by Elsa Jensen | Mar 14, 2015 | Blog-category, Videos
That’s Amore from Elsa Jensen on Vimeo. Throughout all of this project, I have been the most excited about making this video. I originally made a pizza video when I was very first learning video and have wanted to do one right since then. I think that video has a way of making the viewer feel like they are right there in the video – right there with the people inside of it. And I think that in terms of a business, video can be very powerful in enticing people to want to come to their restaurant, participate in the services, and be a part of what they are seeing. I wanted this video to again, have the feel of our family and what its like to be at our house during this process and feel the connection that pizza has all around. So here is our house, on a pizza...
by Elsa Jensen | Mar 14, 2015 | Blog-category, Designs
The most intriguing, yet time consuming and difficult aspect of my senior project and I think of most branding and creative projects for a business is building a website. Setting out the priorities of the site, what needs to be added (or not added), creating content, and having it all flow together with a nicely designed visual aspect is part of the entirety that makes for a successful website (no matter how much work it might be). Pizzeria Amore’s website is set up as a one page website – all aspects of the website can be seen without leaving the main page, all you have to do is simply scroll. You can also visit each page by clicking on the link on the menu, but it still stays within the same main interface page. Setting up a restaurant website this way is a good option because of it the access it gives to visitors – in all honesty, most people that visit a restaurant website only visit to see the menu, location, hours, or order form. With this option, most likely, the content surrounding those pages will be visited or more likely to be visited because of the ease and set up of the site. I decided to go with photo backgrounds to incorporate the photography and give the family feel. I kept the color scheme and fonts simple again to reflect the design previously done. Want to take a deeper look at it – well I think you should take a better look at it truly! Follow this link over to the website and see it for yourself!...
by Elsa Jensen | Mar 13, 2015 | Blog-category, Designs
As a small family run restaurant just beginning, there were only a couple of basic design needs, but it was important to make sure they were done with the Pizzeria Amore brand. The basics needs included a menu design and a business card. To stay with the branding and design and showcase a family feel of wood fired fresh pizza, I used the photography from the series with a black and white high contrast look set behind all of the copy and content. To keep the simplicity, I used the same font throughout and simple shapes to add a bit. I also wrote the copy for the front of the menu to share a look into the restaurant before taking a look at the...
by Elsa Jensen | Mar 13, 2015 | Blog-category, Designs, Home Page
The most important part of branding that I have learned is direction. I first began working on a logo and branding for Pizzeria Amore just simply by designing things that I thought looked good but I soon realized that it was difficult to keep working through the rest of my project without a sense of direction and main major element. Once I sat down and established the message that I was trying to convey with the business and the target audience and what they would be interested in, it gave me a major sense of direction and purpose that helped to drive me throughout everything I created from the photography to the video to the website. As a part of that, I decided to share my design and branding inspiration and process at the senior showcase at BYU-Idaho. I think its very helpful to see the process laid out and the basic guidelines for the brand that need to be followed through with the elements. Here’s a small look at that – it’s what I like to call a simplified visual style...
by Elsa Jensen | Mar 9, 2015 | Blog-category, Videos
I just love flowers. It’s only convenient that my best friend is an absolute genius with them. As she’s been at BYU-I studying horticulture and preparing to start her own floral design business, I’ve been having a lot of fun working with her and planning future collaborations. She was kind enough to let me use her for my project for my video production class (you can watch that here), so I decided to use some of the footage to make a lifestyle video of her as we get excited for our future collaboration. Keep a look out for more videos and photos later, but until then, have fun watching this video! Flowers with Jace from Elsa Jensen on...
by Elsa Jensen | Mar 4, 2015 | Blog-category, Home Page, Photos, Things
My dad is a big foodie – he loves all types of food and even more so, he loves cooking all types of food (thank heavens for my mother, who does not like cooking as much). And when we went to Italy for the first time in 2009, my dad became obsessed with his next food adventure – pizza. Not just regular pizza thrown in the oven, but real authentic Italian pizza in a real authentic Italian pizza oven. So for a few years, he saved money to finally buy an authentic pizza oven that came all the way from Italy, and for the last two summers we have been engrossed in the pizza world, inspiring me to feel that the only appropriate way to keep this pizza going is to document the entire process (and use it mercilessly for my senior project). Now Mike doesn’t just make one kind of pizza – he makes them all. Regular pepperoni, bar-b-que chicken, garlic chicken, margherita, Thai chicken (a crowd favorite), spicy buffalo, pesto, and Mexican taco (my personal favorite). It’s always a huge ordeal that takes most of the day – heating up the oven to a substantially hot and burning degree, making the homemade dough (thanks to mama!), cooking, cutting, mixing all of the various foods he uses, and finally making the pizzas. And there’s usually way too much pizza, so with either a gaggle of neighbors and friends over or pizzas to deliver around the block, the food is always shared. It’s become a family event that happens almost weekly, and I’ve decided there’s nothing more fun...
by Elsa Jensen | Mar 3, 2015 | Blog-category, Designs
As a communication student at BYU-Idaho, we have the unique experience of having one of classes in our final senior semesters that lets us showcase our talents and education gained during our years there. For my senior project, I am creating all of the creative branding and collateral for my family’s small pizza delivery business, Pizzeria Amore. I am using this project to show all of the things that I have learned and developed while I was in the Visual Communications department, like photography, videography, web design, and of course graphic design. As I’ve been working on this project, I’ve learned that the most important part of a branding and design is the actual logo and design direction – I had a really great time drawing inspiration and putting together different logos and color schemes. It was really difficult to choose just one logo, but you’ll have to stay tuned for more branding and pieces of my...
by Elsa Jensen | Feb 13, 2015 | Blog-category, Home Page, People, Photos, Weddings
One year ago, I set out to Oakdale, California for my very best friend’s wedding. Not only was it a glorious day to be a part of and be in, it also jump started my experiences in photographing and filming weddings. It is, what I believe, the reason that I gained wedding recognition and I am ever so grateful to my dear friend and her husband for asking me to start with their wedding. It was a beautiful wedding at the Oakland LDS Temple in Oakland, California, and I loved the beautiful place that it was. We also stopped to do some bridals the day before in the beautiful barely blooming almond tree fields in Oakdale, California. In memory and recognition of that day, I feel its only appropriate to share these pictures (they do hold some of my most favorite pictures ever, after all). Happy one year anniversary Boltons! ...
by Elsa Jensen | Feb 2, 2015 | Blog-category, Designs, Home Page
This last semester at school I took a research fundamentals class in which I worked with a group on a research project gathering data, making sense of it, and then presenting it. My group decided to find out more about college students and fast food – we wanted to know more behind it, like why college students eat, how much they spend, and other things. We learned some very interesting things about the fast food epidemic on BYU-Idaho’s campus and I made an infographic for our final presentation to show the results simply. I love infographics – they show a lot of information in a concise and more visually appealing way and making them is even more fun than reading them. This one was even more fun because I was a part of finding the...
by Elsa Jensen | Jan 28, 2015 | Blog-category, Videos
I’ve been remembering my adventures and travels lately, craving to go on another one. That’s the thing about travel, isn’t it? It’s one of those things that I don’t think can be stopped – the more I travel, the more I want to. It’s a bit of a beautiful cycle and I can’t help but hope for more travel opportunities with each time. This was the first video I ever made – it was of our trip to Europe with most of the Jensen family. We took my Grandma and Grandpa back to their mother countries of Germany and Denmark (both had not been since immigrating over as children) and visit the places where our ancestors had once lived. Along with a few other fun stops, it was a trip of a lifetime and one for the books. Europe from Elsa Jensen on...
by Elsa Jensen | Jan 26, 2015 | Blog-category, People, Photos
*Warning* I may get a little bit sentimental and cheesy in this paragraph, but hey, isn’t that what a look back at the previous year is for? And this last year was definitely one that I can say has boosted me in ways I didn’t think or know was possible. I’ve been slowly growing in this creative field for about 3 years now and it was always something that was a very personal experience for growth and passion. I sometimes sit back and look at how that all took off this year and sky rocketed into what I’ve been shooting for for some time now and I cannot be grateful enough. It is a blessing and if there’s something I do know, its that when we do the things that we have passion for and work hard, the doors open a way for us to keep progressing in that. After 10 weddings, countless engagements, a handful of families, and just about every other type of shoot in between, I am here to tell you that I love what I do and even more, I love who I get to meet when I do it, both client and photographers alike. There are some genuine people out there in this world and working with them and photographing them lets you really see into the genuine goodness of those souls. So, here’s a big fat thank you to all of those I’ve worked with and made this year possible – friends, clients, and photographers alike. And here’s a big look forward into a new year of possibilities. Some of my favorite...
by Elsa Jensen | Jan 22, 2015 | Blog-category, People, Photos
Babies and pregnancy are always such a beautiful thing to me. Its a time for a new fresh beginning and a new little sweet life to come into yours and I love the excitement that expectant mothers have. Hillary is due very soon with their first baby and its going to be a sweet little girl – I am so excited for Hillary and Justin and their new...
by Elsa Jensen | Jan 13, 2015 | Blog-category, People, Photos
Isn’t the winter just the loveliest time for pictures of any kind? This fun family had a bit of an adventure with their pictures, seeing it was 20 degrees outside and had just started snowing – the poor California native family was freezing! They were such a fun and positive group and their pictures turned out just...
by Elsa Jensen | Jan 6, 2015 | Blog-category, Home Page, Videos, Weddings
I’ve been feeling so lucky with opportunities lately. My good friend Annie got married last weekend and I was not only able to be a part of the wedding by being a bridesmaid, but I was also asked by her to make a little bridal video for her reception. We went to the Salt Lake Capital building to film and spent the time there capturing footage of Annie and Trent together. I had such a great time with them and developing my skills in video. I know that I sure loved making this video – I hope you enjoy it! Annie & Trent from Elsa Jensen on...
by Elsa Jensen | Jan 2, 2015 | Blog-category, Videos, Weddings
I absolutely can’t get over this wedding. Kendall was my roommate for the past semester at BYU-Idaho and I have loved chatting wedding plans and details with her all semester, so it was even more fun when the wedding came to life. It was full of beauty and she and Tyson were too. They were kind enough to let me be a part of their whole day and film it. I’ve been loving trying my hand at video on my own and I think there’s just something so lovely about seeing sweet moments in motion, especially from these two. Kendall & Tyson Hansen from Elsa Jensen on...
by Elsa Jensen | Dec 23, 2014 | Blog-category, People, Photos
Honest to goodness, I can attribute a lot of my photography to many people in my life, but one of my biggest supporters and kindest friends (not to mention, my best model) has always been this girl. There to bounce ideas off of, give it to me straight, and tell me I’m much better than I think I am, I’ve always been grateful for her help. Hence, why I never get sick of a little photo adventure with her and I always choose to do so. I’ve been trying my hand at free lensing lately, and these first two photos give just a glimpse of that. That bokeh and that light – these were definitely portraits and this photoshoot were definitely something that was good for the soul. ...
by Elsa Jensen | Dec 16, 2014 | Blog-category, People, Photos, Weddings
I was watching 27 Dresses the other day – have you ever seen that movie? It’s about a girl that’s ‘always a bridesmaid, never a bride’ and she absolutely loves weddings – they are her passion. I think I might feel her on that one. The more I get the opportunity to spend my days photographing weddings, the more I realize just how much I love it! One of my most favorite moments of a wedding at the Salt Lake Temple has to be when the bride and groom walks out of the temple for the first time. Being a wedding photographer has its sweet moments and that is definitely one of them – to watch this couple come out and be greeted by their sweet family and friends with such happy moments is just a dream. I loved being able to share this day with Taylor and Celeste – they give sweetness and kindness a new definition. ...
by Elsa Jensen | Dec 8, 2014 | Blog-category, Home Page, People, Photos
I absolutely loved photographing these lovely ladies! As a girl with all brothers, I’ve always been a tad bit envious of sisters, and this group of ladies were the essence of everything fun about a sisters and mother relationship. Always giggling and always beautiful, these ladies made for a wonderful time and even more wonderful pictures....
