Carl Walls - Architect of Light and Sound

If a picture means a thousand words, then video is 24,000 words per second

Let's get positively verbose, together.

I have spent my life learning new technologies, from the times when computers had literally only two colors, to today when every color seen or unseen seems possible. I understand technology on a truly fundamental level, in a way where even the newest technology seems to come naturally to me: just the latest iteration of a pattern of continual iterations.

Still, knowing the technology is only a start. The true joy of technology is using it to create - bringing something into existence from seeming nothingness. Having the power to create is unlike anything else, and over time has become my primary objective in life.

A rare picture of Carl Walls, in front of the camera for once

That said, creating using technology is no different from that technology itself - everything created is built upon the foundation of what came before. Everything around us informs and inspires everything we bring forth through our efforts.

Our past creations then form a foundation for what we are as a creator - what our future creations can stand upon. It is for that reason a portfolio has been an essential tool for displaying and determining what an artist has and can do in the future. In this age of advanced technology, this fact is no different - only the technology used to create and display it differs.

On this page, built upon my decades of knowledge and experience creating worlds of hypertext, I have gathered a few curated highlights of my many works over years spent growing and building my various tools of technological creation. I hope it will provide some insight into who I am as a creator, and perhaps if we are truly lucky, this will spark some insight and reflection on who you are as a creator, as well. After all: we are all creators, whether you know it, or not.

I build my works upon these foundations:

Photography

Three Years

Video Production

Eleven Years

Web Development

Twenty-Five Years

The art we create, springs forth from the art that exists all around us

The greatest ideal, in my opinion, is to balance the aesthetics of art with the practical considerations of commercial products. To create something which is pleasing to the eye, yet serves a useful and distinct purpose.

To accomplish this, I often will spend my time when not working, examining the worlds of art and commerce with a camera - freezing a moment that can be considered and explored for meaning. This then can inform my purely commercial endeavors, imbuing them with just the right touch needed to satisfy the senses.

Click on the categories below to see curated examples of my photographic work, and how the subjects inform my understanding that can be applied to other work. Then, click on each image to learn more about how they inform my aesthetic.

Art of the Land

To understand how to sculpt and develop the aesthetic of art, it can be helpful to first examine the most basic element of beauty all around us - the land itself. Below, you will find a few examples of my favorite landscape subject, the Rocky Mountains. (Colorado, United States and Alberta, Canada)

Looking east from the continental divide, into Clear Creek County Colorado. The spring flowers find a way to add a pop of color into the green and brown landscape.

At altitude, many peaks lay bare the simple brutalism of jagged rock, juxtaposed against grasses, which bring life to even the harshest of conditions.

Lake Louise is well known for its brilliant turquoise water, fed from melting glaciers. But in the early morning hours, with the sun barely touching the surrounding peaks, a hidden beauty emerges. No less stunning, it highlights how everything has unremarked qualities that can be brought out in the right circumstances.

Jagged peaks tower above brilliant turquoise waters at Lake Moraine. As you sit and quietly contemplate their shapes and color, canoes provide a soft thump, clank, and splash, alongside the gentle break of waves against the shore.

Art of Life

When examining the art that exists all around us, the next most basic element is of course life itself. Our minds are designed to recognize and appreciate the aesthetics of animals which surround us, their forms activating corners of our minds that we may not even conciously realize would produce a response. Studying these forms can inform and shape our art to produce a fundamental response in those who view it.

The unique form of the King Penguin is often cited as awkward, judging by how they walk. But it is water, not land, that informs their form. When in their ideal conditions, these creatures exhibit a grace and flow unlike any other. Even still, the hint of color they display standing on land serves as a subtle nod to the wonders hidden from display.

High above the ground, the Giraffe literally inhabits a space and a perspective we cannot see. Yet through the power of a zoom lens, we can lift ourselves up, to see their wry smile, and feel the joy that they feel from their lofty view.

Balancing lightly upon ropes and branches, the lemur displays a lightness of which we could only dream. Peering through the bright green leaves, the camera captures this, as if it is a hidden secret, wrapping the viewer as if let in on a treasure unknown.

A Rockhopper penguin displays a vibrance and energy, even standing still. Even with identical coloring, the smooth lines of the King are very different from the suggestion of movement radiating out with the feather display on the head of the Rockhopper.

Art of Time

Our best intentions and efforts will always come up against the one inevitable force we cannot control: Time. Investigating and observing how time affects what we have created, and the results of how our efforts to stem the effects, can be vital in directing our future works.

The Edsel line of cars was designed to honor a man who cherished design above all else. Yet, it was considered a failure upon launch, especially for its design. Ironically, time has been kind to the design of this car. The rust and patina adding a character and depth, giving it a gravitas it once lacked, as it watches over the remains of Route 66 - still holding strong due to preservation efforts in the town of Seligman, Arizona.

It is easy to see the beauty in the new, shining bright, catching the eye. But where does the beauty come from, once what we create is touched by time? The rust spots, the matte and faded paint. Somehow, despite what has been diminished, a new beauty emerges.

Neon is a bright, shining beacon to the halcyon days of the Mother Road. Difficult to maintain, some businesses such as TeePee Curios in Tucumcari, New Mexico find it is vital and worthwhile to do so: serving as the core of their business of retail nostalgia. They sell not only the physical items, but also the memories of a time gone by. The neon reflected in the glass of an old, rusty, Chevy Nova epitomizes that goal.

A beacon and superstar of the historic Route, Blue Swallow Motel is one of the oldest preserved icons still remaining in service today. This is through no doubt years of work, continuing today, to maintain this snapshot of what lise once was: becoming art from what was once mundane and normal.

Art in Commerce

Once you internalize the art around us, you can investigate and develop ways to integrate and showcase art in a commercial context. These photos are from a shoot I did for a local fibercraft business, to showcase their new merchandise, and help them target audiences looking for something unusual, yet familiar and comforting.

A single yellow bee perches atop a willow tree. These bulbous bees have a softness to the touch which customers rave about, yet justaposing them against the hard bark of nature both emphasizes how the product reflects the natural world, and how it contains a softness often lacking there.

Springing forth from a knot in a branch, this bunny epitomizes the emergence of spring. Perfect for a launch of a new spring line, adding in the bee re-enforces that idea.

A new line of bump-textured frogs is the perfect showcase on top of an old fallen log. The rough texture of the log is reflected in the unique texture of the frogs, yet the detail captured of the frogs hints at how this texture is somehow also soft and squeezable.

Art in Action: Commercial Work Projects

Infamous filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky stated that "Cinema is a Mosaic made with Time." In that way, it is easy to see how studying how a single image can affect an audience, is greatly amplified when applied to a vast array of images. Even more so, how those images are arranged in time is like adding a fourth dimension to the work, expanding and deepening the opportunities to add meaning and direct an audience to a desired effect.

The act of placing these images and sounds in a specific order, to create an additional meaning from the very act of placing them in relation to each other in time, often referred to as the Kuleshov Effect, is an incredible power. When used appropriately, you can precisely combine the elements you create as simple ingredients, with the finished product having an even greater effect on your intended audience than the parts would individually.

I have arranged below some samples of my work, to demonstrate the flexibility of what I create for the audeinces on different mediums.

'I am Chickasaw, I am the Future of Medicine, and You Can Be Too'

This commercial served as the culmination of a campaign to recruit tribal members to return to their rural communities as doctors. I combined file footage featuring this student over his time at OSU, with new interview and B-Roll footage, to show the doctors of tomorrow exactly who they could become.

This commercial aired nationally, during OSU Sports games.

Social Means Short

Designing video for social media means engaging, moving graphics, less (or no) emphasis on sound, and an extremely short runtime.

If you can master social by grabbing attention quick, and delivering your intended message in an extremely condensed timeframe, the rewards are significant. We used a couple variants of these social videos to target students for online classes in other countries, and new enrolees in summer medical-themed events. Both were a great success according to our metrics, bringing new potential and enrolled students and hitting all our goals for the campaigns.

The highest profile events, demand the highest quality video

Graduation is the highlight of every student's college experience, coming together with family and friends to celebrate their hard work and accomplishments. Celebrating this with video is a great honor, and not to be taken lightly.

For this video, we combined motion graphics in Adobe After Effects with existing promotional video clips we had shot which enhanced the messaging, and photos of real graduates celebrating their accomplishment. By the end, a special feeling is created, which enhanced and uplifted the evening to new heights, giving everyone in attendance the feeling that the work to get to this point was well worth it.

Stakes are never higher, when fifteen million dollars are on the line

When administrators at OSU-Tulsa needed to sell their idea to build a new research park that would require millions of dollars in city financing, we put together a video which showed not only the impact, but put the viewer into the future, seeing how the building would emerge on the vacant land, and improve the city. This ended up serving as almost the entire pitch to the city council, and was successful - being slated for inclusion in the Vision 2025 Tax Package.

An audience of only 150 people, a value of eleven million

When opening a major building, which was only possible thanks to significant community donations, OSU Center for Health Sciences knew they needed to do something more: to honor and celebrate those people who had done so much more to make this innovative facility happen.

To accomplish this, we deloped a video tribute, with multiple interviews from across the state, of students, staff, and donors themselves, that would take attendees at the unveiling ceremony through a journey - leaving them at the end with an incredible sense of pride and joy at what they had done for the future of medicine in Oklahoma.

The world deserves to see your next big idea, in all it's shining glory

Let's talk about how I, or my amazing network of students, can help make that happen for you

Interested in a face to face collaboration?

Oklahoma City, OK

I hang my hat here, but obviously do travel