A Post about Posters

For anyone that follows me on Twitter, I have elusively talked about a poster for several months. Poster? What poster? Post-er? Post-HER? Post-it? POSTER! And then I talked about captions. Captions? Cap-shuns? CAPshins? CAPTIONS! Sometimes Aries posted similar things, about a poster, about captions, about how she and I were to have a lovechild of epic proportions.

We will be elusive no longer. Aries and I, along with some help from some other photographers, and advice and support from Ben Jones, Megan Harding, and other people in the Office of Communications, has released a tour-de-force of college experience. Can't see Oberlin? Well, now you can, every single day of the school year. We present: A Year in the Life of Oberlin College.

I will try and contain my excitement within the post, but I need to note that haven't really stopped grinning for the last few weeks, and I'm just smiling at my computer while I write this. Because Oberlin makes me happy. And so does this poster.

So, what is it about posters, especially promotional posters? Let's just say they're a lasting memory of something, or inspiring to create more memories. My first memory of Oberlin was of the original Oberlin poster. A big black poster with a glistening blue globe, with the words, "Think One Person Can Change the World? So Do We." and simply, Oberlin, at the bottom. Secret: this poster was hanging in our outhouse for years before we had indoor plumbing, because my hippie parents are just that Oberlin. I'm positive it's still there actually, since the spirit of Oberlin can never die or it will weather any weather (we're in Ohio, guys. Kentucky isn't as bad as here).

Isn't that gorgeously classy? This poster has been in my life for as long as I can remember.

Despite my best efforts, I am not as gorgeously classy as the old Oberlin poster. I'm much more... whimsical and systematic. I like numbers, I remember dates like a fiend, and I love colors. I love capturing moments of sheer bliss that people encounter when they're doing something they love. Oberlin is full of beauty, and seeing and sharing it is one of my favorite parts of my college experience.

And this is where the new poster comes in.

When I first arrived at Oberlin, I had never laid eyes on this campus before. I started a photo blog to keep my family and friends posted on my Oberlin life (if you want to know more about why I like photos, I suggest my Oberlin story), and somehow that spun out of control (but in the way that a water raft is out of control; you're still on a river, you will end up somewhere, and you're along for a pretty memorable ride). I started writing for the Oberlin blogs (Thanks Ben!) partially because I started blogging about Oberlin even before Oberlin had blogs. My old photo blog has pretty much gone by the wayside, since I take far more photographs than I could comprehend daily. But before I stopped its daily postings, a couple of wonderful people caught wind of my photo blog, and thought I had a good idea going. Many meetings, decisions, editing, and hours later, we have released a poster baby into the world.

I love Oberlin. I really really do. And I think most of you know it by now. The way that I know best to display my love is through photography, because it can say more than I can ever say in writing. For those of you who like a side of writing with your photo entree, Aries and I worked on some captions with a dash of whimsy and a healthy doses of links. You can check them out, as well as larger versions of the images on the poster, at the admissions poster's website.

This new poster is not just something to put on the wall, but rather, contains all the vital statistics and information that every prospective student would need to know on the back. Essentially, it's a huge fold-out viewbook that will last well past the college application season. I can't get over how cool this is.

My cozy little room in Oberlin is filled with all my belongings, but it isn't a dorm room. For the past three years, I covered my Harkness peach-colored walls with ads from fashion magazines and a massive poster of a Nikon D3 (yes, I'm a total camera geek). My room now has white walls that reflect light very nicely, and I have decorated accordingly. I haven't put up my old room-decoration standbys, and I don't know if I will. I do, however, have up two posters: the classic poster than kept Oberlin on my mind, and the overwhelming testimony of my timeless experience at Oberlin.

To bring this full circle, I want to thank everyone who has given me/us/the poster such positive feedback on Twitter, by email, in blogs, and in person... and if you're a prospie, start checking your mailboxes!