1443 Joshua Clayton Road
Dover, DE 19904
302.736.6647 home
302.632.1148 cell
Email: cfoster@studio1443.com
WORK HISTORY
November 2009 to Present – Sunshine Graphics and Printing,
Production Manager/Sales
General Graphic Design. All Prepress production duties that includes imposing jobs and outputting plates using Open Rip 2000. Outside Sales when there is a break in the action.
August 2009 to Present – Great Graphic Originals
Screen Printing garments for the tourist industry. Duties included screen making, camera/dark room work, mixing color and running an 8 unit M&R Gauntlet screen printing press. I also do product photography for Marsha’s, the Great Graphics retail website.
2008 to Present – Freelance Graphic Designer/Photographer
Everything and anything a freelance graphic designer does. Print ad design, logo/branding design, website design, flash design and more. I have screen printing equipment and vinyl plotter/cutters for vinyl vehicle graphics and sign making.
- Partial freelance client list:
- Hertrich’s Family of Automobile Dealerships
- Sirius Satellite Radio
- Stephen VanZandt’s Underground Garage
- Renegade Nation
- Chief Justice Myron T. Steele – Supreme Court of Delaware
- Johnny Janosik Furniture
- Downtown Milford Inc.
- First State Chapter IAAP
- Wendy Reid, CPS Executive Assistant, Federal Programs of URS Corporation.
1996 to 2009 – Dover Post Company
In June of 1996 I took a job working in the prepress department at the Dover Post. A position opened up in the graphic design department and I was asked to take it. I had a background in computers so to speak – My first computer was a Texas Instruments TI-994A purchased in 1980. I had some early pagination training and since I had always been a traditional artist I agreed to take the position. I started designing print ads, scanning editorial photos and paginating. I read a ton of tech manuals and became quite proficient in the Adobe catalog of software, all things Macromedia (now Adobe), Quark Express, SCS AdMax, and a host of Prepress Solutions (now AlphaQuest) applications and devices. I ended up being the Graphics Technical Director. In this capacity, I was in charge of training the creative staff on any updated/new software, answering any technical question from staff and outside printing customers and from time to time I was sent to customer locations to provide technical support and training. When we began selling advertising on all of our Delaware newspaper web sites, I was given the assignment of teaching web basics and Flash design to the creative staff. When the company decided to go to direct to plate I was asked to research and select the workflow and equipment as well as bring it online and train the prepress staff. I selected a Creo/Kodak system. We had 2 Creo Trendsetters and the Kodak Prinergy EVO workflow. I was then asked to administer the system, continue as the Graphics Technical Director and Quality Control Manger. My understanding of the bigger picture allowed me to serve many functions within the company. In addition to the above-mentioned duties kept doing design work, taking on the specialty pieces where customers were demanding more complicated design work. I am also a photographer and was often given both advertising and editorial photo assignments. In 2008, original owners of the Dover Post Company, the Flood/Kaltreider Family announced that they were selling the entire operation to a corporation out of New York. 1 year after the sale, after 30+ long time Dover Post employees were let go by the new owners, I was let go. That happened in March 2009.
1995 to 1996 – Great Graphic Originals
Screen Printing garments for the tourist industry. Duties included screen making, camera/dark room work, mixing color and running an 8 unit M&R Gauntlet screen printing press.
1989 to 1994 – Delaware State News
Second shift Camera/Plate room tech. Old School prepress. Shooting halftone and line art, as well as page flats. Stripping film, burning and processing plates. Began cross training in desktop publishing/pagination.
Memberships, Committees and Awards:
- I serve on the Delaware Tech Owens Campus Communications Department Advisory Committee.
- National Association of Photoshop Professionals member #702360
- Professional Photographers of America member #5136871
- I have also earned 2 MDDC Advertising awards.
Photography
I am a avid photographer. I did a lot of photography assignments for the Flood family when they owned the Dover Post. I also take on freelance photo assignments such as family portraits and so on. I do wedding photography as well.
Photography equipment list:
- Canon 450D digital SLR & Canon 40D digital SLR
- A host of Canon & Sigma EX professional lenses
- 2 Sigma Flash heads, Quantum Parabolic Flash, and soft box flash heads
- Basic tungsten light set along with various backgrounds
Music
Music has always been an important part of my life. Started playing drums in elementary school and I just blossomed since then. I play several instruments. Additionally, I have a (fairly) state of the art home studio featuring a Yamaha 4416 Digital Audio Workstation, a Mac running Cubase with a Tascam control surface as well as an assortment of effects, mics and related electronics.
Video – shooting and editing
Keeping pace with “New Media” and the ever-changing way people receive their information I have come to realize a newspaper also needs a strong web presence. Video should be an important part of that web presence. Because of this I have picked up a Sony digital camcorder and have started learning Final Cut Pro editing software.
Feel free to contact me with any questions. References provided upon request.
Respectfully,
Christopher D Foster
1443 Joshua Clayton Road
Dover, DE 19904
302.736.6647 home
302.632.1148 cell
Email: cfoster@studio1443.com