Leif A. Sørensen

Strawberry Poison Dart Frogs

Bastimentos, Panama

This project was a challenging departure from my mainstay experience shooting primates and mammals. Poison dart frogs are toxic, although rarely deadly, so it is imperative to avoid contact. They move very quickly. Regular macro lighting complications are exacerbated as they are primarily active during wet and overcast weather. Their coloration and patterns are diet dependent and vary widely. Frequent grey referencing is necessary as the subtle differences of their red and orange hues are easily lost. Aberrants of green, yellow and blue are infrequently encountered, but are of the same sub-species. The frogs I found were usually between 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch in length.

European Storybook

Kraków, Poland

3 Portraits of a young woman in a red dress standing in front of ivy covered castle walls

This project was shot on location at Przegorzały Castle and the surrounding Wolski forest. The old-world buildings and incredible grounds set atop a mountain’s edge providing vista views of the valley below. The setting and wardrobe made this one of my most memorable shoots as well as one of the easiest for meeting the projects needs in visual storytelling.

Venice

2020

Watercolor of 2 young girls on the front porch of a home in the middle of a river

From a commissioned series for an award-winning photojournalist to help represent their work covering various cultures and communities. “Venice” was inspired from their project showcasing the impoverished societies of the Amazon.

Night

2019

Oil paint of an abstract mountain landscape in dark colors

This series of abstract and minimalistic landscapes was inspired by an older series of water colors. It uses indistinct geometrics and form to create the impressions of mountains, deserts, icy tundras, and quagmires. I have found that this series helped me discover more distinctive stylings which have informed many of my later projects. Influential accreditation should be given to the late New Mexican artist Kenneth Reid.

Destiny

Bungie, Inc.

An armor clad warrior stands looking over a decimated building surrounded by desert

Destiny was Bungie’s first major title release after leaving Microsoft. It tells the story of a warrior emerging into a post-apocalyptic wasteland sometime after the golden age of a technical and metaphysical revolution. This project was a labor of love, undertaken in the hope of capturing the essence of the title through visual storytelling. A second series is being produced for their follow-up release (Destiny 2) which focuses on the whimsical cosmic landscapes of a bleak and forgotten universe at war.

Facilisis

Chișinău Moldova

A computer displaying a technical application with charts and graphs in a blue motif

A custom design package for this data visualization dashboard used to monitor descriptive and predictive analytics. Dichromatic themes, like the one used, are considered to increase legibility of concise models over the polychromatic usage needed for intricate representations. Such visualization motifs are often associated to future-tech, which was the desired sense to relay. Designing the elements, iconography, and layouts encompassed the largest portion of the project’s scope.

MSWG Website

Marcellus Shale Water Group, LLC

A computer displaying the splash screen of a modern looking website with photo header of water swirls

There are varying reasons behind what makes the few designs that stand out from almost 2 decades of development. The work done for the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) and Minor League Baseball Teams (MiLB) were monumental because of the prestige of the clients and anticipated viewership. The MSWG site is testament to yet another transition point in my design approach, integrating emerging concepts and layouts with my personal style.

Finca Las Camelias

Salento, Colombia

Finca Las Camelias is a brand managing various fair-trade coffee farms and B&Bs throughout Colombia. They were looking for a new logo which could be used in imprinting and traditional branding formats. Thus two versions of the logo were developed to provide the options needed for use in signage, packaging, and marketing materials.

Card Design

Personal

3 Colorful business cards showing graphical design, antique maps, and faded cursive writing

I’ve worked on lots of business cards over the years. I have felt that far too often they rely on pitches and tags to describe what they do. I wanted to develop a series of cards with a minimalistic design which relayed a correlation to the three main fields I serviced: graphic design, the travel industry, and writing. This project has continued to provide great influence on many of my subsequent marketing collateral designs.

Taming Fire

2004-2009

Taming Fire was a pyrotechnic / dance company I co-founded and directed which specialized in modernized styles of traditional Maori and Polynesian dance. Its technical prodigiousness was notable and helped garner international awareness. This continued to grow through publicity in the press, collaborations with world industry leaders, and award recognitions such as that from Circles of Light in New Zealand. It operated a variety of productions scaled for audiences up to the multi-thousands as well as mobile versions like the one featured in Dos Equis Tribal Adventure marketing tour.

Maple Grove

2021

Don't take my word for it...

"Leif was great to work with. He was very knowledgeable, and efficient in all aspects of the project. I was overwhelmed with the prospect of putting together a website, but Leif walked me through it step by step."

"Leif was excellent. He is a true professional, creative, timely and has a unique flair for keying in on your concepts and ideas. Not only did I get programming but also beautiful templates with video/slideshows, etc. I am very pleased and happy with the work he has done for me and my company."

"oh, i love it!!! it is better than i imagined! you are wonderful!! this is GREAT news! thank you. you are seriously my hero right now."

"Leif provided more than just a new look for a website. He also created a marketing plan which provided an expanded focus on content navigation, brand exposure and showcasing our product lines. He gave us an updated and professional looking site design, and the animation gave a nice touch of flair."

"One glance at your design made it very clear that I've been in the stone-age."

"Leif did an excellent job designing my website. He was very easy to work with, and totally understood what I wanted. I'm very happy with the result."

"The work you did for me on www.thefundraiserguy.com was instrumental in my being able to brand myself as a unique source of fundraising solutions in a very crowded marketplace. The process was easy, quick, and your expertise helped to make sure that I get the best product possible to represent me and what I do."

"The dilemna Leif resolved for us was to develop a site that took both historical and real time data and present it in a useful format for researchers, government officials, and layman."

"The site you developed is exactly what I would have built if I were a web designer."