A word from our founder…

Well hello there!

My name is Michelle Takara Fairbairn and I am the owner and founder of EarthView Media Group [EVMG] and its subsidiaries [I am also currently the only employee].

The idea for this collective came from working with some very talented, very thoughtful humans in the 2010s, watching them creating stunning stories with their minds eyes through the lenses of their cameras. Their stories and digital media talents inspired me to pursue my own venture with my own unique perspective and spice. I want to recognize the crew and partners of LiveForth Productions – derelict now, but always holding a space in my creative mind. You guys really helped me at the beginning and I am forever grateful to you for that.

The name itself was a different story altogether. I knew I wanted to build a multimedia company as a vessel for my passions in storytelling. What to name it? I had been shooting photography under the alias of Cathy Rivers using the name Home River Photography for the business structure, but the name never really felt right – it was more akin to my love of river fishing than my love of story telling. But what to call my company, my passion, my dream? I was very close to my grandfather until his untimely passing in 2007. His career in aerospace and nuclear technologies, along with his avid adventures in the Colorado outdoors was an inspiration to me in so many ways. He was part of the electrical engineering team that developed and implemented the electronic systems for the suits worn by Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin during the Apollo 11 Mission in 1969. He even had a video NASA sent of him load testing the suit Aldrin wore in a lab setting from 1967 – magnetic reel computers spinning away in the background and everything! That was always a big inspiration and a reason why I had originally started my undergrad attempting to pursue a degree in nuclear engineering – to design and build thruster systems for space vessels. Alas the math got me in the end and I switched my path to its current course in media communication work. If I couldn’t do the science, then I still wanted to at least be able to write about it! After he died, I attained one of the pictures he had of “Earth from the moon” – an actual photograph developed from the film they brought back. So I was sitting at my computer desk one night struggling through a 1000 word essay that was due in five hours, sitting on maybe 200 words. I was tossing a garnet stone up into the air and catching it. While I was doing this I started to stare at the photograph. It sat next to a picture of my grandfather, several pictures of me and my best friend and brother on our adventures, and of course – Polaroids of my adventure doggo Koko. I remember thinking – “wow I really love everything right there – it’s like I have a view of all the things on Earth that matter so much to me… a real view of the Earth, yeah – wait… view-of-the-earth… no that’s not right… WAIT – Earth+View = EarthView! Holy hell that’s it!” I stood up fast knocking over my chair and ran to my drafting desk and started designing logos, type copy, and the layout for my first website (yeah I did it all by hand I am that old). I later transferred all those designs into a lab computer at the university and used Illustrator to make EarthView’s original logo come to life.

Some years later I found myself sharing a basement with a friend of mine – Jack Goyn. You may know him as Jak Attak in the EDM world. We were enjoying a… creative journey with our friend Lucy when he asked how I separated my different storytelling elements. I wasn’t sure what he meant so he elaborated on the importance of separating the different elements of my work – i.e. the new video production work I was getting into through the Rave Scene needed its own brand – especially since I had spent so many years focusing EVMG on being a photography and writing company. This is where the idea for Cosmic Wolf Productions came from. Yup – late night, on a trip, in a basement in Loveland, CO. “You like wolves, you are kind of a wolf – yeah and like we are one with the universe and the universe holds the beauty of life and space and all that – so you should have something to do with wolves and the cosmos,” Jack said. I said “what about Space Wolf or maybe The Star Wolf?” “Nah those sound dumb, or like they came from a video game” – (lol) “no you’re right those don’t catch the vibe…” “Cosmic Wolf Productions?” “Damn you hit the nail on the head – you should run with that!” So I went to the sketch pad again and designed my Cosmic Wolf logo! Special thanks to Jack for helping me turn it into a digital artifact – you really helped me out my guy!

It wasn’t until years later that I went back to the drawing board and started a new series of sketches that became the parent company logo you see today. It was based on a series of sketches I was doing on the “eyes of animals in the rocky mountains.” It was a sketch prompt that came from a Facebook page I was following at the time. I took the wolf’s eye – added the Earth to the pupil, threw the acronym up and it came into creation! Special thanks to Rish Janus for her work creating a digital graphic of my design when I had no way to access Illustrator or similar software ( I was wrenching on cars for a living at the time). You really did me a solid taking this contract.

The final element came to fruition this year when I decided to move forward with branding my photography in its own unique way. MXT Photography came out of a writing retreat I did for myself during the height of the 2020 pandemic. I wanted something edgy, that held the essence of my personality and style of shooting. I created a play on my first name – Michelle – and my middle name – Takara – and chose to add “X” because, you know – it’s like cool and stuff! So MXT became an incubator idea and just this year I decided it was time to yet again draw up a design idea for the logo and on October 2, 2023 the MXT logo was born!

So now that you know more or less the “origin story” on the logos, the name, and the company itself – here is a little on where the company is now. Currently EVMG is incubating on a redesign for both this website and the branding for each company within the conglomerate. I have a B.A. in Multimedia Journalism and Social Documentaries [Metro State] and a M.S. in Journalism and Media Communications [CSU]. I am using the knowledge and skills I have attained through those curriculum and the 15 years worth of freelance and contract experience I have had throughout the years to develop this organization into a premier provider of storytelling services and multimedia production.

There is a lot of explore here so enjoy the ride – that’s what is all about right? The Journey! I have taken care to organize all my work into a Portfolio. This is where you will find my written, graphic design, photography, and video production work. They are seperated into categories to make it easier for clients, employers, and general visitors to explore what I have crafted over the years. The Portfolio starts with a landing page that presents my most current and featured work. The Storytelling page hosts the written [article writing, copy writing, copy editing] and graphic design work I have created over the years. I created two separate galleries for my photojournalism and life-inspired artistic works through MXT Photography. Most (but not all) of the labeled “art” photographs are for sale as laminate or canvas prints (See the Services page for pricing information in these). Cosmic Wolf Productions [CWP] has its own dedicated page to showcase my work in video production. Last but not least, the blog offers a peek into my perception and understandings of this world we share. It contains a series of thought blogs, concept explications, academic work, and prompt-based posts. I will try to update my blog and generate new posts at least once a week moving forward.

Send me a message through the correspondence page with any questions or inquiries you might have.

Above all else, have fun ^.^

– Michelle Takara Fairbairn