Personally, I think it's really clever and shows a lot of imagination and hard work. My thoughts would be:

-- It's too complicated, making it difficult to read and comprehend the concept. I would simplifiy it overall, and try to lose some of the lines which obscure the lettershapes. Granted, you're trying to fill negative space and not leave unsightly gaps, but still, at first blush I find it a little tough to read. Maybe some air might actually help.

-- Have you seen it in a very tiny version? I'm wondering if the tight kerning will plug up when reduced in size or printed under adverse conditions.

I would echo 'malbrights' comments.

Your design is getting close to being a really good solid logotype...

Excuse my dogma, the more I look at it, the more possibilities that I can see that might help the visability of the type, here are an initial few thoughts to try out?
I think its crucial to get the 'C' clearly visible. Maybe lose the diagonal that links to the 'm'. At first glance you might need to move 'amp' left so the 'C' lines up with the 90 degree vertical of the 'A' - I know this throws everything else out but thats why designing logos is'nt as easy as people think!
The 'B' doesn't need to be flipped.
Lose the line under the 'm'

If you look at some examples of Avant Garde being used by Herb Lubalin, you will see that it does'nt need to be as complicated to look great.

http://www.graphic-design.com/Type/Avant/Avant2.html

it's completely hot. it's got that retro found-it-in-the-thrift-store thing going on. i can read it perfectly. sell it as is.

I read ALAN CAMPBELL... not Ian...

I'm with Patrick.

It is a bit hard to read, but it's absolutely iconic and feels original yet retro at the same time. Perhaps you just use the written out name 'Ian Campbell' elsewhere in the marketing materials.

It does come across as mark from the 60's. Very iconic. A few suggestions, first, would be work on the 'A' in Ian. You may not need to make it so disjointed. Second, I would be curious to see what the 'M' would like if the bottom line was removed. Third, the 'B' might not need to be flipped. I'm sure making this changes would bring up the space you're probably tying to address. Do you have a color version? This might fix everyones readability issue.

www.holadesignstudio.com

Awesome feedback guys... I've had the same thought's concerning the "C", "B", "M" and "A". I'm at school and will try to have a follow up comp addressing all the points made. Always been a fan of Avant Garde magazine and Herb Lubalin, I would say he is a big influence of mine, if you couldn't tell already.

Thanks again.

This is complicated, maybe a little ugly BUT I like it. Hola raise a good question as to color. I'd say if you make the camera one color and your name another it will work just great.

Comments:

I think it's a little odd that the A in Ian is slanted in the opposite direction from all the other angles.

The C is pretty close to being an O and lost. You need it to look more like a C than a lens.

I think this is cool, though. As long as you have your name clearly printed in wherever you're using this readability shouldn't be a problem. If you want it to work all by itself start working off some of the feedback you've gotten here and post updates!

I read the flash as a 'D', and to me the 'C' is too big and separated by too much white from the rest of the text. Otherwise, I like it.

- Lex

I agrre with the color seperation. Camera one color and the text another.

I think the camera needs some work though, maybe having it filled with a color instead of just a stroke, might also work better in smaller sizes.

Otherwise great idea.

peter

what about leaving off the line extending from the top of the A, and enlarging the C?

[url=http://www.last.fm/user/popluhv/?chartstyle=contrastorange] [img]http://imagegen.last.fm/contrastorange/recenttracks/1/popluhv.gif[/img] [/url]

Although I like this logo, getting back to katttor and others about color separation: i've always been told that if it has to rely on color, it hasn't sucessed. I wonder if grayscale counts, if the camera were something like 60% Black.. :)

I looks interesting, but I can't read it *at all*.

Sorry for taking forever to reply, but I have been pretty busy.

Original

This was the final logo that was used.

Here is his website that I am currently working on as well. www.icampbellphoto.com

Love the logo, and the borders on the site. Some of the photography needs a little more help but nice

thanks. i'll let him know.