Author Archives: Michael Clinard

Two views of my desktop and two of my upcoming specs

Written by Michael Clinard. Posted on February 4, 2010. 2 Comments.

I’ve been working on an upcoming post to this blog that’s quickly becoming a dissertation on cost, value, and worth. Quite frankly I need a break; something a little more lighthearted.

Thought I’d show you how hectic it’s been over the last couple weeks by taking a look at my desktop.

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I’m really not the kind of cat that goes off and let’s his desktop go to pot. Better still, I’m not one that goes off and does the kind of thing I’m about to disclose, but what the heck . . . I just made me a desktop folder and threw everything in it. Yes, that’s right ’88 Econoline-style.

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After doing so, my mind is ten times sharper, and I’m getting things done in lightning speed. I feel like Clark Kent/Superman as if Lois Lane were coming over for dinner and I’ve got five minutes to prepare. Which to me, Superman, is more than enough time to do the dishes, change the sheets, cook poultry with my laser beam eye capability and make fresh churned ice cream with the aid of blizzard-cold breath.

Nowhere near as harrowing, but I did pull some imagery together for the annual ASMP Seattle slideshow highlighting the work from our membership here in the Pacific NW. Below is my submission in beautiful, rolling .gif animation.

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In other news, be on the lookout for a relaunch of my website showcasing an updated portfolio. After working very closely with Amanda Sosa-Stone last month, I’ll soon be adding new work along with some gems that were hidden in the rough. Super excited by the collaboration, and I’m eager to see how things continue to pan out during the year.

On a personal note, I’ll soon be in possession of a slick, new pair of hand-carved wooden spectacles from my close friend and colleague Mr. Scott Urban of Urban Spectacles of Wood. Heading out there in several months to shoot his lookbook, but in the meantime, he sent me a couple mockups.

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Think they’re about 5-10% too small, but I’m just happy to have a new pair after being without since June when some crafty kids on an Ecuadorian bus lifted my other frames.

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More always,

Mike

Confessory

Written by Michael Clinard. Posted on January 23, 2010. 3 Comments.

I figure I should post as I’m bound to catch flack from Tom Ridge-ian friends that monitor this blog with the same fervor as those that monitor our National Threat Level. Guess I’m oft-accused of slacking on things from time to time; evidenced by the few drawers I keep that are squarely designated as ‘to be dealt with much later: ‘much later’ meaning 1-1.5 years off perchance’ drawers.

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Yeah, that’s one year of important papers you see above. My buddy and collaborator Ian Goode of Goode Studios was kind enough to make it look fly’er than first envisioned. We’re working on putting the finishing touches on it, but at my rate, you won’t see it for another year anyways. That said, I want to put it out there so as to inform the kind readership of my recent endeavors.

Outside of that, I’ve been dealing with some personal family health stuff that has me a bit out of sorts at present. Grandma and Father unit stuff. Luckily, all’s well at this moment of putting finger to key, but I suspect it’ll all soon flux in the next few days.

Finally got around to shooting an idea that’s been knocking around for quite sometime. Below is one image from the project. Wonder if you can guess what’s going on here?

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More always,
Mike

Hovercrafts and Vector Rays Batman, it’s 2010!

Written by Michael Clinard. Posted on January 9, 2010. No comments.

That’s right folks, welcome to the future. Does it look at all like what you’d envisioned?

I can’t say it looks all that futuristic to me, but I am indeed rocking the Jetsetters/George Jetson T-shirt from Dope Couture I got a couple months back. Why? Because I’m hoping to be wearing hater blockers more and more on account of how bright I hope 2010 will prove to be.

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Seen above is me accompanied by my camera case riding shotty in first class. Why you ask? Because that’s what 2010 is about. Respecting and pampering my photographic vision and style.

There have been quite a number of developments over the last couple months, so I’ll just jump right in and start going down the line.

1) I was not even in Seattle at all during mid-to-late November in through early-to-mid December. During that time I was in: Miami->Chicago->DC, then back to Seattle for Thanksgiving. Then the next week it was Boston->New York->Los Angeles, then back to Seattle at the first of December.

First week of December had me in New Brunswick, NJ and right outside of Houston, TX where I picked up this fat T-shirt from Buc-EE’s. The girl who we made our purchase from said ‘Buc-EE’s is like the best gas station I’ve ever been to. . .’ and I whole-heartedly agree random gas clerk:

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That’s me above in Buc-ee’s regalia in my last week of work in December in Hartford, CT. When I got back to Seattle, it was right on the next plane out for some much needed Holiday family time with my parents, brother and grandmother in Alabama.

2) While in New York, I got word that the Brand Identity and System conjured up with Tim Lahan was written up on the esteemed Heather Morton Art Buyer Blog, and subsequently picked up by Rob Haggert (A Photo Editor) and Chase Jarvis.

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Above are a few images of the system in action and how it will look when in the hands of potential clients.

3) I’m working with the amazing consultant, Amanda Sosa-Stone on my marketing plan for 2010 and a tighter edit of my portfolio. Our first phone meeting last week was amazing and already I’ve gotten some amazing insight on where I stand and where I need to go. Stay tuned for further updates.

4) Yes, I have indeed been shooting. In fact, here are a few images from the last several weeks for your bemusement:

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Portrait of a Portrait of Scott Urban, Chicago. 2009.

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In the Workshop of Scott Urban, Chicago. 2009.

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Texas Lunch. 2009.

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My Dad (in Personal Garage/Playpen/Sandbox/Laboratory). 2009.

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Laura #1. 2009.

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Laura #2. 2009.

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Outtake (Stephen). 2009.

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Karaoke Outtake (Josh Collins). 2009.

That’s about it for now mein Freunds. Keep checking back for updates and late breaking news from the Office of Michael Clinard, General Photography. Here’s to a hard rocking, fruitful and happening 2010!

More always,
Mike

I shot this Sunday.

Written by Michael Clinard. Posted on October 14, 2009. No comments.

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. . . among other things with a local rock trio by the name of Happy Birthday Secret Weapon.

Saw the gents play at the Sunset Tavern in Ballard a few months back in support of Levi Fuller’s ‘Ball of Wax’ project and was blown away by their performance.

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We got to talking about influences, and two came up: 1) Hella and 2) The F*cking Champs.

The image above had us laughing on account of it’s remarkably sublime homage to the snarky, self-mythologizing album covers the Champs were known for.

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With titles such as ‘Nebula Ball Rests in a Fantasy Claw’ and ‘Thor is Like Immortal’ or ‘I am the Album Cover,’ the Champs had a pretty good sense of humor much like the gentlemen of Happy Birthday Secret Weapon.

In addition to our image above, the guys helped me with a triptych concept that I’m still working hard to complete, so that I may get it up on the blog and soon-to-launch website.

In the meantime, you should go out and give their music a listen.

More always,

Mike

Collateral: First Press Check

Written by Michael Clinard. Posted on October 9, 2009. 1 Comment.

This post serves as what I expect to be a multi-installment blog segment regarding the upcoming collateral materials that I’m having done at a local letterpress studio here in Seattle.

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That said, I was rang up by my guys to swing by the studio this past Wednesday to see the trademark plate on the press and to get an idea on how our color treatment was interpreting.

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Decided to go with Pantone 426U which is about a 90% black to help support the direction I’m going toward on the website and other supporting collateral materials. When our color choice interpreted a little differently on our ‘thick-as-a-brick’ Cranes Lettra 220lb. stock, I wasn’t surprised.

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In addition to the color issues, we’d developed some ghosting around the trademark, so we decided to turn the plate in an attempt to reduce this effect.

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After getting that bad boy turned 90 degrees and getting it back on the presses, we inked up the rollers, and BAM! We achieved our desired result: nicely punched, boldly printed head trademarks that will serve as the foundation for the beautifully designed business card that I can’t wait to showcase.

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You’ll have to stay tuned for further updates as we continue hammering things out. Some point soon, I suspect I’ll have a sneak peek of the completed business card and those other pieces of collateral. Outside of this, continue tuning in for exciting new updates regarding the website and current projects I’m tackling.

More always,

Mike

It’s about to get more interesting’er up in here

Written by Michael Clinard. Posted on October 5, 2009. 1 Comment.

When I hear so Mike, are you ever going to blog again, in my buddy Bill’s upper Michigan accent, then I know I’ve been neglecting my duties at the International Outpost for Consistent and Sustainable Blog Entry. Or there could have been the subtle cue, when on my Facebook page, I recently got this message from a ‘friend’* regarding my lack of posts. It went something like this:

‘Hey Man, what with not posting to your blog in over a month and a half. . . I beseech you. . . Kindly, ‘Friend.”

On the serious tip, I’ve been quite busy, and that’s a very good thing. But it sure doesn’t mean that the Office of Michael Clinard, General Photography Train hasn’t left the station. In fact, it’s well on it’s way to making it’s final stop. If it were a ship: coming to port. A loaf of bread: baked. Humans: evolved. . .

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So what’s new: I’ve been flexing the creative membrane. In fact just this week, I jumped into the studio with Amanda Johnson to hammer out some ideas: One concept is still being finessed, but I finally did get around to shooting that glass of water that’s been sitting around for a couple of months.

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Outside of this, there’s the website which is ever-so close to completion that I can hardly wait. Of course, I still need to get a host of images sized/res’ed to spec and up on the servers. In fact, was up until 5am pulling images in anticipation, but I thought I’d give you a taste of the home page, oh loyal readership.

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Here’s a look at an individual image as seen through one of the galleries, in this case: Portraiture.

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There are other exciting features that will soon be live. When the site launches, I’ll be sure to make a note of it here on ye olde blog. Then, when you catch a moment, you’ll have to visit, give it a looksy and tell me what you think.

In other news, I’ve created my first new video piece in over four years. What with all the updates today–and as a thank you to my readership–I cut this together in celebration of the Brand Identity and to mark what feels like coming out of a near four year hibernation.

Interesting’er from Michael Clinard on Vimeo.

I could tell you what’s going on here, but it’d ruin the ambiguity.

Feeling very cicada-like,
Mike

*that ‘friend,’ I’m speaking of is one, Lucien Knuteson. You’ll have to go and check out his new blog when you’ve had all you can handle here.

Late Breaking News from the Office of Michael Clinard. . .

Written by Michael Clinard. Posted on August 7, 2009. No comments.

It’s being reported that some of my images are featured on the Behance Network!

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I got an email a couple hours back saying that the editorial team selected my project from the several hundred that folks post everyday. Pretty neat being that a couple days ago I decided to pull some images together that I’ve shot over the last year or so in anticipation for the new site that’s being developed. Figured I’d give folks a preview of some of the visuals to expect, and here it goes getting some neat attention!

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I suspect that project will drop from the front pages after a week or so, but in the meantime, feel free to visit the gallery and let me know what you think. Hope you enjoy looking at them as I had a great time creating them. Big shout of thanks to all the nice folks that sat for me!

More soon,

Mike

Ecuador is Over Here

Written by Michael Clinard. Posted on July 26, 2009. No comments.

Hi all,

It’s been a busy month for me: the website look is finally being hashed out and collateral material printing for the Office of Michael Clinard, General Photography is gearing up.

Outside of the recent happenings, I found some time to steal away and edit through the 1600 or so photos from the recent trip to Ecuador. I’ve gone ahead and put them up on Picasa here.

When you arrive, I encourage you to click the slideshow option to see them larger; from there, you can pause it to click through at your own pace or turn off the captions if you’d prefer.

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Above is an image shot inside the monument La Virgin del Panecillo which overlooks Quito–Ecuador’s capital. It’s a large monument of the Virgin Mary constructed of large steel plates, each one welded and screwed together as seen above.

When I finally stopped to appreciate it’s inner construction, I found myself standing in front of plate 79. Specifically important to me given that it was the year of my birth: 1979.

More soon,

Mike

The Cyber Office of Michael Clinard is just around the corner now.

Written by Michael Clinard. Posted on June 26, 2009. No comments.

That’s right. We’re moving the furniture around over at The Office of Michael Clinard website.

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For the next few weeks, the website will be offline. In the meantime, I’ll do my best to update the blog with images from the Ecuador sojourn along with a host of exciting new projects I’ve been undertaking.

If you need to get ahold of me, don’t hesitate to do so.

More always,

Mike

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