So I’m getting evicted from my studio space in Magnuson Park, and I’m frankly kind of sick about losing it. . .
It’s not on account of inability to pay or a desire to leave for another locale; merely because big money, fat greed and prideful conquest win out more often than not. . .
The final day in my studio stands at May 1st, so it’s my hope to post as regularly as I can as my time at Bldg 11 in Magnuson Park, Seattle comes to a close. . .
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. . .
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.
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.
Here’s a look at an individual image as seen through one of the galleries, in this case: Portraiture.
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.
It’s being reported that some of my images are featured on the Behance Network!
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!
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!
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.
Had the great fortune of photographing Mr. Ron Fulton for my Refugee project. If you’re unfamiliar with it, check out past explorations here and here.
Met him a few months back after finding myself in a conversation about The South and Jimi Hendrix. We hit it off immediately: he telling me about Arkansas, his time serving in the military and his 40-year-old parrot, Sailor; myself talking about Bama and my quirky, conceptual portrait style.
Since then we’ve been chatting every other week or so about getting together to do a little colab in the studio, and a few days back we finally had an opportunity.
What a treat to hear Ron move with ease from Hendrix to Skynard to ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow.’ I found myself smiling and kind of zoning out, rapt in his guitar wizardry. This man has got endless amounts of talent, and a damn fine bird to boot!
On this great Memorial Day, I wanted to get this post up to honor Ron and all the service men and women who serve or have served our country to give us the freedom we enjoy today.
Had a little screen printing party at the studio over the weekend.
Jenna, aka ‘The Boss’ (pictured above), made it happen. She engineered a low-cost, very effective way of making prints from a short list of supplies found at any Value Village, Goodwill or retail store. The list goes a little something like this:
1) Obtain a few frames from said store. These can be picture frames or those wooden frames that pre-stretched canvas comes on. You know, the canvases that you used to paint your high school masterpieces on. . . exactly, the ones that now reside at above-noted Goodwill store.
2) Find some very sheer curtain tulle that someone has discarded. Probably on the back wall, wedged between the quilts with the stains on them and the Saved by the Bell sweatshirts.
3) Rolls of Contact Paper. It’s probably the case the ones you find at Value Village are still tacky enough to affix to your tulle, but if concerned, feel free to go out and pick up a new roll.
Basically, you staple your tulle very taut to your frame as if making a drum. Affix your contact paper with design cut out and you’re good to go. I found a couple nice tutorials on the process here and here that pretty much break things down.
Above is my contribution. It’s the new brand identity I’ve been bringing into existence with the aid of a fantastic designer in NYC named Tim Lahan. I’m super excited to start the process of spreading the word and getting it out on market.
That said, keep your eyes peeled for exciting new updates from the Office of Michael Clinard: General Photography.
At least, that’s what I hear when I walk into Steve’s home (besides the talking parrots that greet you upon entry).
It really is alive in a sense as Steve continues to amass an evermore increasingly interesting collection of oddities, rarities, preserved wildlife, dead/stuffed things, etc.
We’ve been talking for some time now about doing a portrait. Knowing Steve could appreciate my level of humor, I think we managed to pull something off that honors both the caretaker and his creation.
A Zed and Two Noughts: Day 1 of Day 70
So I’m getting evicted from my studio space in Magnuson Park, and I’m frankly kind of sick about losing it. . .
It’s not on account of inability to pay or a desire to leave for another locale; merely because big money, fat greed and prideful conquest win out more often than not. . .
The final day in my studio stands at May 1st, so it’s my hope to post as regularly as I can as my time at Bldg 11 in Magnuson Park, Seattle comes to a close. . .
More always,
Mike