I’ve now got enough content built up to blog over for the next year, so expect new posts very soon.

In the meantime you’ve got to check out this amazing painting I picked up from Kirk Albert (formerly Great Stuff) here in Seattle.

More soon,

Mikey.

And I’m shooting here tomorrow night.

Moore Soone,

Mike

That said, I had the great pleasure of sitting with Seattle-based artist Perri Lynch of Velocity Made Good.

If you must ask, Perri is ART in Magnuson, meaning that if you and your pup visited the park for the off-leash canine mecca and wandered up through the sports meadow and/or breezed in to attend the Friends of the Library Book Sale at Hangar 30, chances are you’ve run past her art (look for ‘at ease, 2008′).

Perri, myself and others are part of an organization called SPACE whose primary objective is to keep Magnuson Park as a center for arts and culture. Unbeknown to most, when the military gifted Magnuson Park to the City of Seattle, it was on the condition that the park be a center for arts and culture. And based on the link, you can see how long it’s been a talking point.

Which brings us to now. Slowly and systematically, developers in association with the city, are slowly taking steps to displace a cache of working artists from Building 11 in order to turn it into a new, lake-front commercial space for folks like Ivar’s and McDonald’s.

If you’ve been to the park, could you imagine a place without Fin Art or Soundgarden?

That said, on April 25th, the Mountaineers are hosting an event to celebrate the park, its tenants and visitors and all it has to offer. Please try and come out, and stay tuned for details.

It wasn’t our usual blood-filled chalice faire or endless rows of tables stacked high with freshly slaughtered fish and game. Today it was Nestle Chocolate Milk, Michael-made Salmon Burgers and an impromptu portrait session that brought dead artists to their knees in heaven/hell/purgatory.

After all the sugar, Bill had a hard time focusing. He kept yelling, “Beam me up, Scotty. . .” apparently mistaking himself for Geordi LaForge after his recent completion of a project for the Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum at the Seattle Center here in Seattle.

All in all, it was good fun to hang with Bill. Peep the triptych below.

More always,

Mike

The Painter Milo Duke as Exupernis, 2008.

The Painter Milo Duke, 2008.

but in that void found Hope. Shane Hope.

I think the pic looks as it was intended to look: quite banal and ordinary. Since hitting the hot springs and seeing my old art comrade Joe, I’ve been wanting to make and make some more: calamari the other night, the bed, myself tired by hiking up Cougar Mountain yesterday. . .

Here’s Mack perplexed by the events of the night previous.

For the larger production still, click here.

I could make the case that I felt like a Matmos song: all seemingly discombobulated but with a kind of order amidst what sounds like chaos.

See, I’d been up since 5am. Perhaps one could chalk it up to the fact that the week before last I was moving into a new studio downtown in the 619 Western Bldg (4th floor North, if you’re ever around), or I’d just successfully used my Jetta Station Wagon as a 1/2 ton grip truck for a shoot with Gregg Segal for Fortune Magazine out at Amazon.

Managed to tie a couple seamless rolls up there as well.

Then last week I was down at Weyerhauser for a three day job with Toronto-based photographer Andric. Guy was supercool and articulate in how he related to the creatives and the client on set. He said things like ‘after shooting this test, what I’ve been able to deduce is that the angle of the road. . .’ His images are whimsical and surreal, and in ten minutes with photoshop, he can turn the ordinary into some pretty far-outness.

With that kind of surrealist whimsy flying around, on the tech scout day, I had some downtime here and there. Earlier that morning, while looking for Weyerhauser, I meandered around the area and found a Devry University. While killing some time awaiting further instruction from my producer, I decided I’d usurp the role of a guy interested in attending their technical college.

Really wanted to take photos inside, but thought I’d get weird looks as if I were a spy for ITT or something. Basically, imagine a slew of JROTC, FFA, and/or Science Club guys/gals finally finding a place on earth to call their own. I do have to say though that Devry University has really nice facilities.

In further support of my scatterbrain-ness, I literally was in or had driven about six to eight different cars last week in some capacity or another: My Jetta Wagon, a Dodge Caravan, a Suburban, a Ford Edge, a Chevy Malibu, a Nissan Quest, another Suburban and finally Jenna’s Prius. This shot was taken from the driver’s seat of my Ford Edge. Andric is the guy in black atop some scaffolding taking a shot of me that will eventually find its way into the Wall Street Journal.

Then, to wrap last week up, I was back out at Amazon again. Only this time it was with Joe Pugliese of LA for Wired Magazine again featuring Mr. Bezos. Being a Wired subscriber, I can’t wait to get my hands on that issue and take a peek at the results, as Joe is a film shooter.

In other news, its a time of “ones.” My one year anniversary since leaving a job at a production company for freelancing full-time and things couldn’t be better! Grasshopper say don’t be afraid to jump out there and get wet. If you’re talented, hard-working and able to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, you’ll be fine in personal and professional endeavors. Also, Michael Clinard Photography and Bolog Me with Cheese: Michael Clinard’s Blog are Number One in search engines!

Hooray! And Jenna and Mike are swing dancing like crazy! We were just out at Century Ballroom for prom a couple weeks back and had a blast. If you’re ever looking to take some great dance lessons, I’d recommend hitting up Triple Step Studios in North Seattle. Below you’ll find an image of us taken in the mirror, completely pooped from the night out at Century. . .

More always,

Mike

Above you see 1): one of the polaroid tests from a recent shoot at Seatac with Chris McPherson out of LA (he was behind this Visa ad featuring a giant catfish). 2) Symphytum Offiicinale, or Comfrey, totally cures broken bones. 3) My old Iowa Alumni Association (who’d been hassling me for the last two years about making contributions) finally sent me an “Iowa Alum” car decal, retail value: several thousand dollars. 4) I saw “No Country for Old Men” by the Coen Bros., only this time I wasn’t tripping out on zombie-infected lamb meat eaten at a Greek Restaurant in the UDistrict. 5): My A-data Jogr flash drive finally broke, so NEVER pull it out by the little keychain deal: treat it like an AC plug for the outlet and grip the entire apparatus and never just pull the cord as you know you do when you’re done vacuuming the carpet.

I’ve been super busy with work, but the holiday season is approaching and thats wearing me out. The Christmas season means I’ve got a birthday approaching (my 29th) along with my parents’ 30th wedding anniversary as well. That said, I recently hit the KUOW Holiday Christmas party this past Friday with Jenna, which was the perfect wrap-up for the last four months or so for me.

More always,

Mike

We’re sitting there talking and an excited couple come in raging about the falling snow.

“Oh, goody!” Jenna says. Maggie looks stoked. I, on the other hand, am like one of those adults from an old Robin Williams film that is no longer in touch with his inner child. I’m remembering last years transportation hell in which I remained stuck in traffic for about 3 hours. In 3 hours, I moved 5 miles. It took Jenna’s dad 7 hours to get from downtown Seattle to Bellevue.

I get through my Pad See Iew with ease. Jenna’s Tom Yum soup is spicier than lava which is great because we’re going to need it to de-ice the street to get Maggie back home. That said, I see Maggie taking an inventory of the contents of her purse: ‘one lead pencil, a piece of string. . .’ I see her unblemished, organic vegetable-fueled mind at work. Her critical thinking skills are helping her to visualize a lever and pulley system that’s going to lift the Prius out of the three feet of snow that could hypothetically fall. The female MacGuyver is sitting across from me.

Anyhow, it really wasn’t all that bad. The snow didn’t stick, and it was quite pretty as the flakes were as big quarters. The craft fair rocked and I bought this pretty cool piece from a guy named Ryan Berkley. Check out his Etsy shop and myspace. This is the piece I picked up, a guy named Wendell:

Here are a couple pics from the day along with a short video I shot on the way back from the eastside featuring the Seattle skyline and the song stylings of Bill Callahan.

*Note: there used to be an embedded movie file here, but since the the website’s move to the Livebooks’ servers, this movie file is no longer available. Sorry folks.