The video embedded above (if you can’t see it click here) is a pretty good substitute to the title of this post. My “cinematographer” wife and I apparently didn’t quite see eye-to-eye on how best to film the 15 second sequence, so let me help: it’s our former christmas tree plummeting to Earth from three stories up.
I was hoping for it to have made this impressive ‘whooshboom,’ but instead it just kind of went ‘theewphoofh.’ Pretty much the decibel level of a butterfly farting.
Anyways, the results were completely unexpected and not at all like I’d hoped for. In fact, it turned out so much better — kind of like 2011 — which was a beast of a year for me with a ton of life achievements, work goals met and shooting dreams reached.
Among the high points, our now 16 week-old baby girl named Tala Mae, celebrating one year of marriage to Jenna (who’s b’day is today), a slew of editorial and commercial projects AND the honor of receiving a PDN 30 2012 New and Emerging Photographers nomination (last year’s list)!
While I feel like I’ve made a fair amount of headway on things, there’s still so much more one can do. I’m incredibly dedicated to pushing forward since I absolutely love this industry and have a passion for getting my work in front of folks that can appreciate it.
So consider this a warning: I’m coming for you 2012. . .
EPILOGUE
One of my best friends, Dhanraj Emanuel, gave me a little perspective not too long ago as I was worrying about all the logistical challenges of an upcoming job.
He said, “Mike, are you having fun right now?” I said, “well no, I’m anxious as all hell for next week.”
He replied, “Miiike (he’s East Indian), come on maaan?! Shooting is fun. You need to stop worrying. You always over think. Just go and have fun. . . you know how to do all this stuff. You’ve been doing it for years; just go do it!”
Needless to say, I always have fun when I’m shooting. Too much sometimes and have to watch the jokes I tell. . . I do run lighting scenarios and what-if’s over and over in my head to the point where I light the job in my dreams! I guess the point here is to remember why I do what I do.
It’s the act. It’s the imagery. Trust your gut and react to what you can at the moment it pops up. Stay hungry and push yourself vision-wise. Think about that stuff and everything works itself out.
Regardless, I love what I got down in San Francisco on that gig and think it was in large part because I just kind of mantra’d out to “go with the flow dude, just go with the flow. You got this.”
Really can’t wait to see those images drop and share them as it signifies a different, more broad approach for the direction of my work in 2012. And super big bonus: had an amazing sitdown meeting over my portfolios at the offices of Wired Magazine!
Isn’t it an Oprah-Universe-Provides kind of thing that if I write “shoot job or three for Wired Magazine this year in 2012″ then it’ll happen. . . okay, hope so!
More always,
Clinard
Photo Illustrations for Mental Floss Magazine
I hit the newsstands once a month to look for magazines that jump out at me. Have always liked thumbing through Mental_Floss for the nerdy factoids, fun design and catchy feature openers.
It then came as a great surprise to get an email back in September from their AD, Winslow Taft, asking if I’d photo-illustrate an upcoming feature. After reading his abstract regarding science attempting to solve 10 of the world’s most annoying problems, it really wasn’t hard to say yes.
WRONG WEATHER FORECASTS
WHINY KIDS
WOMEN WHO DATE JERKS
SPAM
OVERHEARD CELL PHONE CONVOS
SONGS STUCK IN YOUR HEAD
NAME AMNESIA
LONG WORK MEETINGS
CEREAL DUST
BEER GOGGLES
His list above had some immediate contenders for me, so I got started straight away on my typical doodle-sent-to-creative exercise that helps to gauge which ideas he liked most.
Our collaboration was effortless, and I really loved how this thing came into being as a barrage of emails sent over one weekend. Perhaps one of my favorite Winslow lines from our convos:
maybe something with powerpoint slides – slide 4 of 1000. . . maybe rip van winkle is passing a plate of donuts with dust and spiderwebs on it?
I wanted a very distilled look to the images that would put the concept front and center. Because these images were photo illustrations — their payoff being completed in post — we opted to photograph all the scenarios in a controlled, studio environment.
In the end, we decided to pursue cereal dust, overheard cell phone conversations, songs stuck in one’s head a.k.a. earworms, long work meetings and spam email.
Sounds weird, but I just saw the spam image so clealy in my mind’s eye before it was ever completed. Because of this, the direction for the shoot had already formed as this modern-day everyman in a quasi-purgatory space going about his daily tasks.
All of the images were preconceived, so it was just a matter of marrying plates containing subject matter — the cans of spam above for example — with the everyman character in another image to create the final, finished photograph.
If you have seven minutes and are still in the dark as to what I’m getting at, there’s a pretty good video tutorial on the compositing process within Photoshop over on Layers Magazine here.
Thanks to Ian Goode for coming out of his squid tank to lend that stellar face of his, not to mention his rad photoshop skills.
Must also extend a big thanks to Mr. Donald Markwick for his amazing beard and Ms. Alexandra Rose Dennis for her multiple personalities (chuckle).
Couldn’t be more pleased with how these turned out, I hope to tackle something like this again soon. Either way, keep your eyes peeled for more exciting updates coming up!
More always,
Clinard