. . . 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.

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.

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

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.

More always,

Mike

‘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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Always,

Mike

The Office of Michael Clinard is up and running!

I can’t say enough about how good it is to be back in studio. I’ve greatly missed the art of studio practice, having been on about a five year hiatus since my post-bacc days at the University of Iowa. I affectionately refer to this time away as Hibernation.

I’m shedding that hairy exoskeleton as we speak.

More always,

Mike

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

Its being packed for a quick trip down to Sactown to cover the tent city issue that’s raging down there.

Amazing how a little storage bin can hold all this stuff. No hocus pocus, just straight gangsta packin’ on account of my mastery of protractors and intuitive grasp of The Golden Mean.

I also met Sian Kennedy the other day.

I’ve always loved this shot of his. This one ain’t so bad either, but that’s perspectival.

Mike

My good friend/colleague Jacob Gerber is living a secret life in Hollywood. For years, we suspected he was in fact Shawn from Rescue Me. However, after further investigation–and seeing this photo of him attempting a disguise behind nice black specs–it is my duty to report that he’s been living for years as one Andy Samberg, from Saturday Night Live fame.

Only after Gerber ‘moved back to Minneapolis’ did Samberg’s rise to stardom begin. Coincidence? I think not.

Its time to stop living in the shadows, Jacob and embrace your new identity.

Shot while home in Athens.

I’ve had a few people egging me on to put this last one up.

As well as this one test, which was shot on the eve of my 30th birthday.

More always,

Mike