So I’ve been rock steady rolling for the last month. Rather than bore you with the particulars, thought I’d show you where I’ve been and what I’ve been up to visually. Hope you enjoy.
Me shot by friend and colleague, John Keatley in early February.
That next week of February, I was out on Capitol Hill doing pre-pro for a job and came across this gent looking at an amoebic shape, that or the hole in his chest.
In the middle part of February, I stabbed myself in the neck in my haste to do something. “The untold dangers of wearing pens in the collars of one’s shirt,” taken by Lionel, Mr. iPhone.
Also did a two-week truck shoot, and all I managed was this camera phone pic by Lionel, Mr. iPhone in a dimly-lit Pacific Grip and Lighting.
Straight from the truck shoot, went aboard an Adidas job happening over on the Olympic Peninsula and in Seattle proper.
Was in Props/Art Dept. on this one.
Had the great fortune of working with Mr. Dominic Muller of Gus Creative.
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!
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.
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.
Anyhow, while looking through the images from the sojourn, I remembered I’d shot this interesting chap named Dan who goes under the moniker of MC Virus here in Seattle.
A super nice guy, his beats are unlike anything I’ve heard before. He played me a few tracks from an upcoming album he’s releasing on the label called Rarefied Heir. Go check him out!
In other news, I had a few of the upcoming promo pieces accepted onto Heather Morton’s Art Buyer Blog. Check it out here (scroll down to #4).
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.
February in Pictures
So I’ve been rock steady rolling for the last month. Rather than bore you with the particulars, thought I’d show you where I’ve been and what I’ve been up to visually. Hope you enjoy.
Me shot by friend and colleague, John Keatley in early February.
That next week of February, I was out on Capitol Hill doing pre-pro for a job and came across this gent looking at an amoebic shape, that or the hole in his chest.
Around the same time, I photographed Jenna’s father’s law firm: Montgomery, Scarp, MacDougal.
In the middle part of February, I stabbed myself in the neck in my haste to do something. “The untold dangers of wearing pens in the collars of one’s shirt,” taken by Lionel, Mr. iPhone.
Also did a two-week truck shoot, and all I managed was this camera phone pic by Lionel, Mr. iPhone in a dimly-lit Pacific Grip and Lighting.
Straight from the truck shoot, went aboard an Adidas job happening over on the Olympic Peninsula and in Seattle proper.
Was in Props/Art Dept. on this one.
Had the great fortune of working with Mr. Dominic Muller of Gus Creative.
The bare necessities, part 1.
The bare necessities, part 2.
My muse.
A stylist’s handbag.
Finally got my custom-made specs from dear friend, Scott Urban of Urban Spectacles of Wood.
Me in Urban Spectacles shot by Tommy Clark.