Clare Jordan (click her name there for a fun bio over on Feature Shoot) of Canada’s The Globe and Mail was on the other end. Besides telling me how much she liked my work (nice!), she launched into one of the more incredibly detailed and informative expositions on an upcoming project I’ve ever heard (double nice!). I’d start to ask a question, and she would chime in as if reading my mind. Seer, prophet? I think yes.

In a nutshell, she explained that Don Mattrick — Microsoft’s President of Interactive Entertainment Business — is a Canuck and her magazine — Canada’s Report on Business — was going to do a little expose on their native son. We devised a fun method that would have Mr. Mattrick engage with his brainchild, the Kinect for Xbox 360.

That is in fact him playing Tennis for the Kinect in the tears below, but for a whole smattering of info on Mr. Mattrick’s ascension, you must check out the article.

Sidenote: because I had been given 45 minutes with Don (which was later shaved to 15 minutes), I set up a second camera on a relay that would fire when the hero/action angle fired.

The magazine didn’t use any of them, but it’s a pretty good look at what most photographers have to think about when doing a project at Microsoft Headquarters, or really any place of business where time and space can be a premium.

More always,

Clinard

Gabrielle’s House – Wallingford, Seattle.

Down by the Water – Magnuson Park, Seattle.

Gail and her fancy note-taking abilities – Varsity Inn, Seattle.

Apple Lisa Computer – RE-PC, Seattle.

Ecuador vs. Mexico Game – Qwest (now CenturyLink) Field, Seattle

Wall in Seattle – Lake Union, Seattle.

Prep for Phoot Camp – The Lab (aka my Studio), Seattle.

The Sticky (w/ Laura Healy for Seattle Met Feature) – The Lab (aka my Studio) Seattle.

Spadaccini’s Pad – Capitol Hill, Seattle.

Pretty Pink Packing Peanuts (Reprise. . . I did an art project with these back in the day) – Kill Room, Seattle.

Jim Pridgeon’s Studio – Bldg 11, Seattle.

Proscenium Stage – Bldg 11, Seattle.

Dinner with the Quadd’s – Captiol Hill, Seattle.

NYC Daze – NYC, NY.

Tara aka “T-bone” of Thom Browne – NYC, NY.

Our lighting is otherworldly and defies physcis – Studio in SODO, Seattle.

Saw my first Sounders Game – Qwest (now CenturyLink) Field, Seattle.

I shot Charlie Sheen – International District, Seattle.

Those New Duct Tape Nikes finally dropped – Breezeway, Seattle.

Way to get born USA – Northgate, Seattle.

The World – Convention Center, Seattle.

Summer Wedding Duds – Arboretum, Seattle.

Lowriders – Magnuson Park, Seattle.

Knoxville, TN

Porn in the South (Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shops Catalogs)

Washington, DC (Reagan Airport?)

Parking Lot – Washington, DC.

Spoiled kid picking his boogers – In-the-air, DC to MSP.

Display and Costume – Northgate, Seattle.

Metaphor for sumpthin’ – Bldg 11, Seattle.

Lindsey Watkins prepping Andrea Clinkscales for ‘Can’t Look Away’ Branding imagery – SIFF Theater, Seattle.

Inflated Heart – Wedgwood, Seattle.

Red Green – University District, Seattle.

Photographer at Space Needle – Lake Union, Seattle.

Bags Pickup – Airport in Baltimore, MD.

At a Wal-Mart in Baltimore, MD.

The Hugest Crab Cakes Ever – Baltimore, MD.

At a party – Bellevue, WA.

Old Hand-painted Signage – Capitol Hill, Seattle.

John Galliano shopping at Costco – Shoreline, WA.

In n’ Out Burger – San Diego, CA.

Our House (where Dogs are Cats and Cats are Dogs) – Wedgwood, Seattle.

Chateau Ste. Michelle (for Jeff Bridges concert) – Woodinville, Seattle.

My wife sneaking cookies at Chateau Ste. Michelle. . .

Phew. I’ll have more posts very soon. Thanks for looking and enjoy the day off!

Clinard.

1) got married to the most beautiful woman in the world.

2) been making great headway with my photography after my trip to New York.

(above is my first feature! shot for Benjamen Purvis and Seattle Met magazine. . . more on that in a later post.)

3) am to a point in my life where I feel super content and relaxed (sorry, I couldn’t resist using the image below for those who know my freneticism and inclination toward lateral thinking).

I’m very thankful to have a supportive network of friends, loved ones and terribly creative colleagues. I’m excited to see what the new year holds and wish each and everyone the best in 2011.

I’ve been shooting a host of new personal projects and exciting assignments, so stay tuned in the coming weeks for updates.

More soon,
Mike

Above is an image of us after exchanging nuptials on August 22nd at Kubota Gardens here in Seattle. She’s stuck with me for six years after our first meeting in the photo lab at the University of Iowa while she pursued graduate studies in printmaking, I in photography/intermedia. Can’t imagine life without her by my side, for she’s a continual grounding force that inspires strength and stability each and every day.

In other news, and completely under the radar, I updated the website to coincide with an upcoming trip to NYC I’ll be making for portfolio meetings. If you catch a sec hit http://www.michaelclinard.com to see the website refresh.

Above is the virtual Rosetta Stone of the image names that made the cut and those that have now found their way into the archives. Many thanks to all who’ve been beta-testing it and lending thoughts, suggestions and ideas. Much appreciated.

Outside that, I recently made a trek through Eastern Washington to visit a sight I’ve longed to see since childhood: The Grand Coulee Dam. Hope you enjoy taking a gander at some of the images below.

Scorched Earth somewhere in Eastern WA.

Grand Coulee Dam itself. Walked out on to the edge of a cliff to nab this one. The visitors were awestruck by my dedication to capture an unfettered view of the dam.

Official historical marker that looks like it’s been taken a time or two.

Weird murals galore.

Weird mural galore, part 2.

Old sign telling of the nightly Laser Light show. Would’ve loved to stuck around but had to get home to the Mrs.

Says it all. This thing ain’t teeny weeny.

New friends I made on the tour of one of the power plants.

Drink the Kool-aid, just not the water.

For some reason, this reminds me of Woody Guthrie.

More soon,

Mike

Couple months back, I had a lull in work travels and made some time to photograph Ron Miller, the former Naval Commanding Officer at Magnuson/Sand Point here in Seattle.

Before getting in studio, I was lucky enough to hear stories and tour his old offices in what is now ‘Building 30,’ a multi-use complex that hosts a number of community events here in Seattle.

The ballroom floor above no doubt saw quite a bit of traffic, and as he reminisced about the good ole’ days, Ron revealed a number of old cassettes buried deep in his bomber jacket. Apparently, they contained the daily motivational speeches he was often known to give to his newer recruits.

One title, “Prescription for Relief from Stress” was a favorite. **(As an aside: some days later, I received a compendium of these speeches in printed form. . .)

While it’s sad to admit that Building 30 now lays in a state of semi-disrepair, there’s quite a bit of community effort to preserve it by transforming it to artists’ studios and small naval museum. The image above shows an installation undertaken by a number of Magnuson Park artists as a means to draw attention to the building’s state.

Either way, it’d be great to breathe new life into 30 and get someone else in there besides the ducks.

As we made our way out, I couldn’t help but notice Ron’s sweet bomber jacket.

Asked him about picking one up in a large, but was informed that it only came in two sizes, 1) no and 2) just Ron’s.

Much appreciation to Ron for taking the time to sit for me. Happy Fourth to everyone!

More always,

Mike

Image above is the one that ran, but I had the time to do a couple versions on account of John’s relaxed nature and willingness to help a fellow artist experiment. That said, I was quite fond of the two images below.

Either way, do yourself a favor and head on over to the full post to read more about John and his longtime efforts helping artists and the SODO community.

In other exciting news, I now have prototype/1st round versions of my new portfolios that will be hitting photo editor/creative desks very soon.

How can I show you and not allow a peek inside?

The scan above is from inside the editorial book. Then here’s a grab from the portrait book.

These first round looks comes courtesy of none other than photo consultant extraordinaire Amanda Sosa-Stone. She did an amazing job pairing and juxtaposing themes/subjects/events that had been unobserved to my own eyes.

**A word of advice: get someone to lay your book out for you. If anything, it’s just another set of eyes on the ground suggesting what stays and what goes. I’m not speaking to every photographer, but I know I can oftentimes be a little too close to the work I love creating. It was certainly helpful to get someone else’s take.

More always,

Mike

I can’t say it looks all that futuristic to me, but I am indeed rocking the Jetsetters/George Jetson T-shirt from Dope Couture I got a couple months back. Why? Because I’m hoping to be wearing hater blockers more and more on account of how bright I hope 2010 will prove to be.

Seen above is me accompanied by my camera case riding shotty in first class. Why you ask? Because that’s what 2010 is about. Respecting and pampering my photographic vision and style.

There have been quite a number of developments over the last couple months, so I’ll just jump right in and start going down the line.

1) I was not even in Seattle at all during mid-to-late November in through early-to-mid December. During that time I was in: Miami->Chicago->DC, then back to Seattle for Thanksgiving. Then the next week it was Boston->New York->Los Angeles, then back to Seattle at the first of December.

First week of December had me in New Brunswick, NJ and right outside of Houston, TX where I picked up this fat T-shirt from Buc-EE’s. The girl who we made our purchase from said ‘Buc-EE’s is like the best gas station I’ve ever been to. . .’ and I whole-heartedly agree random gas clerk:

That’s me above in Buc-ee’s regalia in my last week of work in December in Hartford, CT. When I got back to Seattle, it was right on the next plane out for some much needed Holiday family time with my parents, brother and grandmother in Alabama.

2) While in New York, I got word that the Brand Identity and System conjured up with Tim Lahan was written up on the esteemed Heather Morton Art Buyer Blog, and subsequently picked up by Rob Haggert (A Photo Editor) and Chase Jarvis.

Above are a few images of the system in action and how it will look when in the hands of potential clients.

3) I’m working with the amazing consultant, Amanda Sosa-Stone on my marketing plan for 2010 and a tighter edit of my portfolio. Our first phone meeting last week was amazing and already I’ve gotten some amazing insight on where I stand and where I need to go. Stay tuned for further updates.

4) Yes, I have indeed been shooting. In fact, here are a few images from the last several weeks for your bemusement:

Portrait of a Portrait of Scott Urban, Chicago. 2009.

In the Workshop of Scott Urban, Chicago. 2009.

Texas Lunch. 2009.

My Dad (in Personal Garage/Playpen/Sandbox/Laboratory). 2009.

Laura #1. 2009.

Laura #2. 2009.

Outtake (Stephen). 2009.

Karaoke Outtake (Josh Collins). 2009.

That’s about it for now mein Freunds. Keep checking back for updates and late breaking news from the Office of Michael Clinard, General Photography. Here’s to a hard rocking, fruitful and happening 2010!

More always,
Mike

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!

More soon,

Mike

Above and below are a couple of the many notes I wrote to myself as reminders on the days leading up to our Exodus from the Emerald City.

The more I think about the ‘Dor, I always find myself humming Palace Brothers’ ‘West Palm Beach’ track. Oh, sigh. . .

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).

More always,

Mike

Getting things square in the studio today for a shoot tomorrow.

In sum, part of the gig involves a bird of flight, so–during pre-light–we busted out our best parrot impersonations.

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m really digging these images. Hope the parrot brings it as hard as we did this afternoon.

Enjoy,

Mike