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

Must confess that I wasn’t all that familiar with the X-Factor, but I was blown away by LeRoy’s story and his own career in music that encompasses writing songs for the likes of Elton John and Teddy Pendergrass, along with fronting his own band – LeRoy Bell and His Only Friends.

If you’ve got five minutes, you should check out the embedded video below (click here if embed doesn’t work) to see a performance and to catch a glimpse of how soulful he is.

At 60, he was the oldest candidate on the X-Factor, and in my opinion, the most down-to-earth and real guy there. Life experience, perhaps yes?! It’s evident that LeRoy feels every lyric he belts out, and it was an absolute honor to have the opportunity to spend time with him in his home north of Seattle.

If you’re looking for a hot ticket on New Year’s Eve, you should check LeRoy out at the Moore Theater. Run by his Twitter page to keep abreast since I suspect you’ll be hearing a lot more from him in the coming months. Either way, look for LeRoy in the Seattle Weekly out now!

More always,

Clinard

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

The WM folks and I got a conversation going a couple weeks back after some of them sent kudos along about the imagery turning up around town here in Seattle.

Should really thank the amazing team for all their hard work on the project: creative lead from EMP/SFM Melissa Robinson, composite/post-production/photoshop whiz Ian Goode of Gigantic Squid and the hair and makeup stylings (and Bride of Frankenstein wardrobe makings) of Lindsey Watkins.

And super big thanks to Andrea Clinkscales for being the Bride of Frankenstein and my buddy Brian Jones for stepping in to play Frankenstein as he’s about the only 6’7″ equivalent-Frankey that I know!

If you can see the Vimeo embed above, then you’ll be amazed at Brian’s uncanny ability to speak Frankenstein (if it’s not showing up, try this link to see the video in .m4v format on my server).

More soon,

Clinard

Postscript. . . if you don’t see an image above of a man looking off camera with an overtly confused look, then the embedded slideshow viewer isn’t showing up. Click here to see it on Issuu, but be sure to view in ‘single page’ mode. . .

More soon,

Clinard

Was just in New York City a couple weeks back for a whirlwind/action-packed week.

In 8 days and 7 nights, I had 50+ portfolio meetings and sit-downs to discuss the work and my newly printed portfolio.

Was a super fruitful journey getting facetime with a number of industry professionals at the NYCFotoworks, PDN Reviews at the Javits and a few other meetings I was able to line up on my own.

Even met up with a few advocates/industry (bald) heads.

And this guy who was the absolute truth.

Also made it out for NYC’s Halloween parade where I met a cast of characters.

Halloween Parade was bananas.

In an attempt to decompress from that, I sought out some old friends, acquaintances and loved ones.

Friend time with the Mittenbergs in around Chinatown and Union Square.

Hung out with the Blizz to see the Giants win the World Series.

Family time with the Garcias and my mom’s sister.

Oh, and I shot a lot of trash.

And ate a lot of food.

Then wrapped it all up at the Jane Hotel.

Can’t wait to make it back. I’ll be hitting the blog with further updates and the like in the coming weeks, so keep them eyes peeled.

More soon,

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

Thought I’d show you how hectic it’s been over the last couple weeks by taking a look at my desktop.

I’m really not the kind of cat that goes off and let’s his desktop go to pot. Better still, I’m not one that goes off and does the kind of thing I’m about to disclose, but what the heck . . . I just made me a desktop folder and threw everything in it. Yes, that’s right ’88 Econoline-style.

After doing so, my mind is ten times sharper, and I’m getting things done in lightning speed. I feel like Clark Kent/Superman as if Lois Lane were coming over for dinner and I’ve got five minutes to prepare. Which to me, Superman, is more than enough time to do the dishes, change the sheets, cook poultry with my laser beam eye capability and make fresh churned ice cream with the aid of blizzard-cold breath.

Nowhere near as harrowing, but I did pull some imagery together for the annual ASMP Seattle slideshow highlighting the work from our membership here in the Pacific NW. Below is my submission in beautiful, rolling .gif animation.

In other news, be on the lookout for a relaunch of my website showcasing an updated portfolio. After working very closely with Amanda Sosa-Stone last month, I’ll soon be adding new work along with some gems that were hidden in the rough. Super excited by the collaboration, and I’m eager to see how things continue to pan out during the year.

On a personal note, I’ll soon be in possession of a slick, new pair of hand-carved wooden spectacles from my close friend and colleague Mr. Scott Urban of Urban Spectacles of Wood. Heading out there in several months to shoot his lookbook, but in the meantime, he sent me a couple mockups.

Think they’re about 5-10% too small, but I’m just happy to have a new pair after being without since June when some crafty kids on an Ecuadorian bus lifted my other frames.

More always,

Mike

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.

More always,

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