That’s right folks, welcome to the future. Does it look at all like what you’d envisioned?
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
Techstars / Giant Thinkwell for Seattle Met
I thought it high time to finally chat about a shoot I did earlier this year with the crew of Techstars / Giant Thinkwell for Seattle Met magazine carried by a great article written by James Ross Gardner.
This project was my final colab with then Design Director Benjamen Purvis who left earlier this year to helm the Creative Director spot at Men’s Journal.
Our collective spitballin’ ultimately led to going toward the direction of re-interpreted business stock photos — those cheesy images of dudes carrying briefcases talking on cellphones mid-gutbusting laugh.
When I read a synopsis of the story and somehow (luckily) mis-read that Kyle Kesterson of Giant Thinkwell had given a presentation in the nude, it set me off on the sketches above. Of course this wasn’t your father’s business, but a super cool startup interested in cultivating a following for their project with the aid of social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook, so it held that the images were going to be a little left-of-center.
Above is my favorite image from the series where I re-invented the popular trope of “businessmen talking around water cooler.”
All the companies were super helpful and onboard with doing whatever it took to make the images shine. All of it coming together rather quickly, Kyle quickly became my right hand on the project. He said “you know I’ve got a giant slug that I sculpted” OR “you know, I’ve got this dog if you need one” (I was contemplating putting a big labrador in a suit shaking hands with a “colleague”).
Seen above are the gents from World Blender having a giant cup of coffee and talking shop alongside the impeccable hair of Kareem Amin of The Shared Web as he talks on his wireless keyboard. For me though, the real high point of the project was the boardroom shot above.
Kyle and I had been talking about how best to pull it off, and after some back and forth, we finally decided that adding one of Kyle’s giant nose sculptures was the way to go.
With the generous support of Josh Mullineaux — founder of Highlighter – and his hands, we transformed the scene into a giant talking head (or nose rather) drilling in quarterly sales performance or something of the sort.
Had a great time working on this and look forward to shedding more light on some other fun projects for Seattle Met and their current Design Director, Andre Mora and his right-hand man, Chris Skiles.
The image above was one of many great BTS shots from the Techstars project, but I like it for it’s symbology about the end of 2011 and beginning of 2012. What does the future hold? How will I get there? How will I turn random thing “X” on it’s ear?
One project I’m very excited about is a colab (kind of a theme with me: collaboration) with the very talented man mentioned above, Mr. Kyle Kesterson and his new venture EW Awesome. Their first offering, called Marc and Marvin, is currently tearing up the startup battle scene. While my involvement in the project is growing, guess I could share with you one sketch that will get your inquisitive minds churning.
2011 has rocked! Going to try and get a few more posts in the tubes here, but stay tuned for what should be a banner 2012 year! More always loyal readership!
Yours in the war,
Clinard