Here's to your health.

Many thanks to Anne, Michele and HCB Health for such a fabulous time Sunday night at their SXSW Interactive fête.  © Ryan Schierling

Jezebel.

Lyrics © Spanish For 100, Photograph © Ryan Schierling

Jezebel, the terrible angel rose in my brain / She's followin' me down / And I rest upon it, the darker luggage / O, it's fallin' like rain / She's followin' me down

Slipknot.

Outtakes - Slipknot DJ Sid Wilson; Slipknot crowd at White River Amphitheater. ©Ryan Schierling

I spent the day at the Mayhem Festival at White River Amphitheater, getting some specific photographs for Mackie Designs, Inc., an audio gear manufacturer based in Woodinville, Washington. Sid Wilson, turntablist for Grammy award winner Slipknot, uses Mackie mixers and loudspeakers, and has a tricked-out RV that functions as a rolling platform for getting his own music - as DJ Starscream - to the masses. The back panel drops, the Mackie gear comes out and Sid drops the needle. It's an instant party.

Many thanks to Shaunna at Mackie, and Sid Wilson and everyone from the Slipknot crew that made the long, hot day a pleasure.

Wetpaint.

©Ryan Schierling

I just finished up a great job for Wetpaint.com.

They're a Seattle-based company that lets you create and build your own wiki websites. (For those who aren't so internet-speak savvy, a wiki is a type of website with pages that anyone can edit and contribute to, used for anything from social networking to distributing information.)

Wetpaint was named one of Time Magazine's 50 Best Websites in 2007, and companies like HP, Oracle, T-Mobile and Dell, as well as entertainment giants like CBS, ABC, Showtime and Discovery Channel already have sponsored Wetpaint-powered communities.

(Or, you know, if you just really liked Chewbacca or something, you and your friends could start your own Wookie wiki. Or, or maybe a Buck Rogers and robot friends one... a Twiki wiki. Bidi bidi bidi.)

Sorry. I'll stop.

They've got a fantastic loft space near Pioneer Square (no cubicle culture here), and I spent two days shooting office reportage and portraits, figuring out what makes the place hum (their own industrial-size Starbucks coffee machine) and cajoling folks out from behind their headphones and giant monitors.

©Ryan Schierling

©Ryan Schierling

©Ryan Schierling

©Ryan Schierling

©Ryan Schierling

Many thanks to Kevin Flaherty for giving me the freedom to run amok, and to everyone who was patient with me as I poked about, asking questions and turning the camera on them during their nine-to-five.

A new (old) venture.

©Ryan Schierling

In early 2007, I shot environmental portraits of Venture Bank's sitting board members for The Matale Line. That was quickly followed by a series for Venture Mortgage, with portraits of the company's agents. It seemed simple enough, but the job eventually took place over a series of months - there were location changes, new hires, and agents leaving - with almost a year passing before final selects were made. The images were gathering digital dust in my hard drive, and I was getting a little anxious to move the job to archives as "complete." Finally, picks were made.

These are a few of my favorites.

Unexpected accolades.

Cold is coming. ©Ryan Schierling

My first job was at McDonald's in Emporia, KS. I was 16 years old, and all of my high-school friends worked there. It was a grand time, and I was making $3.85 an hour - the going rate for minimum wage. One of the most memorable things, aside from working with a manager that looked exactly like Data from "Star Trek: Next Generation," was an evening with friend and co-worker Dave, where we were on break in the basement of the store, huffing helium from the tank used to fill birthday party balloons.

I don't imagine too many McDonald's have their own helium tanks (or basements, for that matter) anymore.

We were laughing at our helium-assisted shrill, soprano voices. I took one balloon-hit too many, pulled the deflating blue balloon away from my lips, and, sounding a lot like Woody Woodpecker, uttered "Ooooh shit, Dave.....

Apparently, with more helium than oxygen in my brain, I passed out. Falling backward, I hit my head on the steel racks that contained our store's massive paper and styrofoam (it was 1988, you know) container supplies. After hitting the racks, I fell forward and hit a set of wooden doors hiding more storage, and then I finally hit the floor.

Where, according to Dave, I went into convulsions.

The whole incident lasted no longer than 10 seconds.

And under the circumstances, I probably shouldn't remember any of it.

But I digress.

I got a look at the Communication Arts Design Annual 48 today, the defacto periodical for what's hot in graphic design for the year. It's the best of the best in design for brochures, identity, trademarks, books, public service, motion graphics, catalogs, self-promotion, editorial, branding, annual reports, environmental graphics, letterhead and posters.

Period.

You aspire to get into Communication Arts.

I was surprised to find that some of the McDonald's iced coffee advertorial work I shot for DDB - specifically for submission to such contests - helped out (however marginally) with a win in the "Environmental Graphics" category.

Wahaa!