Zach McNair

SOLA-MI

Teaser for SOLA-MI’s debut album.

SOLA-MI is a concept band featuring Derek Webb, Josh Moore (Co-producer of Webb’s Stockholm Syndrome and Feedback albums), and Latifah Phillips (of The Autumn Film and Page CXVI), commissioned and inspired by Solomon Mente’s groundbreaking fictional narrative and film, NEXUS. Their debut album, the official motion picture soundtrack for Mente’s NEXUS, is set to release at 12:01am CST, June 5, 2012.

Directed & Shot by: Zach McNair
Edited by: Jeff Venable
Music by: SOLA-MI

Photographs by: Zach McNair

Visit SOLA-MI here.

Visit SOLA-MI Behind The Scenes work here.

6 days ago notes (1)

settings and captions.

1 week ago notes (0)

when the daylight fades, we only have to dwell in dark for so long. the promise of new life and new light are always fulfilled.

1 week ago notes (1)

Apologies of a Creative (The Death of Autopilot)

Confession has always been such a freeing thing for me. I grew up in a home where one did not ever, under any circumstances, air out his or her’s dirty laundry, but that never made much sense to me. The truth of the matter is, no matter where I am in life, there’s always room for improvement, and there are always areas where I’ve fallen short and need to seek forgiveness. I don’t deal well with guilt and shame. It surrounds me like a heavy fog that I cannot escape from. I confess in order to be free. A healthy trade, I suppose.

What does confession have to do with creativity? A lot, actually. At least, for the purpose of this post.

To give you a little back story on how I got into the whole design/photography thing, I designed and built my first website when I was 10 years old and Geocities was all the rage. I remember looking at the template Geocities gave and dissecting the code myself to figure out how to place an image, how to make a word bold, how to create a scrolling marque, and how to add a MIDI track for background music (because no one had posted tutorials online and the best search engine around was the new Yahoo!). My first website was a fan page for the Delorean. It was probably butt ugly, but I created something from scratch, and at the time, I thought it was bad as crap.

Over the years, I started picking up print design jobs. I knew a lot of bands that needed posters, and I hated the idea of them designing some poster with Comic Sans. Designing posters turned into designing music packaging as well. And when bands were not able to give me photos to work with for their packaging and posters, I got into photography as well.

I’ve never really stopped picking up new things, but over time, I have stopped pushing myself with the old things. I get just good enough with a skill to do the job well, make the client happy, and get paid, but I often stop learning after I get to that point. Autopilot has become my best friend and worst enemy. The sad part is that I’ve been completely okay with this until just recently.

The heart of the matter.

I recently launched a website called whatishouston.com because my friend, Kyle, had started whatisdallas.com. The idea for a local creative networking website had been something I had wanted to do for a while but never knew how to execute it well. When Kyle launched whatisdallas.com, instead of figuring out how to create something similar for my city, I simply copied everything about Kyle’s site (and I mean everything) and didn’t ask him about it.

Autopilot.

I had the idea. Kyle had the same idea and made it a reality. I stole the reality and made it mine without ever stopping for a second to analyze how it might affect him, our relationship, his city, my city, his work, and my work.

I was wrong.

As I’ve analyzed other areas of my creative journey over the past couple of weeks, I’ve realized there have been a small handful of similar things that I’ve done over the last couple of years. I’ve not copied others work in the same way, but I have definitely coasted in a gradual drift with projects of mine.

If you’re reading this, it’s probably because you’ve followed me for some time, and I want to say that I’m sorry for drifting. On ideas. On projects. In the creative process. I’m sorry for taking life instead of giving life to those who bust their asses to further their creative process and to bless those around them.

I’m sorry.

For now, whatishouston.com has been taken down. My nose has been to the grindstone trying to create something new, and I’ve got some great ideas that won’t only benefit my city but also your city too. More on that later.

In the future, If you ever see me drifting on autopilot, feel free to contact me asking me how I’m doing. We all have seasons of drift, and we all can help each other overcome them.

Thanks for reading.

2 weeks ago notes (5)

An Evening with Eric Peters, Jill Phillips, and Andrew Osenga

In February, Neil Sandoz and I took a week-long trip to Nashville to work on Andrew Osenga’s new album artwork, photography, and EPK. We were originally going to head back the day after we shot that stuff, but knowing Andy would be doing a show with Jill Phillips and Eric Peters, we simply couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Below are some stills from the evening. I hope you enjoy.