Matt Clayton Photography

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Square Magazine - The Covers

I'll tell you what happens when you plug in an old hard drive - you end up spending hours looking at old work and forgetting the reason you plugged in the hard drive in the first place. 

That's exactly what happened a couple weekends ago. I got caught going down memory lane looking at all the work I did for Square Magazine - a publication I started, along with two neighborhood friends of mine, that ran from September 2005 to May 2009 in Provo, UT.

 
  {Above: unused image for Square's 5th birthday} 

During my time with Square I tried to keep the "photographer" Matt Clayton and "Editor-and-Chief" Matt Clayton separate - which I probably did too well - so, not a lot of my work made it onto my blog and especially none of the covers. Since they really weren't in the style of photography that I wanted to brand myself with, I never publicly shared them. Until now.

Heavily influenced by vintage Coke ads and my love for the work of Norman Rockwell, Square's covers were meant to be campy and, like Coke ads, show an individual enjoying the magazine more than their environment. Coming up with the concept for the covers was always a challenge. We succeed on some more than others.  

Here they are, sans masthead, in order of appearance. 


THE FIRST BIG ISSUE - Sept/Oct. '05

THE HOLIDAY ISSUE - Nov/Dec. '05

THE WINTER ISSUE - Jan/Feb. '06

THE MIND, BODY, & SOUL ISSUE - March/Apr. '06

THE SUMMER FUN ISSUE - May '06

THE ROCK ISSUE - Sept/Oct. '06

 THE GIFT ISSUE - Nov/Dec. '06

 
THE SCIENCE ISSUE - Jan/Feb. '07

 
The D.I.Y. Issue - March/Apr '07

 THE SUMMER FUN ISSUE - GREETINGS FROM UTAH - May '07

THE BIG KID ISSUE - Sept/Oct. '07

THE PARTY ISSUE - Nov/Dec '07

THE HOLLYWOOD ISSUE - Jan/Feb '08

THE CAREER ISSUE - March/Apr. '08

THE SUMMER FUN ISSUE - JUST ADD WATER - May '08

THE SPORTS ISSUE - Sept/Oct. '08

 THE SNOWED-IN ISSUE - Nov/Dec. '08

THE ART ISSUE - Jan/Feb '09

THE WEDDING ISSUE - March/Apr '09

 THE SUMMER FUN ISSUE - THE GREAT OUTDOORS - May '09


While compiling all these together it was fun to notice how, with the help of equipment, styling and technique, each cover's quality got a little better over time.

Those four years offered a great amount of learning experiences. 

{UNUSED} THE SUMMER FUN ISSUE - JUST ADD WATER - May '08