Mike Spinelli Photography

People, products and places near and far predominate the insightful images that Mike Spinelli captures. His Phoenix, Ariz., commercial photography business specializes in corporate, product, architecture, advertising and public relations photography.

Mike Spinelli Photography's varied client list underscores the broad scope of his work. His clientele has included Ampex, Nordstrom, Franklin Templeton, S&W Foods, Applied Biosystems, the Skoll Foundation and the University of San Francisco.

Editorially Mike's work appears in major magazines such as Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, GQ and Vogue. For many years, his interior photography work was syndicated internationally by Universal Press Syndicate to illustrate its "Primary Colors" home feature columns.

His studio and location images represent diverse subject matter ranging from food and architecture to sports and products. Working primarily in digital format, he does much of his corporate work for annual reports, public relations events and advertising.

Mike's distinctive images are featured in several books, including:

"In My Room: Designing For and With Children" (Fawcett Columbine)
"In My World: Designing Living & Learning Environments " (John Wiley & Sons)
"Spirits in Stone" (Ukama Press), an art book on Zimbabwe tribal sculpture
"I Have a New Friend" (Barron's Educational Series), a children's book
"Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives: The Funky Finds in Flavortown" By Guy Fieri, a Food Network Book

A photojournalist for many years prior to doing commercial work, he was with United Press International in Louisville, Ky., before moving to Northern California. As staff photographer for a metropolitan daily newspaper, he was responsible for producing images for the news, sports, feature, food and entertainment sections. Mike's photojournalism assignments included many high profile news events as well as every major U.S. sporting event from the World Series to the Super Bowl and the U.S. Open to the NCAA Final Four. His photographs currently hang in the National Football League Hall of Fame and the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Travel and news photography have taken Mike to many countries and continents. His many awards include honors from Associated Press for outstanding news photography.

A graduate of Bellarmine University in Kentucky, Mike also studied early on in his photography career with Ansel Adams, Wynn Bullock and Cole and Brett Weston. For many years, Mike also taught photography classes in the Bay Area. He is past president of the San Francisco Bay Area Press Photographers Association.

Mike is a United States Air Force veteran who earned both Best of Show and First Place honors in the military's Biennial Inter-service Worldwide Photographic Competition which drew 15,000 entries. One of his award-winning images hung in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Beyond an active photography career, Mike has been very involved in public service. He was elected twice to 4-year terms of office in Burlingame, Calif., a suburban San Francisco community of 28,000. Besides serving as councilman, he has been the mayor once and the vice mayor twice. His City Council work has taken him to the nation's capital three times to testify before the United States Congress.

Mike has done work for various Internet companies including designing and managing the Sports channel website for MSN, Microsoft's major online service. He also taught the prerequisite courses "Digital Photojournalism" and "Web Communications" at Notre Dame de Namur University. His business affiliations include the Anthem Area Chamber of Commerce.