Camera Ready
Michele McCormick sold her public relations company and became a model-actor-photographer
BY Shoka | PHOTO BY Wes Davis
Abandoned psychiatric hospitals and cabins in the woods — that ’ s where terrible things in many horror films take place . But in August 2020 , in a remote lodge in the Sierra Nevada , terrible fictional things happened that were actually a wonderful nonfictional thing for Michele McCormick : her first role in a feature-length film .
“ My character is kind of an evil character who set some of the horrible events in the movie ,” McCormick says . “ It was great fun .” Her part in the film , “ Don ’ t Fear ,” directed by Deon Taylor and starring rapper-turned-actor T . I ., isn ’ t a big one , but “ I ’ ll be in it for at least a couple of minutes ,” she says .
For McCormick , getting into acting and modeling “ was completely a lark .” She launched MCC Communications , a public relations company , in 1991 , after working as a publicist in the 1970s and as a freelance writer and photographer in the 1980s . Her husband , Don McCormick — whom she met during her stint as a publicist for the American Freedom Train , a steam locomotive that traveled cross-country in 1975-76 with exhibits celebrating America ’ s bicentennial — was in the U . S . Army and that required them to move around Europe and stateside , so working as a freelancer made sense for McCormick .
They settled in Sacramento in 1985 , and McCormick took a job at an ad agency , “ decided it was really my thing ” and opened MMC . Some of her clients were Del Webb , the U . S . Department of Agriculture , VSP and Wells Fargo Center . “ My goal when I started , it was that I would ultimately sell it ,” she says , since she wasn ’ t going to have a pension to rely on . She sold MMC to Circlepoint , a firm based in
San Francisco , in 2008 , and agreed to stay on for three years before retiring .
But it was around 2010 , when Mc- Cormick was preparing to do some PR interviews , that the idea of modeling was planted into her head by a makeup artist . She told McCormick she should try doing lifestyle modeling . “ And I said , ‘ Well , and what is that ?’” McCormick says . She learned lifestyle models were “ the real people that are in TV commercials ,” advertisements and industrial videos , “ not the glamour models .” So after she retired , she submitted photos to local talent agency Cast Images , which agreed to represent her .
She has since worked on print and video spots for clients such as Apple , AncestryHealth , Carson Valley Medical Center and Comstock ’ s ( in 2012 , she appeared in a photo for a feature story ).
Post-retirement , she ’ s also put herself behind the camera , focusing on nature photography and showing in local galleries . But she may not have even retired in 2011 if it weren ’ t for her husband . McCormick says she was grappling with the idea of retiring but still wanted to work . While she was considering her options , she came across a portfolio of photos she had taken in the 1970s when she was doing freelance photojournalism and thought , “ Why did I stop doing this ?” Then her husband bought her a digital camera for Christmas . ( He died in 2014 .) “ I thought , ‘ Well , this is kind of a message ,’” she says . “ I knew nothing about Photoshop or digital darkrooms ,” she says . “ It was just a whole new arena of interesting , fun stuff .”
Her online portfolio consists of travel photos , landscapes , flowers and birds . “ For me , photography is another form of communication . So , I ’ m a communicator ,” she says .
McCormick has shown her photos at Viewpoint Photographic Art Center in Sacramento and participated in art
“ I knew nothing about Photoshop or digital darkrooms . It was just a whole new arena of interesting , fun stuff . … For me , photography is another form of communication . So , I ’ m a communicator .” auctions at Blue Line Arts in Roseville and the KVIE Art Auction .
She says modeling and acting has been more lucrative than photography for her . “ I feel like as I get older , there will just be more and more opportunities ,” she says . “ I ’ ve gotten better at doing auditions . … I love both sides of the camera .”
Shoka is associate editor for Comstock ’ s magazine . She is a journalist , copy editor and photojournalist who specializes in covering arts , culture , animal rights and sustainability .
February 2021 | comstocksmag . com 47