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Dec 08 2011

American Photo 2011 Images of the Year

Posted in Awards, Editorial, News, Red Bull Tags: 2011, american photo, images of the year, ioty, jon devore, Red Bull, red bull air force

It has been an incredible year and the honors just keep on coming. In the latest issue of American Photo magazine my image of B.A.S.E. jumper Jon DeVore (above) was chosen as one of the best images of 2011. It garnered the runner up position for Commercial images in the 2011 Images of the Year section of the magazine. It was one of only 11 images chosen for this years Images of the Year portfolio. I am honored that they would choose one of my images and this one in particular as it was one of the most adventurous shoots I have been on in a while. My thanks to American Photo magazine and the judges for this years Images of the Year portfolio including: Lesley A. Martin, Landon Nordeman, Rick Rickman, Penny de los Santos, Joyce Tenneson and Michael Sand. This is just one more amazing honor that caps off the best year yet of my career.

The caption for my image reads: “This photo catches a moment at the top of his jump where Jon is hanging in the air,” says photographer Michael Clark of this shot of Jon DeVore’s BASE jump (for “building, antennae, span and earth”) from a cliff in southwestern Utah. “He is committed and really going for it.” You could say the same of Clark. Shooting the Red Bull Air Force jump team was an exercise in limited opportunities. “There were three jumpers, and they only jumped three times apiece,” Clark recalls. “One second after each jump, each one was just a dot in the sky. I had a remote camera set up so that each time, I got about 18 frames total from two different angles.” This was captured at 1/2,000th sec with a Nikon D300 and 10.5mm fisheye lens. See more of Clark’s work at michaelclarkphoto.com.

Additionally I have to thank Red Bull, the Red Bull Air Force and Jon DeVore, the B.A.S.E. jumper in this image.

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Nov 29 2011

Master of Adventure Feature Article in Digital Photo Pro

Posted in Awards, Editorial, Interviews, News, Published, marketing Tags: adventure, adventure sports, Awards, Digital Photo Pro, Interviews, Michael Clark Photography, photography

It is truly a great honor to be included in the December 2011 “Masters” issue of Digital Photo Pro. After 15 years of hard work, this article, entitled “Master of Adventure” is one of the jewels of my career so far. Not only is it fulfilling to see this come to fruition but there is also a very good story behind the article and my relationship with Digital Photo Pro – and their sister publication, Outdoor Photographer.

Fifteen years ago in the spring of 1995, when the idea of becoming a professional photographer was just a pipe dream, one of my first submissions was to Christopher Robinson at Outdoor Photographer. I had shot some landscape images in Palo Duro Canyon State Park (near Amarillo, Texas) and wrote a one page article for one of their columns to go along with the images and my submission. At that time, I was still testing the waters to see if I could even get anything at all published. In total, I sent out three submissions: two to climbing magazines and this one to Outdoor Photographer. Amazingly all three submissions were published and that was the start of my career as an adventure photographer.

A few years ago I met up with Christopher, now the Editor of Digital Photo Pro, in Los Angeles and we reminisced about his selection of my work back in 1995 since he is partly responsible for my decision to pursue photography as a career. During that portfolio review, we got to chatting about possible articles for Digital Photo Pro and it’s sister publications and I became a blogger for Outdoor Photographer shortly thereafter. In that initial meeting Christopher said he wanted to feature me in Digital Photo Pro and I was ecstatic about that possibility since on my list of goals the last few years, which is taped to the wall right next to my computer, I have written, “Have a feature article about my work published in Digital Photo Pro.”

After shooting a big assignment out in the Los Angeles area earlier this year I met up with Christopher again and he asked me how things were going. When I told him I was having a stellar year he said, “Ok, that’s it. I would like to feature you in the Master’s issue at the end of the year. How does that sound?” I just about fell out of my chair. But before I was too overwhelmed I managed to say “Yes, that sounds fantastic” or something to that effect. Christopher has literally seen my entire career from the very beginning. So in light of that history, it is a very special honor to be among the mix in the December 2011 Masters issue.

My thanks to Christopher Robinson for including me in the this latest issue and for the great article and layout. Also, my thanks to William Sawalich, who wrote the article, and did a great job. It has been a pleasure working with you both. You can pick up a copy of the December 2011 issue of Digital Photo Pro at the local newsstand or you can read the article here on the DPP website.

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http://www.michaelclarkphoto.com/fall_2011.pdf

Nov 23 2011

Fall 2011 Newsletter

Posted in Interviews, News, Newsletter, Nikon, Workshops, marketing Tags: adventure, adventure sports, assignment, Michael Clark Photography, newsletter, Nikon, PDN, photography, Surfing, workshops

The Fall 2011 issue of the Michael Clark Photography Newsletter is now available for download. If you’d like to sign up for the Newsletter just drop me an email and I’ll add you to the mailing list.

This issue includes an editorial about a recent self-assignment to shoot big wave surfing, a review of Nikon’s AF-S 200-400mm f/4G ED VRII telephoto zoom lens, an in-depth On Assignment article featuring big wave surfing images from Tahiti, a perspective article entitled “Giving Thanks” and much more.

The Michael Clark Photography Newsletter goes out to over 6,000 thousand photo editors, photographers and photo enthusiasts around the world. You can download the Fall 2011 issue on my website at:

If you’d like to check out back issues of the newsletter they are available here.

Please note that the newsletter is best viewed in the latest Adobe Acrobat reader which is available for free at www.adobe.com.

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Oct 21 2011

Presentation for Elinchrom/Manfrotto at Photo Plus East

Posted in Presentations, TALKS Tags: elinchrom, gitzo, manfrotto, new york city, photo plus, photo plus expo

If you happen to be out in New York City next week for the Photo Plus Expo at the Javits Center I will be speaking at the Manfrotto & Elinchrom booth about Adventure Sports Photography and how I use Elinchrom lighting equipment to accentuate my images. I will also demonstrate a high contrast black and white portrait technique so be sure to stop by if you are around. Once again here is the info for my presentation:

Thursday, October 27, 2011 – 12 noon to 12:45 PM at the Manfrotto Booth

Above you can see a shot from my talk last year at Photo Plus. As you can see it gets crowded fast so come by early if you want a seat [Image © Sara Stathas]. Other presenters include Joe McNally, Bobbi Lane, Lucas Gilman, Syl Arena, Stacy Pearsall and Sarah Silver. As usual there is a lot going on at Photo Plus. I hope to see you there.

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Oct 19 2011

PDNedu Asks Photographers about their best Business practices

Posted in Editorial, Interviews, News, marketing Tags: Interviews, Michael Clark Photography, photography

A few months ago PDNedu approached ten professional photographers with a question, “What is the most important action you’ve taken in support of your photography business?” It is a big question. My answer was the following:

“It’s hard to pinpoint one specific action that is (or was) most important. Throughout my career I’ve always pursued personal projects that allow me to create the type of images I want to make. Because I’m not on assignment when I shoot these images I have complete creative control with little or no pressure, and this allows me to experiment a lot. Hence, I’m able to create images that do very well in the marketplace. And because my portfolio is full of this selfassigned work I end up getting paid commissions to shoot similar subjects, which is perfect because that’s what I want to be shooting. It’s the inspiration and experimentation from those self-assignments that helps me out on major projects when the pressure is on. Of course there’s a lot that has gone into my career to make it what it is – much more than just shooting personal projects – but that is the foundation of my business. The rest is built on hard work, perseverance, passion, dumb luck and a lot of trial and error on the business side of things. Making top-notch images is just the first step of the process.”

The editors also included soundbites from nine other photographers including Stefan Chow, Matt & Agnes Hage, Leesha Quigg , Mark Humphrey, Steve Simon, Doug Menuez, Ami Vitale, Manjari Sharma and fellow adventure photographer Corey Rich. If you would like to read all of their responses go to PDNedu or click here to download a high res PDF of the article. My thanks to PDNedu for including me in the mix.

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