Clarkfoto Blog

The other day while several photographer colleagues and I were having dinner the topic came up about photographs and the story behind them. The conversation got me to thinking that on several occasions since I started my website I have had e-mails asking about the story behind photos I had taken. I even had a fellow ask what my exposure had been on an image from the 1980s…..yikes!!! damned if I can remember. My aging “cranial hardrive” deleted that EXIF info long ago.

I therefore thought I might start posting the stories behind some of the photos on my site. Though I can’t think of any that come with any great tales of Indiana Jones type adventure, some do have interesting anecdotes or funny moments. In the coming days I will look over the images and pick out some that might be of interest and post them. I know I don’t write much in my blog to keep any of you interested but there maybe some of you out there who do look in once in awhile and if there are any images you would like me to embellish upon (wink, wink) just let me know via the e-mail at the bottom of my profile or “About” area. Even if you saw a photo somewhere else on another website or published please feel free to ask. Obviously not all images have a worthy story behind the moment and of course as I mentioned earlier that “cranial hardrive” of mine may have deleted or copied over that memory folder by now but will give the drive a good hard reboot if necessary.

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Well its another long overdue update time, though I don’t have much to offer which is one of reasons I haven’t updated. Things have sortta quiet for me lately here in Fort Apache, as I call Vancouver. Well maybe I shouldn’t say quiet really, its been kinda busy but nothing in the way of nice photos. Its all been kinda routine stuff. Nothin but Meat and Potatoes images as we say.

I have changed my “On Assignment” sending the Canucks run for the Stanley Cup collection into antiquity and replaced with a small gathering of images from the Men’s World Curling Championships in Regina several months ago. Though many think curling is boring, as I have said before, if you know the game and are patient it can make some very good images in my opinion. Its not a game of action but a game of reaction. Unfortunately many photogs, who cover little curling, or not, automatically run for the ole cliche curling photos, easy to do and instant gratification. Whats worse, in my mind, is many newspapers and galleries on websites that constantly soak up these cliches like bread in gravy and just encourage photogs to do more. I am disappointed to say this has forced me on occasion to do the same just to be competitive…uggggh. To be fair I guess many of the “photo pickers” have no idea what curling is all about and are easily sucked in year after year by the ever repetitive artsy eye candy images such as snaps looking down from the rafters. Many good curling photos seem to go way over the heads of the “pickers”. Then again I have been covering curling for 30 years and could very well have become a curling photo snob….. wink, wink.

I spent several days earlier this month working on a feature on Ghost Towns in the British Columbia interior. It was three or four days well spent going up and down sometimes forgotten dirt roads in the back country of the Kootney Mountains. It was a rough start though. Photographing still life is not always easy for this photojournalist whose subjects are usually moving in some form or another. I have always tried to have people in my feature images either to give things scale or pertinence. Obviously in this case any humans would have defeated the whole point of the topic and I needn’t have worried anyways, I never saw a soul except for the odd car going by on nearby roads. It took a few hours to get in tune with this fact but once on the same page I really enjoyed wandering around my subjects looking for the “sweet spot” angle or in some cases just sitting on a tree stump and watching as the light changed, hopefully for the better. One afternoon I spent three hours just observing as the light on and around my subject changed sometimes for the better, then not, then better again. Later it occurred to me that if it hadn’t been for the fact I am now a Digital Jedi and able to view the results instantly either as a quick scan on the back of the camera or download into my handy dandy laptop I might not have been so patient. I know I have a well trained eye for good and bad light but on one occasion I made a photo with very nice light and was satisfied with what I had seen through the viewfinder. Upon closer inspection on the back camera screen maybe 30 or 40 minutes later I had pangs of second thoughts and decided to hike back to that spot and discovered the light had improved and re-shot the scene again. Something I would have never done back in the films days. Unfortunately I could only spend three days or so working on it and would have preferred a week maybe even a bit more, but that’s old story I have said to myself uncountable times over the years. I have included a couple three images from the feature in my “Recent Work” folder.

That’s it for now. I hope to really begin updating more often but if you ain’t got the goods better not too.

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Well again I have been slow in my updates of the website. I have gotten hundreds if not thousands of angry e-mails complaining about this fact. Its been a rather busy for me these last couple months with NHL hockey playoffs, federal election and assorted other assignments in between. I have found over the last 10 years I have been posted to Vancouver for Reuters when it comes to news or sports assignments of any kind its feast or famine around these here parts. I find I am either so busy there aren’t enough hours in the day or its so quiet for days or weeks on end its almost spooky. Of course another reason is why do today what you can do tomorrow.

One thing I have enjoyed for the last couple months is the use of a complete kit of Nikons. The very kind folks at Nikon Canada sent 2- D3S bodies and five lenses consisting of a 14-24mm f/2.8, 24-70mm f/2.8, 70-200mm f/2.8, 300mm f/2.8 and a 200-400mm f/4 to try out and I must say I very impressed. I am an old time Nikon user from way back. I bought my first Nikon in 1970 and continued to use them for the next 25 years. In 1995 Reuters switched all its staff to Canons which I have used since.

When I first received the cameras, though I was keen to use them I was somewhat apprehensive since I hadn’t used one in 15 years and many things are different such as focus and general operation of the camera. I decided I would pick and choose which assignments I used the gear. The first time I used the Nikons was on small easy assignment for obvious reasons. I did have some difficult moments trying to remember where certain things were on the camera such as setting aperture and shutter speed, not to mention zooming out when I should have zoomed in, but generally I liked using them. Funny thing is as a result of that day and the first use they have been on my shoulders ever since. I have had to use my Canon gear a couple times during that time for specific reasons but other than that its been full steam ahead for the Nikons.

Now some my ask for some technical specs of why I like these cameras but unfortunately I am not a technical fellow really. Like the race car driver once said “I have no idea how it works I just drive it” and I am the same way with digital cameras. I really like the ergonomics of the camera. The placing of buttons and general operation works well for me. One thing I don’t like is the button on the back used for scrolling through images and menus, I find it a touch awkward but that may be as result of many years using the wheel on the back of the Canons. Though files sizes are smaller (12-mp) than the equivalent Canons, I have found this to be no particular issue and the full frame is a big, big plus for me.  The cameras are very, very nice in high ISO. I have shot many assignments anywhere from 1600 to 3200 ISO and the file quality is excellent. I have never been a big fan of using flash my whole career and only use one when all other options ran out, namely light. With the capabilities of high ISO in the Nikons my need to use a flash has shrunk to zero, so far. Nikon sent a very nice flash with the kit and I haven’t used it yet…sorry folks!! The lenses are excellent too. All five of them are very sharp and I have used them all at some point so far with no complaints.  I must commend the 200-400mm though. It is fantastic for shooting sports and though only an f/4 lens I have not had any issues referring back to my comments on the high ISO. Overall I recommend the equipment I was given without a doubt. I am coming up on three months with the gear and sadly will have to give them back probably sometime soon of course that’s if the Nikon folks can find me…wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

As for my update this time round I have replaced few images in Recent Work. I haven’t added anything to Leica Werk. The weather around here has been so rainy and I refrain from using my M8, not sure how water proofed it is. My On Assignment is a collection of hockey pictures I have done since the start of the Vancouver Canucks’ NHL playoffs began and their run for the Stanley Cup this year. With two rounds left I will add any worthy images I like as the team wins or losses.

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Photo:  One of the first photos I took with a Nikon D3S and 24-70mm lens

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Yes folks, its been many months since I last stepped into the ole website. Once I get all the cobwebs and accumulated dust off will begin updating. Once the site was rebuilt and up and running back in November things began to get busy for me and just never got the chance or took the time to sit down and update as I like to do. Some of it was procrastination with the motto ” Why do today, what you can do tomorrow”. Of course tomorrow turned into next week which turned into next month and now here we are in March. I think I can be slightly forgiven since most of my spare time was working on an upcoming exhibition I am having in about a week. I have spent many hours slumped over my computer processing images in readiness. I plan to have about 80 prints on the wall in the PhotoHaus Gallery. The opening is Friday March 18th beginning around 6pm. If your in the area and have nothing better to do come on in. The gallery is at 14 West 7th Ave at Ontario street.

Wish I could say my rather busy times last few months were doing something interesting. Alas not, mostly covering routine stuff with little travel. I did go to India last fall for the Commonwealth Games. This was very enjoyable yet frustrating couple of weeks. I had hoped to blog about it at the time but that’s when my website lost control and went off the internet highway crashing into a cyber-gully following an attack to the server it was on.

I have updated the site with the work I have done over the last few months. Its predominantly sports which is about all I have done lately. I to add in the next few days a new area called “Leica Werk”. I decided to create a gallery just for the images I shoot on my Leica M8 or in the past on my film Leicas. My “On Assignment” is a series of images I did about six years ago in Mozambique. They are images surrounding Aids and the affect it has had on a couple of villages in the north of the country. They were part of larger series I did along with my Photosensitive colleagues for an exhibition at the World Aids Conference (www.photosensitive.com).

I hope to get back into a pattern of updating regularly and maybe doing more blogs. I was very disappointed I lost all my previous blogs but that’s cyber-life. As the old saying goes cyber-shit happens. I have since learned the lesson to backup everything thanks to a darn good Robert Dall scolding. I learned very early on once I started using a laptop about 15 or so years ago to back everything up but never applied that rule it to my website.

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This time last month I had just arrived in New Delhi, India for a two week stay. I was in the city to cover the XIX Commonwealth Games and thought that I might blog about the trip. I haven’t done this often, in fact had only done it once before. Usually when I am on assignments like this I really don’t have time to sit down and write anything. In most cases once these assignments start one works 12-18 hour days and then crawl into bed for few hours then back up and at it. I decided I would wait a couple days to see how things would go before committing myself to a daily chronicle. On the upside the Commonwealth Games are more laid back than lets say the Olympics, less sports to worry about and less countries to make sure we had coverage on, so I figured I might be able to bang out a few words each night.

Sure enough after the first couple of days it looked like I would be able to find time to write something each day and boy did I have things to write, but that’s another story that I will do later. So on about Day-3 I sat down one evening with the intentions I would begin…..Ohhh man was I wrong!!!.

Settling myself onto a very nice communal balcony-patio on the 15th floor of my hotel overlooking nighttime New Delhi I booted up the laptop and went to my website. “This Page Does Not Exist” came the prompt. Uhhhhh??? I had experienced couple problems with loading some of my favourite sites couple days earlier so thought this was another time. So waited a bit re-launched the browser, “This Page Does Not Exist”. Uhhh ohhhh!!!! After several more tries and couple re-boots just in case, there was still no sign of my website. Thinking it might be just a minor problem I sent an e-mail to a couple of people asking them to check from their end. Since it was the middle of the night in Canada I had to wait about 12-hours till the answers came back confirming my fears, it was gone!……….”I was dead in the water”

I then sent an e-mail to my provider asking what was going on. Didn’t get answer for about three days but when I did the news was bad, very bad.  Seems they had been maliciously attacked by hackers and like a Tornando sweeping across a prairie plain everything in its path was gone. Assuming they had everything backed up I asked when things might be back to normal. Their answer was “no” we didn’t have anything backed up but if you send us your backup we can have you up and running very quickly. Well I don’t have my website backed up, that’s what I thought I paid you guys to have. They charged more than others and I figured that’s extra protection……. yea, yea I know it was dumb thinking. Now if that makes me look dumb then what does that make the provider who had no backup either……dumber???.

Though I had no backup per say, all the images I had on my site, past,  present and future I did have stored on my hard drives (see, I am not that dumb after all) so that eased the loss somewhat but I never did save any of my blogs so they are all gone into antiquity and lost in the sands of time, as it were.

Once I was back from my trip I sat down with Robert Dall, who had originally built my site and after a couple weeks he has it back up, as you can see, and all back to normal. I decided to drop one of the categories, namely the “Past Work” and now have just the three. At this point I have restored the images as it was before my cyber-armageddon, or as best I can remember and will add some new stuff in the coming days and weeks. I still plan to write a blog on my two weeks in Delhi and some of my images from The Commonwealth Games. These past couple three weeks I have fallen behind in organizing and preparing images I will want to use and getting back into the swing of updating monthly.

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