Clarkfoto Blog

This month’s  “On Assignment” is truly a blast from the past. A collection of  images I made during rock concerts 35 odd years ago. I found the forgotten collection of photos while rumaging through a bin of old negatives couple months ago.  Though I don’t think I found them all there seemed to be a majority of the concerts I remember going to.

The negatives appeared to be in pretty good condition too.  A couple showed signs of  wear and tear but overall I was very impressed. I was warned many years ago by a Kodak fellow that my negatives would begin to degenerate after 5 to 10 years because of the corners we cut during hand processing at the wires. Though I have found some of started to go bad the percentage is so low it would hardly register statistically.

As you will see I have no great moments of rock history nor moments of photographic skill in the collection. In fact if I step back and critique myself  the images are average at best. I was at the time, a green, sodbusting photo rookie who had only picked up his first 35mm camera (Nikon F) two years earlier and as we all know I was there for the music, right? Suffice to say that’s my story and I am sticking to it. Mainly I felt the images had some historical significance and several colleagues, upon my mentioning I had discovered the long lost images, asked I post them if  for anything else, posterity and a walk down memory lane. So here they are back to a time when rock was young and I was even younger.

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Not much else to report this past month, covered the men’s and women’s downhill skiing in Lake Louise as I do every year then went up to Edmonton to spend one of coldest weeks I have experienced covering the Canadian Olympic Curling trials. One day it was -54 celsius with the wind chill, “Geeezuz H christ!!!” as my grandfather used to say “Thats not fit for neither man nor beast”. Of course no need to say the curling is indoors…but still….I thank my lucky stars for that little mercy.

Overall its been very, very busy for me past few months. As I mentioned in an earlier post the 2010 Olympic Winter Games are coming to town and I am not sure I am ready or even looking forward to it.  I believe this will be my 7th or 8th Olympics and in the past I have always “traveled to the games”, this time however “the games are traveling to me”. As I am sure all would agree its preferable to travel to a foreign countryor city to photograph one of the top sports spectacles on the planet……BUT….. a totally different perspective, I have to say, when you stay home and the Games with trumpets blaring and flags flying ceremoniously arrive into your town.

In less than two months this city is gonna morph into something else and my intial thought was to run-away and get the hell out of Dodge, as it were. Was thinking how about two weeks holiday on a Tahitian Beach watching the Games on TV. Yea I like that!!!…hmm better not it would likely be a career ending move with my employer. I know!!! ….how about breaking a leg skiing on nearby Grouse Mountain just a week before??..not bad!, not bad at all!… I can’t ski a lick so that would be a plausible mishap and excellent excuse to watch games on TV and stay home away from the impending zoo…..naw!, second thoughts are telling me…….six weeks in a cast not to mention the discomfort or rather pain of breaking said leg is sending me back to the drawing board. A Canadian naval frigate was in the harbour few days ago, guess I could join the navy and see the world….nope, too cliche, same goes for joining a traveling circus, me thinks. I have always joked with friends that someday when I grow up, I am going to be a cook on a rusted tramp steamer in the South China Sea, well maybe this is the time. Like skiing I can’t cook a lick either so I’d be perfect for the job…..naw I am grabbing at straws here. Guess I will just stand up and face the music…..the Games are coming and I am going to be there with bells on….or rather cameras.

For any of you reading this that are coming to the games to photograph, I now seriously say it should be a good show. I have been to all the venues multiple times to look at and work and they all are lookin good to me. My personal favourites are the Olympic Oval for the speed skating and the Callaghan Valley for the Nordic events… especially the later, very nice venue indeed. The Olympic photo manager for the games Nick Didlick has picked a first rate crew of folks to assist us and I have nothing but good thoughts on how this will play out. Vancouver is one of the prettiest cities in the world and combine that with Whistler not to mention the drive up there you might not wanna leave…though we encourage to do so..ha ha. Remember too, they don’t call this area the “Wet Coast” for nothin. Bring warm rain gear!!. This does not include Whistler, plenty of snow up there this year…then again sometimes in the past it has.

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PHOTOS: (Top) Shows Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull performing in 1977. (Middle) is a speed skater at the Olympic Oval, (Below) a ski jumper at the Nordic venue in Callaghan Valley

Filed under: Uncategorized by Andy