Nikon and Digital Photo Pro feature Michael's work

Digital Photo Pro and Nikon have put together an extended advertorial featuring photographers that shoot with Nikon gear. My advertorial originally ran in the November/December 2006 Issue of Digital Photo Pro and was featured on my blog here. For this most recent revamp of the advertorial, Nikon and Digital Photo Pro have built a web gallery including a dozen of my best images. You can check out the Inside the Photographer's Studio web gallery and the advertorial on the DPP website.

A few of the other photographers included in this web galley are Dave Black, Joe McNally, Robert Beck, Doug Meunez, Joel Sartore, and Rob Van Petten. It is an honor to be included in a group of such well known and incredible photographers.

Adobe Lightroom & the Fine Art Digital Print Workshop

Workshop Date: October 8-11, 2009

Workshop Leaders: Andy Biggs and Michael Clark

Location: Hotel Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico

About The Workshop

This 4-day workshop will be a combined classroom workshop with outdoor photographic shoots. The workshop coincides with the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, which is the world’s largest balloon festival and will certainly be one of our photographic destinations. All classroom instruction will be centered around Adobe Photoshop Lightroom v2.3, as well as the craft of creating a fine art digital print.

Workshop Schedule

Day 1 - Morning
Lightroom introduction. The modules: Library, Develop, Slideshow, Print and Web
Raw or JPEG (8 bit vs. 16 bit)
Exposing for Digital Capture and Histogram Camera settings
Noise/ISO sensitivity
White Balance
An overview of RAW software options
Overview of a solid digital workflow
To DNG or not to DNG? That is the question.
FIle Management
Image Editing

Day 1 - Afternoon
Outdoor shoot up in the Aspens in the Sangre de Christo mountains above Santa Fe. Early October is a fantastic time to be amongst the aspens as they change color.

Day 2 - Morning
Dawn Patrol: Early morning shoot at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.

Day 2 - Afternoon
Advanced Monitor Calibration
An In-depth look at processing Images with Lightroom’s Develop Module
Backing up your Images
Cataloging/Archiving

Day 3 - Morning
How to select inkjet papers
Printing from Lightroom and Photoshop

Computers will not be provided but participants with laptops should bring them. Following along on your own laptop is a hands-on way of learning what is being taught in the classroom.

Day 3 - Afternoon
Landscape shoot at Plaza Blanca, an area near Abiquiu, NM that was made famous by the painter Georgia O’Keefe.

Day 4 - Morning
Dawn Patrol: Early morning shoot at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.

Day 4 - Afternoon
Hands-on printing with current large format printers on the market. Paper provided by Moab Paper and printers on loan from Santa Fe Camera Center. Participants leave with one fine art print of their own work!

About the Instructors
Michael Clark is an internationally published outdoor photographer specializing in adventure sports, travel and landscape photography. He produces intense, raw image of athletes pushing their sports to the limit and has risked life and limb on a variety of assignments to bring back stunning images of rock climbers, mountaineers, kayakers and mountain bikers in remote locations around the world. He contributes to National Geographic, National Geographic Adventure, Sports Illustrated, Outside, Men's Journal, Backpacker, Outdoor Photographer, Digital Photo Pro, Climbing, Alpinist, Rock and Ice, Bike Magazine and The New York Times among many others.

Andy Biggs is an avid adventurer, conservationist, teacher, and outdoor photographer whose photography celebrates the African landscape and its rich wildlife, people, and culture. With a deep respect and understanding for African wildlife, Andy unfolds the world of the Serengeti onto our doorstep with striking emotional depth. His photographic safaris allow the traveler to not only enhance their understanding of photography, lighting, and wildlife, but to develop a life-long admiration for Africa 's beauty and culture. You can check out Andy's work at www.andybiggs.com.


The Cost
The cost of this workshop is $995 per person (inclusive of breakfasts either in our teaching space or in the field). The same rate applies for each participant regardless of whether they are doing photography and participating in the workshop, or not. A nonrefundable deposit of $300 is required to secure your spot on the workshop. Final balance will be due no later than September 1, 2009.

Please note: We will attempt to adhere to this itinerary as much as possible. However, certain conditions, such as bad weather, may necessitate changes in the itinerary. We reserve the right to alter any itinerary at any time, if necessary.

Accommodations
The classroom portion of the workshop will be held at the Hotel Santa Fe. We have negotiated a group rate that is discounted from their advertised prices if you would like to stay at Hotel Santa Fe. Please inquire if interested.

Transportation
Most major airlines service Albuquerque, New Mexico, which is approximately 60 miles south of Santa Fe. Once in Albuquerque, you can take one of the many shuttles to your hotel in Santa Fe. Shuttle costs are approximately $25 - $30. Rental cars are available in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and from the hotel. The Hotel Santa Fe is located in downtown Santa Fe, within walking distance to shopping, restaurants and entertainment.

We do not provide transportation during the workshop. Please plan ahead and reserve a rental car. Of course, we will share vehicles and car pool to make life easier for all of us. We are not responsible for reimbursement of non-refundable airline tickets in the event of a workshop cancellation.

Workshop Materials
All participants will be given a copy of Michael’s e-book entitled Adobe Photoshop Lightroom:
 A Professional Photographer's Workflow, which details his complete workflow from start to finish.

You will need to bring the following equipment with you:
• a 35mm digital SLR camera with interchangeable lenses
• a laptop computer with a DVD burner or an external hard drive – PC or Mac is acceptable. Instructors will be using Mac.
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom software installed on your computer (you can download the 30-day trial version of Lightroom before the workshop if you don’t already have the software.)
• Digital memory cards with a card reader (preferably CompactFlash or Secure Digital Cards)
• power adapters and cables for laptop and digital camera
• camera manual
• batteries and charger for rechargeable batteries

It is expected that you know how to download images from your camera to the laptop, know basic editing techniques using your software, and are able to organize the edited images for critique.

Registration
If this workshop has your name on it, then now is the time to register. Remember, there will be limited space available for this workshop. When they're spoken for, that's it. To register follow this link to Andy Biggs website where you can register and pay via PayPal. If you have any questions before registering, send us an e-mail with any inquiries to info@andybiggs.com.

Spring 2009 Newsletter

The Spring 2009 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 on my adventures over the last five months, a review of Nikon's D700, an article about my adventures covering the 2009 Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race and a special Portfolio showing images shot on assignment for Men's Fitness and much more.

The Michael Clark Photography Newsletter goes out to over three thousand photo editors, photographers and photo enthusiasts around the world. You can download the Fall 2009 issue on my website at:

http://www.michaelclarkphoto.com/spring_2009.pdf

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

Lowepro Home Page

Lowepro gave me one of their prototypes to take with me to Patagonia a few months ago. My mission was to put it through the wringer and see how it fared in some very inhospitable weather. That was accomplished quite easily since it rained everyday. In particular I was working with their new Toploader Pro 75 AW, using it both as a chest pouch while carrying a backpack and also in fanny pack mode with one of the deluxe Street and Field series waist belts and a few lens pouches.

Lowepro redesigned their website recently and a rotating image of me (see above) using the pack comes up when you visit the site. I just signed on with Lowepro last fall but have already had some great conversations with them on how they can improve their gear. In the course of those conversations I was amazed to hear just how thoroughly they have thought through all of the issues we deal with out in the real world as pro adventure photographers. Over the course of my career, I have accumulated a dozen or so of the Lowepro bags. I seem to have a camera bag fetish, since certain bags seem to work very well for shooting certain sports. Among my favorites are the Vertex 300 AW, Specialist 85 AW and the new Toploader Pro AW.


If you read my earlier blog post about falling into the ocean with the Toploader Pro 75 AW and my Nikon D700 and 28-70mm lens then you know part of the story. The Toploader Pro wasn't designed as a waterproof bag so I wasn't surprised by the demise of my camera because of the accident, but in every other way the Toploader Pro is far superior to the Topload Zoom packs it replaces, especially in rainy, wet conditions.

My good friend, Tony Hoare, shot the photo that appears on the front page of the Lowepro website, shot while on the go in Patagonia. The image above of me in a deep peat bog was shot by Mark Watson, an incredible adventure photographer from Australia who was also covering the 2009 Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race.

Digital Masters: Adventure Photography

Perhaps you have been wondering what happened to my Winter 2009 Newsletter or the lack of blog posts the last few months. Well, I can finally announce to the world that I have been working on a book on adventure sports photography these last five months. The title of the book is Digital Masters: Adventure Photography and it is part of a series of photography books being published by Lark Books, a division of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.

It is quite an honor to be chosen to write this book as a few of the other authors include Bob Krist, George DeWolfe and Nancy Brown, who are heads of state in their respective genres of photography.

This book is a how-to type book which basically details the ins and outs of documenting adventure sports. As far as I can tell there are no other books out there that even come close to covering as much ground as this book does. In fact there are few if any books that specifically talk about shooting adventure sports at all.

I have basically downloaded everything I have learned about shooting adventure sports over the last 14 years as a full-time pro into this book. For those of you that are wondering, there is very little digital processing covered in the book. Because my Lightroom workflow e-book has become so popular and is much more detailed we decided to concentrate on the the photography and not get caught up in the digital processing. It covers in detail:

- Photo Equipment
- Outdoor Gear
- Adventure Photography Fundamentals: Light, Autofocus, Histograms, Exposure, Composition, Remote Camera work, etc.
- Artificial Lighting
- How I approach and shoot the major adventure sports - talking about each sport individually.
- Portraiture and lifestyle as they relate to adventure sports
- What it takes to be a pro
- Everything from websites, portfolios and marketing strategies
- Interviews with photographer Corey Rich and National Geographic Adventure photo editor Sabine Meyer
- And a whole lot more than I have time to list here...

At the moment, I am finishing up the last chapter and will be finalizing the book in the next week or two. It still has a long ways to go before it hits the bookshelves but it should be out this fall. Of course, I will be advertising the book in my newsletters, on this blog and others. So stay tuned.

If you just can't wait and want to be one of the first to get the book this fall it is already up on Amazon.com and is available for pre-order.

Men's Fitness March 2009 Article

Last fall, I got a call from Men's Fitness magazine to shoot the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department helicopter search and rescue squad known as Henry 1. I have been holding these photos under my hat for months and now that the article is out I thought I'd put up an extended web gallery of images from this assignment.

I have to say that this assignment was one of the most fun and exciting assignments I have had in the last year. How often do you get to go fly around with an elite helicopter rescue unit for two full days and have them tell you "whatever you want to do you just let us know." I probably won't have that ever happen again. And I have to say everyone that works on the Henry 1 squad was a rockstar. They know they have one of the coolest jobs on the planet.

Though the assignment was only two days it felt like a week's worth of helicopter time. We were flying all over the place answering calls and in between shooting training exercises on cliff bands, in the ocean and everywhere in between. I am sure some of the stunts the pilots were executing were quite a bit more dangerous than I knew. At one point Paul Bradley, the pilot with us on the first day of my assignment, slotted the chopper into a hillside with trees above the whirling blades and trees on either side only a few feet away. The next day I was hanging a hundred feet below the chopper to shoot a mock rescue. So as you can tell, this wasn't much different than every kids fantasy: to fly in a chopper with pilots who can pretty much do anything! One of the most amazing aspects of this assignment for me was just to see how they work and how incredible their pilots are. When they take off there is no "scenic cruise" mentality. You get about a foot or two off the ground and you are out of there. They turn on a dime and lay that puppy sideways when they need to as you can see in a few of the images.

You can check out the web gallery with some of the out takes from this assignment on my website here. And finally, I would be remiss if I didn't say a huge thank you to Lisa Elin at Men's Fitness and the entire Henry 1 crew for being so acomadating and friendly - I had a spectacular time ripping around northern California with you guys!

You can check out the Henry 1 website at www.henry1.com. And you can download the article on the Henry 1 site here.

The 2009 Wenger Patagonian Adventure Race

I spent the last month in Patagonia, more specifically in Chilean Patagonia - at the very end of the continent, covering the 2009 Wenger Patagonian Adventure Race (and afterwards shooting stock images in Torres del Paine). Let's just say the race was full of carnage. Six people ended up in the hospital. Everyone was ok but some were in danger of losing limbs or even their life. There were some close calls out there, especially in the final trekking section. One photographer even broke his ankle so it was a rough year. And the carnage also extends to the camera gear as well with myself taking the biggest hit. One camera body and one lens took a swim with me in the ocean. It is toast. But thankfully my insurance covers it so I'll have a new one here soon enough. I also have another lens and tripod that will have to be repaired as well. Other photographers had some lenses that will have to be repaired or replaced so I wasn't alone in the equipment carnage category.

This years race was the toughest ever. The weather was wet and rainy for the entire 10 days. We did see brief, 5-minute spells of sunshine, a couple of times but they were only cruel teasers and then it was back to sideways rain. There was a lot of sea kayaking, mountain biking and trekking as well as a short rope climbing section in this years race. All in all, the first four sections of the race were pretty "casual" compared to the final sea kayaking and trekking sections. Imagine pushing off for an 11-hour sea kayak session across open ocean and into a Fjord with two meter or larger waves. Once you get to the other side, you have to exit your boat and drag it across a 30-km stretch of water soaked and densely forested wilderness, untouched by any humans in at least a century. Once you finish dragging your boat, you get back into it for another 20 km of paddling to the start of the 120-km trekking section, and all of this after five days and 400 km of racing. Sound fun so far?


The trekking section was a real killer. A team of three journalists including Mark Watson, a photographer from Australia, Lydia McDonald, a writer from the US, and myself followed the Canadian team into the trekking section. Our plan was to follow the Canadian team to the top of a pass and wait for the American team behind them. The trekking itself in that first section wasn't too bad. There were the usual suspects: turba, dense forest, high mountain passes -- and oh yeah, lots of rain, even some snow. The Canadian team decided to avoid the dense forest at the start of the trekking and instead climbed straight up a mountain to a ridge. The 1,000-foot ascent consisted of terrain covered by vegetation and in spots we climbed up 65-degree slopes pulling on whatever bushes seemed sturdy enough to hold our weight. Falling would have been a bad option. Even though this route seemed a bit strange as we climbed, in the end it saved us at least 3 hours of serious bushwhacking in the valley below.

We were geared up to do the entire trekking section, but not mentally in the same fashion as the teams. The teams that finished spent very little time sleeping. In fact, the British team Helly Hansen - Prunesco, which won the race, slept only 30-minutes in three days! The second place team slept only two hours over a four day period. That was a bit more torture than I was ready for, I admit. Plus we were waiting for the Americans, who never showed up. We later found out they got lost - several times and were barely ever on the recommended course because they chose to try and find shortcuts. They were actually rescued on the last day of the race via helicopter and that in itself is an epic story that you'll hear about soon enough.

The wilderness we were walking through was pristine. Imagine a place where nature rules and no human, other than the racers in front of us and the organizers (who checked it out months before), had ever been. It was an inhospitable place. And surprisingly we saw no animals of any kind. Apparently it was a bit too inhospitable even for them. By night fall of the first day we found ourselves in a valley with seven 2,000-foot waterfalls. It was like a little Yosemite - albeit, a very wet Yosemite.

After two days in the wilderness completely alone, Marcelo, a guide working for the race organizers, found us in a valley -- that in itself was a miracle. He was told to find us and pull us out in the bay just below us, where we would be ferried to the end of the race. When we got to the bay (which was quite a battle - it took us five hours to go 2 kilometers) there was no boat to pick us up. A small fishing boat just happened to be in an outer bay and they were kind enough to pick us up and let us relax in the dry and warm engine room until our boat arrived. We were met with fresh baked bread and coffee. It was rough I tell you! Our boat never came so the next day they even dove for sea urchins and king crab. We enjoyed a lunch of sea urchin sandwiches and fresh king crab. Race? What race? We were living high on the hog!


We finally made it to the finish and I promptly fell off the back edge of the 30-foot zodiac and had to swim to shore with my camera in a Lowepro Toploader Pro chest pouch. The zodiac had a fiberglass cap on it that left little room for feet on the slippery rubber and as I found out - being the first one to try to get off the boat (we were told to go around the outside of the boat by the pilot) - there was also nothing to hold onto for a ten foot section and I fell off trying to bridge the gap. The other dozen or so people saw me fall in and retreated to wait for a safer method. Since there was no getting back on the boat, I just swam into shore. I had been smart enough to seal my dry bags inside my backpack so my camping gear was nice and dry but I failed to put my camera, a Nikon D700 and 28-70mm f/2.8 lens, into the ziplock baggie that I used to protect it in case I fell in a river crossing. The chest pouch was under water as I swam to shore and I was pretty sure the camera was going to be a casualty. Sure enough when I got to shore, it was floating in the camera bag. Strangely enough, everyone was kind of freaking out that I was wet. It was 11:30 PM and dark but I wasn't too concerned about being wet - we had been wet for the last three days. Being wet was just the normal state of being.....

Well, I could go on and on but I think I'll cut this blog post short here. This year was even better than last year I have to say. The race organizers did a fantastic job. My thanks to them and Wenger for putting on what has to be one of the toughest and most beautiful races anywhere on the planet.

As usual, I'll have a much more in-depth article about my adventures covering the race in my next newsletter. If you'd like to see some of the images I have portfolios from the race on my website which you can view by clicking here and here.

For more in-depth reporting on the race visit Rob Howard's website Sleep Monsters. His posts, which were published every other day during the race are quite funny and very interesting.