Michael Clark Photography

New Website and Blog

2010-04-09T09:36:00.000-07:00

Please visit us at our new blog:
http://www.michaelclarkphoto.com/blog

And our new website (which is on the same URL as it always has been):
http://www.michaelclarkphoto.com

Michael Speaks at Google

2010-03-30T09:42:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I had the honor to speak at Google as part of their Talks@Google program. I gave an hour long lecture on my work and how I approach my photography, as well as telling some stories about specific images. I was asked to come speak at Google by Marc Pawliger, whom I met years ago when I was contacted to shoot an assignment for Adobe. My sincere thanks to Marc and the Google-ites for bringing me out and taking the time to sit in on my talk. Check out my presentation YouTube.

ADOBE LIGHTROOM AND THE FINE ART DIGITAL PRINT WORKSHOP 2010

2010-03-26T17:02:00.000-07:00

October 7-10, 2010
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 v3.x, 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

Day 1 - Afternoon
Portrait lighting sessions Part I, outdoors

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

Day 2 - Afternoon
Lightroom and the Develop module

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

Computers will not be provided but participants with laptops are encouraged to 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
Portrait lighting sessions Part II, indoors

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.
Participants leave with one fine art print of their own work!

About the Instructors
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.

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. You can see Michael's work at www.michaelclarkphoto.com.

The Cost
The cost of this workshop is $1250 per person (inclusive of light 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 $350 is required to secure your spot on the workshop. Final balance will be due no later than September 1, 2010.

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 USB memory key, DVD or external hard drive. Instructors will be using Apple Computers.
• 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. If you have any questions before registering, send us an e-mail with any inquiries to info@andybiggs.com. Register for the workshop on Andy Biggs' website here.

Testimonials from last year's workshop

"Thank you Andy and Michael for a wonderful, educational, experienced based workshop in Santa Fe. Today I reread my notes from the classroom work and have been amazed at how deeply informative it was. Michael's Lightroom Book as well as yours about digital printing have given me a whole new level of understanding especially around the Lightroom Develop module as well as on the entire topic of printing and color management. I really appreciate how you and Michael showed your individual processes for image workflow. Comparing and contrasting both methods allowed me to take the best of both and adapt them to fit my needs. My increase in knowledge along with the additional hands on guidance we got in the three photo sessions for aspen fall colors, Albuquerque Balloon Festival, and Abiquiu landscape site, will enable me going forward to make the best photos I'm capable of producing. Showing the class the image evaluation image printed on many different papers was most informative as was printing a few of our individual "best" photos from the week.

Andy, I've taken several photography seminars over the past few years. Without a doubt your's has been the most informative, well organized, openly sharing event I've attended.

Thanks again for all your help and guidance. It's clear you don't hold back when teaching and sincerely want all attendees to get as much out of the seminars as we're able to absorb."

"Andy & Michael - It was a pleasure to meet you both and I enjoyed the workshop a lot. I found Michael's well written e-book and in-class lecture on Lightroom very informative and I gained new insight it's operation features that I wouldn't have discovered on my own. The full printing workflow has always been a mystery to me, and thus I dismissed printing and never did much of it. When I first signed up for the workshop I considered the "fine art printing" aspect to not be the main reason why I attended, but this was the part of the workshop that I learned the most from - Andy's explanations and experience helped me to appreciate and better understand the full workflow from the proper paper selection (I didn't realize there were so many choices) to correct evaluation of output and will serve to encourage me to print more of my pictures.
Thanks for the great workshop!"
"Your workshop at Santa Fe was too good and I came away with a lot of knowledge and renewed energy. The level of expertise that you and Michael shared was topnotch and I hope to repeat this experience again. Thanks for such a great workshop!"

"..my mind is still spinning and I can't help but smile every time I think of the wonderful experience garnered from our workshop. Between what I learned from the two of you, as well as from my talented classmates - this was a great experience, and I would do it again."

Digital Masters: Adventure Photography - Extended Interview

2010-03-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

Lark Books has put up the full interview that I did with Corey Rich for my book Adventure Photography: Capturing the World of Outdoor Sports. This is the raw (or very near to it) and unedited version of the interview. For the book, the interview had to be cut down for space considerations but it was such a great interview and so insightful that we have planned all along to put the full version online. My thanks to Corey for taking the time sit with me for this interview and letting us include it in the book. It was an honor to have his input. And I think if you have the time you'll find this interview to be well worth the read. So with out further ado, check out the interview here.

2010 Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race

2010-02-25T06:32:00.000-08:00

hypothermia (noun): the condition of having an abnormally low body temperature, typically one that is dangerously low.

Half way across the Beagle Channel, just south of Tierra del Fuego and not too far from the Drake passage, I learned what it really means to be cold. Jim Wedlake, Gabriela and I were in a zodiac photographing team Helly Hansen-Prunesco as they sea kayaked from the southern tip of Tierra del Fuego down to Isla Navarino. I got into the boat wearing every piece of clothing I had with me knowing it was going to be cold. When we pulled away from the dock, I was wondering why the Navy officers were wearing neon orange survival suits and we weren’t. The wind was blasting the boat from the west as we headed south across the Beagle and each time we dropped into the trough of a wave the spray would douse us with ice-cold water. I was wearing Gore-tex and several layers of synthetic insulation but it only does so much when you are being nailed time and again by small waves. After an hour or two of wind and spray, we were all starting to get a bit punchy. It took everything we had just to keep the cameras dry – and even more to keep the lens clean.

Team Helly Hansen was having no problems with the cold. They were wearing dry suits and were sweating like crazy. In fact, Bruce Duncan was so overheated that he even took his neoprene gloves and hat off. It was at this point that I started to tell the Navy officers we had to deal with Gabi and the onset of hypothermia. They didn’t want to leave the sea kayaks out in the middle of the Beagle Channel since they were there to act as the rescue boat and as such weren’t supposed to leave their post. But after the fifth or sixth mention of hypothermia, the officers finally got the point and could see that Gabi was freezing quite literally. I myself wasn’t far behind. I was freezing my ass off as well. Jim, who was shooting video, was dressed in a massive Gore-Tex down jacket and faired a little better but was still feeling the chill.

As it happened there was a Naval outpost in the Murray Channel, just ahead of us – and through which the sea kayakers would pass. Once we reached the channel we were kindly escorted to the outpost, greeted by a very kind family and warmed up with fresh coffee, bread and hot showers. A few hours later we rejoined the sea kayakers and tried to keep ourselves a little warmer in the protected channel. Back in our zodiac, and on our way to the next checkpoint I realized we weren’t far from the Drake passage and I thought about Shackelton’s men who had crossed those chilly waters over a century ago in an open lifeboat. It was then that I realized we hadn’t even begun to suffer, hypothermia or not. Perspective is a wonderful thing, though it doesn’t stop the cold.

Such were the grueling conditions we encountered while covering the 2010 Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race. As it turned out the weather was some of the coldest ever experienced for the race. And the wind, nicknamed la Escoba de Dios, which means “the broom of God”, was howling pretty much the entire race. With gusts upwards of 80 mph, the racers had to walk their bikes through several sections of the race. Even standing up on some of the higher passes in the Cordillera Darwin was difficult. The wind began to play with our mental state. Even when you got out of the wind for just a moment you could still feel it and hear it in your head. Other than the wind and the cold, this year’s race was at least blessed with decent weather. It only rained a few days, but it did snow over a foot one evening making trekking difficult. Even so, I’ll take cold and snow any day over rain.

This year’s race featured some rough terrain as you might expect. After the first few “warm-up” sections the racers took on a 178 km (111 mile) mountain bike ride in fierce winds, then picked up their gear and hiked through a 120 km (75 mile) trekking stage, only then to be greeted with a 46 km (29mile) sea kayak across the ice cold waters of the Beagle Channel. While these three sections were the “meat” of the race, by the time the teams hit the last trekking section on Isla Navarino there were still four teams within 2 hours of each other and second place was up for grabs. The main 120 km trekking section in the Cordillera Darwin this year was the hardest and longest trekking section ever in race history but it felt pretty tame compared to last years “forest of death”, which included climbing under and over thorny trees while having to deal with sideways rain and poor footing.

For the second year in a row Team Helly Hansen-Prunesco, who also won the adventure racing world championships in 2009, ended up winning the race by almost a full day ahead of the competition. In fact they were so fast that they had to bypass some of the checkpoints because they weren’t even set up yet. They are indeed superhuman and masters at ignoring pain. My congratulations to them on a superb accomplishment.

While I did do a fair bit of hiking this year in the trekking sections I was mercifully airlifted out by helicopter and spent several hours shooting from the air. This year’s race went over some huge passes in the mighty Cordillera Darwin, a.k.a. the Darwin Range. The racers also had to deal with huge swaths of turba, a sponge like ground covering that sucks you in up to your ankles or sometimes up to your waist. Either way you are wet from the waist down. And if the turba didn’t get you then the river crossings would surely keep you moist. In fact, some teams, depending on when they arrived at certain rivers had to swim across them because they were so deep. Most stripped down to bare skin to avoid soaking all of their clothing in the glacier fed rivers.

The race organizers had also contracted Hatch Entertainment to produce a video of the race – and I have to say those guys were shooting around the clock and worked their asses off. From what little I saw of their footage they should have an amazing show. The aerial footage in particular was stunning – I know because I was sitting behind the aerial cameraman contracted by Hatch, as he shot out the open door of the helicopter. Of course, I’ll keep you posted when that airs later this summer or fall.

All in all, this years race was a grand adventure just like last years epic. There weren’t any close calls this year. No teams almost died (a good thing) and even though loads of racers and some journalists were hobbling around after the race, no one was seriously injured or required a hospital stay like previous years. I have to say a huge thank you to Ann and Stjepan who invited me back this year (my third year down there) and also to Wenger who is the main sponsor of the race.

Of course, I’ll have a more extensive write up on the race in the next issue of my newsletter and will post an image gallery on my website here as soon as possible. Stay tuned…

Going to Extremes on Nikonusa.com

2010-02-24T08:19:00.000-08:00

Nikon USA has published an article on what you can learn from an adventure photographer titled Going to Extremes on the Nikon USA website in the Learn and Explore section. The article includes twelve images shot digitally with Nikon equipment and also talks about my recent experiences shooting surfing for my book Adventure Photography: Capturing the World of Outdoor Sports.One specific quote from the article really caught my attention:

"...when we talked to him recently we wondered how he'd approached what was for him an entirely new area of sports activity (i.e. Surfing). His answer made us realize that no matter what our photo interests, there's something to be learned from the techniques and methods of the extreme sports shooter."

As always, it is an honor to work with Nikon and see my images on their website and in the mix. My thanks to Nikon USA.

Manfrotto Distribution

2010-02-03T07:47:00.000-08:00

Last week I had the honor of spending three days with the folks at Manfrotto Distribution (Formerly known as Bogen Imaging). They invited me out to their corporate annual sales meeting do a mini workshop with their reps and also as a keynote speaker. All in all it was a fantastic three days of talking about gear, photography and camaraderie. Manfrotto distributes a wide array of photo gear including such iconic brands as Gitzo tripods, Elinchrom strobes, Manfrotto Tripods, Avenger light stands and grip gear as well as Lastolite, Gossen, Datacolor, Lite Panels and many other fine brands. I have to say thank you specifically to David Fisher and Mark Astmann for bringing me out.

For the mini-workshop, with the Manfrotto reps, we went to the Bathhouse Studios in New York City. This is the Eddie Adam's Studio and it was quite spectacular. Manfrotto had lined up three belly dancers for us to shoot and they were an absolute pleasure to work with. I used a 6x7 foot white Hilite background for the images you see here, along with Elinchrom Ranger RX Speed and Ranger Quadra strobes. We had everything under the sun it felt like at the workshop - octabanks, beauty dishes, reflectors, every Elinchrom strobe they make, Lite Panels (very cool), light meters, Spyder 3 calibration equipment and well, you get the point. It was an orgy of gear. Of course as you might expect, I will have some new equipment reviews in the next few issues of the newsletter. Stay tuned for more on that.

Manfrotto also brought out Stacy Pearsall, a combat photographer, as well and it was a blast swapping stories with her. I must say this was the first time my stories seemed "casual". Stacy has been through a lot and served on three tours in Iraq, being injured twice as a combat photographer. And her images are stunning. Check out her website if you have some time.

Samy's Camera Adventure Photo Seminars

2010-02-02T17:43:00.001-08:00

Samy's Camera is helping promote my new book Digital Masters: Adventure Photography by having me come out and teach a few seminars in the Los Angeles area. If you out in LA on the weekend of March 19 - 21st we'll be having a blast talking about gear, photo techniques and adventure photography with a book signing to follow. Hope to see you there. Here is some more info from Samy's Camera website.Contact Samy's Camera at 323-938-2420 or edu@samys.com to register.

Event Info:

• Date: Friday March 19, 2010
• Location: Santa Ana Store - 3309b S. Bristol St., Santa Ana, CA 92704
• Time: Lecture from 2:00-4:00pm with book signing afterwards
• Workshop Fee: $20.00

• Date: Sunday, March 21, 2010
• Location: Los Angeles Store - 431 S. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90036
• Time: Lecture from 11:00-1:00pm with book signing afterwards
• Workshop Fee: $20.00

From the Samy's website:

Michael Clark is one of the world’s most respected adventure photographers, and he offers sage advice—gained from years of hard-earned experience—on equipment, techniques, and the specific skills required to get in on the action. He recently wrote a book entitled Digital Masters: Adventure Photography, which covers just about everything he’s learned shooting adventure sports over the last 14 years as a full-time pro while working for commercial clients like Nike, Nikon, Adobe, Red Bull and Patagonia as well as editorial clients including Sports Illustrated, Outside, Men’s Journal and Climbing.

Michael will present his work and talk about the tools and strategies involved in shooting a variety of Adventure sports. In this presentation, you’ll learn to capture fast-moving subjects and deal with harsh conditions and horrible weather—even when you’re hanging from ropes and riggings in a squall. He will have on hand some of the specialty outdoor and photographic items that help him get the shots clients require while on assignment and he will also talk about the realities of working as an adventure photographer. Come join us for an afternoon of inspiring outdoor action sports images and a book signing to follow.

Afterwards, please join Michael as he signs his new book Digital Masters: Adventure Photography — Capturing the World of Outdoor Sports

Registration
Pre-registration is required for this class or workshop. Please call 323-938-2420 and speak to the receptionist for registration. (Online registration is not available at this time.) You will receive an email confirmation within the week before the class. Please call or email us at edu@samys.com if you have any questions regarding this class.

To get more info on these seminars check out the full workshop description on the Samy's Camera website.

Sample PDF of Adventure Photography Book

2010-01-13T16:14:00.000-08:00

If you want to get a taste of my latest book Digital Masters: Adventure Photography, my publisher has put together a sample PDF with several double-truck spreads from the book including those you see in this blog post. The spreads included are the introduction, a spread from Chapter 1 on photography gear, one from Chapter 4 on artificial lighting, a spread from the surfing section in Chapter 6 and a spread from Chapter 9 which talks about what it takes to make it as a pro adventure photographer.

The shot below pictures my main gear kit, which I shot over the course of two days and composited together for the book. Of course not all of this goes out on a shoot with me everytime, but this gives you an idea of the typical gear used by pro adventure photographers these days.

Best of Red Bull Photofiles 2009

2010-01-13T16:04:00.000-08:00

I am honored to see that one of my images of Danny MacAskill, shot on assignment for Red Bull back in October 2009, was chosen for the "Best of Red Bull Photofiles 2009". The image was included in a selection of 32 images chosen from thousands and thousands of images shot for Red Bull in 2009. As Red Bull puts it on their site:

2009 has been as exciting and eventful as they come. With one athletic feat chasing the next, it has been a year of countless photographic highlights and moments to remember. To look back on the most remarkable of them, we have compiled 2009's most breathtaking shots for you. From kayaking action in Slovenia to trialbiking in San Diego - let our selection take you all around the world of outstanding sports photography!

Nikon World Article Online

2010-01-11T08:42:00.000-08:00

Nikon has just posted an article on their website that I shot for the Summer 2009 issue of Nikon World Magazine. If you missed it last summer or don't subscribe to Nikon World, read it online here.

The article details some of the trials and tribulations of shooting such a remote and difficult adventure race and also talks about the Nikon equipment I used on that shoot. For a more detailed account of my experiences covering the race be sure to check out the Spring 2009 issue of my newsletter.

Eddie Would Go

2009-12-12T01:56:00.000-08:00

The 2009 Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau -- December 8, 2009

Sitting in Brian Bielmann’s office, we were studying the weather warnings for Hawaii’s north shore. The swell coming toward us was for waves so big they would rip houses off their foundations and drag them out to sea. Brian’s brother, whose house was on the shoreline, had evacuated and boarded up his house. While there wasn’t a full-scale evacuation in effect, it was obvious that many were worried. There was a tension and excitement in the air on the north shore. Everyone was waiting to see what would happen. I asked Brian, who had lived on the north shore for the last 35 years if he had ever heard anything like this and he said no. This was going to be something to remember….To see a gallery of my images from the event check out the Eddie Aikau projects portfolio on my website.

There have only been a few times in my career that the stars have aligned as incredibly as with my recent trip to Hawaii. I had scheduled a trip over a month ago to Hawaii to shoot some stock images of surfing. Planning that far ahead means not knowing if any big swells will be coming through during my stay – hence it was a gamble. But this time around, it was a gamble that paid off big time.

While on the north shore of Oahu I got the chance to photograph two major surfing competitions, one of which was the Quicksilver Eddie Aikau Big Wave surfing comp. The “Eddie”, as it is affectionately referred to, is the big wave surfing event and has only happened eight times in the last twenty-five years because it requires 20-foot plus size Hawaiian waves, which translates to 40-foot wave faces. The event is held in Waimea Bay, just south of the famous surfing area known as Bonzai Pipeline.

[Side note: Wave sizes in Hawaii are measured from the back of the wave instead of the wave face. Hence a Hawaiian wave, which has a 30-foot face, is measured buy the back of the wave as a 15-foot wave. It is a bit confusing, and I am not sure why they measure waves this way, but this should eliminate some confusion to readers who are not surfers.]

Obviously it is not every day that 40-foot waves roll into Waimea Bay. The event is planned each year but if the big waves don’t show up the event doesn’t happen. The last time the Eddie was held was 2004. It is an invitational event with only 28 competitors. This years invitees included such surfing superstars as Andy and Bruce Irons, Kelly Slater, Shane Dorian, Greg Long and many others. The event officially kicked off on my second day in Oahu on December 2, 2009. The event normally has a three-month period in which to run, from December 1st through February 28th. This year the event happened just a few days after the opening ceremonies. Needless to say I was blown away that it happened during my stay in Hawaii.

The swell hit on a Monday but the weather was rough and the waves weren’t very consistent. Waimea Bay was taking hit after hit by waves that were in the 20 to 30-foot Hawaiian range, with 30 to 40 foot faces. Thousands of people had clogged the roads and the beach to come watch the Eddie. This is the superbowl of surfing. To the crowds’ dismay, the event was called off for the day because the waves were not as consistent as hoped and the swell was still rising. The next day saw some huge sets rip through the bay early on and the sky was blue and crisp. At 7:30 AM the event organizers announced that the event was on.

The first heat had a few big waves, but the second heat really got things going. Kelly Slater caught a huge wave and rode it all the way into the beach, which was a considerable distance away. From our vantage point right in front of the initial big waves we could hear the crowd roaring behind us as he road into the beach break. He scored a 98 out of a hundred for that ride. While that is incredible there were three 100-point rides. Towards the end of the day, in the final heat, there was a large set of 25 to 35 foot waves, with 40 to 50 foot wave faces, that rolled in one after the other, each a bit bigger than the one before. The waves were crashing into the bay and shaking the ground on which we stood. Greg Long, who ended up winning, caught a monster wave and rode it all the way into the beach scoring a perfect 100 points. He wasn’t in contention at all before this set of waves, but his perfect timing and considerable skills put him on top – he won $55,000 for his efforts and bested Kelly Slater and Bruce Irons.

Shooting an event like this is difficult. Quicksilver, the main sponsor, had several jet skis in the water, but only a few of them were for media use and those shooters lucky enough to get on the skis were chosen by Quicksilver. The rest of us had to shoot from the shore with big lenses. As it turned out, the best shooting position was in a backyard just off the point. The going rate was $50/hour to shoot from their property and some were paying up to $200/hour. I only stayed there for two hours during the best light of the day. It was front row seating as you can see in some of the images in this blog post.

As the day progressed, I moved around finding different angles and perspectives. My gear consisted of a Nikkor AF-S 500mm f/4 lens, a 70-200mmm f/2.8 lens and a Nikon D700 and D300, both with the external battery grip, which allowed me to shoot at 8 fps. By choosing the right camera for the position I essentially had a 1.5 teleconvertor if I needed it with the Nikon D300 since it has a 1.5X crop factor due to it’s smaller than full frame sensor.

Talking with Brian later that night after the event, he told me he had never seen Waimea Bay that big. Looking at the photos afterward the waves looked even bigger than we remembered. It turned out to be the biggest waves ever for an Eddie Aikau comp and the biggest waves ever for a surfing competition. The waves and the competition made national news three nights in a row. I shot over 6,000 images during my ten-day stay in Hawaii and well over 2,000 on the day of the Eddie Aikau. I have pulled a quick and dirty set of images and put them on my website in the afore mentioned projects portfolio.

I have to say thank you here as well to Brian and Shauna Bielmann. I met Brian while working on my book Digital Masters: Adventure Photography – he was recommended to me by Andew Eccles and invited me out to shoot surfing in Hawaii after we did several phone interviews for the book. Without his and his families incredible hospitality I would never have had this experience. You can check out Brian’s work on his website at www.brianbielmann.com.

If you'd like to read more about The 2009 Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau surfing competition and see the final results log on to the Quicksilver Eddie Aikau website.

Breaking News - Digital Masters: Adventure Photography Now on Sale

2009-11-27T07:34:00.000-08:00

I just got word that my book Digital Masters: Adventure Photography is now available and is shipping from Amazon.com. This is a major surprise to me as the publisher told me there was no way they could get it out before January 1st. I guess they worked something out - haven't heard back from them just yet with the holidays but Amazon has the book in stock and will be shipping them today to folks that have pre-ordered the book. In fact, I heard about all of this from one of my newsletter subscribers who emailed me to let me know that he got an email from Amazon, who said the book would ship today (the day after Thanksgiving) and arrive early next week. So for those of you that pre-ordered the book, it is on the way.

Here is the book description from the publisher, Lark Books:

This beautifully produced guide by Michael Clark is the newest entry in the Digital Masters series, as well as the first book on a fast-growing photographic genre: shooting today's popular extreme outdoor sports, from mountain biking and ice climbing to surfing, kayaking, and more.

Clark is one of the world’s most respected adventure photographers, and he offers sage advice—gained from years of hard-earned experience—on equipment, techniques, and the specific skills required to get in on the action. Learn to capture fast-moving subjects and deal with harsh conditions and horrible weather—even when you’re hanging from ropes and riggings in a squall. Of special interest is the Portraiture and Lifestyle chapter, which covers increasingly in-demand techniques.

If you haven't gotten ordered a copy of the book yet, Amazon has them in stock and you can find it here.

Fall 2009 Newsletter

2009-11-25T15:08:00.000-08:00

The Fall 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 with updates on recent assignments and upcoming trips, an equipment review of the 12 MP Nikon D3 vs. a 39 MP Hasselblad H3D, a special portfolio section detailing a recent assignment with Red Bull in San Diego, California, a perspective article on Connecting with your Audience and much more.

The Michael Clark Photography Newsletter goes out to approximately 5,000 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/fall_2009.pdf

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

Red Bull Illume features Michael's new book

2009-11-23T13:48:00.001-08:00

Red Bull posted a feature article on the Red Bull Illume website which promotes a few adventure photography books including my book, Digital Masters: Adventure Photography, which is due out January 1st, 2010. In addition to promoting the book the website also features one of my images of Danny MacAskill shot for Red Bull in early October.

Lowepro Ad for Toploader Pro Series Bags

2009-11-16T13:39:00.000-08:00

Some of you might have seen it already, but for those of you that haven't, the camera bag manufacturer Lowepro is running a full-page ad (above) in several photography magazines all over the world right now. My thanks to Lowepro for promoting me and using an image shot by Mark Watson.

The image was shot while covering the 2009 Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race. Mark, Lydia McDonald (writer) and myself hiked into the last trekking section with a group of racers and we had a stellar adventure ourselves in one of the most remote and uncharted areas on the planet at the very southern tip of South America. If you'd like to see more images from that adventure please check out my images from the race.

Also, for the full story, you can download a PDF article that details our adventures from Lowepro's website.

Mentor Series Lighting Workshop in Philadelphia

2009-11-02T09:47:00.000-08:00

I just got back from teaching a stellar lighting workshop in Philadelphia with David Tejada for the Mentor Series Workshops, sponsored by Nikon. While it was only a three day workshop most everyone felt like they had been there a week or more by the second day. We stuffed in an incredible amount of information on lighting and even digital workflow. And I have to say the participants images were absolutely incredible. I was very impressed by the caliber of photography.

Above is an image I snapped at the very end of the day with one of the participants cameras just to give you an idea of what we were working on. This image of model Lisa Versagli, was shot at the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, where Al Capone was once incarcerated. The prison is a ruin that is being preserved. It was originally built in 1827 and opened in 1829. Hence, it is one of the oldest prisons in the United States. It was also used as a location for the film 12 Monkeys and more recently, Law Abiding Citizen.

My thanks to Michelle Cast and PopPhoto for bringing me out. I look forward to teaching with the Mentor Series again here soon at some point.

Connecting with your Audience

2009-10-22T15:16:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: I am a diehard U2 fan and have been since the age of nine. My experience may not reflect what you would have felt but I’d be willing to bet even someone who isn’t a U2 fan would have felt the concert was an incredible experience.

The above video clip was shot with an iPhone (believe it or not) and gives you a 45 second taste of the light show...my apologies for the rough audio, though it is pretty amazing considering it was recorded on an iPhone.

While watching U2 perform a few nights ago I was completely awestruck by how they can capture an audience and connect with them on a level few rock bands ever have or ever will again. I was in Phoenix, Arizona, along with about 90,000 fellow U2 fans. Their stage was this lunar lander behemoth that rose pretty much to the top of the partially enclosed University of Phoenix stadium. The air was electric. The sound quality was stunning. The songs were anthems, and we were encouraged to participate in the show. In fact, I hesitate to call it a show, it wasn’t. It was an event. And Bono used every bit of his passion and fervor to include us in the mix. The songs were used to inspire and prod. It was clear that the music was bigger than just the lyrics or the band. By the end of the concert, they managed to create an emotional connection with the audience that left everyone reeling.

As an artist, who uses a camera instead of musical instruments, my mind went to work as they finished out the last encore. How do these guys do it? How do they make such a visceral, intense connection with their audience? The first thing that came to mind was that their songs are firmly connected with their beliefs and passions. It is no secret that three of the band members are Christians and that Bono’s political motivations are to help the poor and needy in Africa and elsewhere. In recent years this has been the outpouring of their faith, and that is reflected in the songs. Hence, every Christian in some way has a connection with the band far beyond the songs. Secondly, passion is infectious. There is no facade with these guys. They come out and play their hearts out for two and half hours and involve the crowd. The passion on display for their causes is real. You can hear it in the songs, in their work. In a sense, the songs serve as anthems because they encourage you to sing along and become an activist in the cause whether it’s about changing your life, coming to God, fighting oppression or poverty or helping to solve the AIDS crisis in Africa. The last part of this connection, that can’t be underestimated is the quality of their work. It is top-notch. And even more to the point, it is consistently top-notch. That can’t be understated. If the work wasn’t good then no one would be there to celebrate it. Put it all together and you have a group that can deliver real and meaningful content, not just entertainment, in a live show.

Obviously it is going to be extremely difficult, nigh impossible, to create such an emotional response with photography. Live music by its nature is a different animal altogether. For a long time now I have been thinking that in this day and age, where the profession of photography is changing at an incredible pace, it might be wise to create a following beyond the clients that hire you for assignments. Of course, the fact that you are reading this article on my blog or in my newsletter goes without saying that I already have a following of some sort and continue to cultivate that audience. Many other pro photographers have done likewise like Chase Jarvis, Joe McNally and Vincent LaForet. They have used their blogs and their work to inspire, teach and inform with incredible success. But is that it? Is it possible to create an emotional connection with a photograph, with a photographer’s work? I’d say yes, it is, but obviously not on par with a U2 concert. For example, look at the incredible images of James Nachtwey, that force one to deal with the atrocities going on around the world. Or look at the images of melting glaciers shot by James Balog and his crew at the Extreme Ice Survey. Those images show us with visual data how fast our climate is changing and hopefully motivate us to change our everyday habits that might be part of the problem.

Looking over my notes on how U2 was able to connect with their fans at that concert, there are some clear cut correlations that can be adapted for the photographer looking to connect with people through their images. First, and this is no surprise, passion reigns supreme. If you are passionate about your photography and what you photograph that will come through. Usually when people are passionate about something they are deeply committed. And this means they understand that topic extremely well - which will lead to very insightful images. Second, your work has to be top-notch. If you can’t communicate effectively with your chosen media then it is harder for the message to get through. Hence, the better the work, the easier it is for others to get excited about it. It is obvious that U2 works really hard on their craft. They don’t just sit around lazily and throw a few songs - or their tours - together. They work at it incredibly hard. If you expect to really connect with the viewer (especially photo editors who have seen it all) then you are going to have to apply yourself by working harder, smarter and longer than the next guy. This is all part of refining and pushing your craft so it can be top-notch. And it all ties into how passionate and driven you are. If you know me personally then you know I am an extremely passionate person who can’t contain himself. My newsletter alone is proof of that.

The hardest part for a photographer to convey through their images is their message - if there is one. As photographers, our voice is our images. What do they say? Do they convey our beliefs? Our Passion? Is that message one that will connect with others? As an adventure photographer, my images aren’t helping anyone avert the AIDS crisis in Africa. But, on a smaller level, I hope that my images of elite athletes help inspire others to take a few risks and get out of their comfort zone, to expand their world view and have an adventure that gives them a new perspective. During the concert, I was inspired to take my work even further by shooting for some NGOs I have worked with and believe in -- and ones that one can use my images to get others motivated and contributing to positive changes in Burma and Thailand specifically. And all of my adventure skills will be needed to create those images. More to come on that at a later date but the ball is already rolling.

The Lowepro Toploader Pro AW

2009-09-23T14:13:00.000-07:00

Last week Lowepro put up a special section on their website highlighting the Toploader Pro camera bag series they released earlier this year. I was sent a prototype of the bag to use while covering the 2009 Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race in February and put it through some serious abuse. Lowepro asked me to put together a PDF with the full story so folks could hear all about the adventures I had down there and I created a modified version of the article that I wrote for my Spring 2009 Newsletter. On Lowepro's webpage they highlight the PDF which you can download here.

This glimpse of my adventures is also highlighted on the homepage of their website. As always it is an honor to be chosen by a major manufacturer to test their gear and then be promoted by them. Lowepro has consistently impressed me over the course of the last year that I have been working closely with them - they listen to photographers and modify their existing camera bags to work for us. I have spent hours on the phone with many of the bag designers and they have thought through every feature of the bags with amazing clarity. All of their attention to detail makes my job easier and the camera bags a whole lot more durable and dependable.

Those of you that know me know that I don't endorse products unless I use them and recommend them. Before using the Toploader Pro 75 AW I had one of the previous generation Topload Zoom packs which saw occasional use but was certainly not my go to camera bag. Once I started using the new Toploader Pro 75 AW in Patagonia earlier this year I realized just how much more versatile this new incarnation of the top loading bags really is and I find myself using it all the time. It has become the bag I reach for about 90% of the time now when I need to go light and fast or find myself hanging off a huge cliff face.

Check out the PDF file listed above to read more about my adventures covering the 2009 Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race and how I used the Toploader Pro 75 AW. I also have to give a shout out to Mark Watson, a good buddy and phenomenal Aussie photographer, who covered the race with me - and who shot the images of me that appear in the PDF, on the website and in a future ad coming to magazines near you this winter. Thanks Mark! And thank you Lowepro.

Nikon Mentor Series Workshop in Philadelphia

2009-09-23T13:00:00.000-07:00

There are still a few slots available for the October Mentor Series Master Class on Lighting taking place in Philadelphia next month. Check out my previous blog post about this workshop for more details. It is sure to be a lot of fun and will help develop your artificial lighting skills using smaller dedicated flash units and larger battery powered strobes.

The workshop is sponsored by Nikon, Microsoft, Bogen, SanDisk, Mpix, and Photoshelter. I will be teaching the workshop along with David Tejada and we will have gear from Nikon and Bogen onsite at the workshop so don't delay if you want to get in on this intense and exciting workshop. If you have any questions about the workshop please don't hesitate to contact me.

Santa Fe Photowalk

2009-08-25T07:59:00.000-07:00

Andy Biggs and I are organizing a photowalk in Santa Fe, New Mexico on October 7, 2009. Since I have a workshop with Andy Biggs beginning on October 8, the next day, we figured it would be fun to organize a casual and fun photowalk of Santa Fe the day before our workshop begins.

The photowalk is open to anybody who would like to join us. Just bring along a camera, comfortable shoes, water and whatever else makes sense. We will meet up at 4 PM at the gazebo in the Plaza in downtown Santa Fe, and will go from there. We don't have a pre-determined path to walk, so please don't be late. In fact, just show up early and be ready to go by 4pm. I am confident that we will end up at a restaurant with good food and margaritas at sundown which should be a blast.

You can read the offical photowalk information on the Photowalklist.com web site:

Santa Fe Photowalk, October 7, 2009

If you would like more information on our photo workshop that starts the next day check out my earlier blog post about the Adobe Lightroom & the Fine Art Digital Print Workshop.

Bogen Cafe Webinar with Michael Clark

2009-08-18T17:13:00.001-07:00

Just a note, the interview I did with the folks at the Bogen Cafe is now available for download from their website. The Webinar gives a lot of insight into how I construct my images, the technical aspects of shooting digitally including a bit of my workflow and what it takes to be a pro. You can find the interview, entitled Adventure Sports Photography: Roundtable with Adventure Photographer Michael Clark on the Bogen Cafe website.

Click on the presentation title to download the complete webinar. The sound quality isn't perfect but we covered a lot of ground in this seminar and I heard from a lot of photographers they they got a lot out of the interview. Be forewarned that the .WMV file is quite large at almost 65 MB. And you will need to have the Windows Media Player software loaded onto your computer to play the presentation. You can download that here.

I do have to say that this interview delves into the nuts and bolts of adventure sports photography more than any other interview I have done in the last few years. If you are interested in gear, adventure sports or remote photography I think you'll find this very interesting. Enjoy!

NIkon World Assignment Article

2009-08-18T09:04:00.000-07:00

The Summer 2009 issue of Nikon World Magazine includes an article about the 2009 Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race which I photographed earlier this year for the Assignment section. Nikon World is one of those publications that I drooled over early on in my career (and still do) because many of the photographers I admired like Galen Rowell, Joe McNally, Pete Turner and many others were featured in the magazine. It was a dream of mine to be featured in Nikon World - and it came true in the Summer 2006 issue.

Before heading down to cover the race earlier this year I thought Nikon World might be interested in an article about the race - especially since I was going to be putting their gear (and myself) into some rough conditions. They loved the idea and the Assignment article was the result. I do have to say that Nikon takes great care when they print the magazine. My images, and all of the others in the magazine, look phenomenal. The images are nice and crisp and the colors are dead on. There are not many publications out there that can match their production quality. Add to that the great writing from Barry Tanenbaum and you have a class act. Thank you Barry and Nikon for including my work and adventures in the latest issue!

And of course if you missed it, my Spring 2009 Newsletter featured an extended article on covering the race and includes a lot more info on the adventures I had in remote Patagonia.

P.S. - I do have a high res PDF of the article and will post a link to that in the future.

Outdoor Photographer: Ask the Pros

2009-08-18T08:47:00.000-07:00

Last month's July 2009 issue of Outdoor Photographer featured an article entitled "Ask the Pros" where readers submitted questions and a bevy of pro photographers answered them. Among the pro photographers included in the article were Art Wolfe, Moose Peterson, Tom Till, George Lepp, Glenn Randall...and myself. I am honored to be included among such stellar photographers. If you'd like to see the complete article, there is an expanded version on the Outdoor Photographer website.

Here are a few of the questions that included my input:

Q. I'm looking for information or recomendations on cameras and equipment that can handle below-freezing or below-zero temperatures.
—James Chilcote

A. James,
In my experience shooting ice climbing, skiing and mountaineering in frigid conditions, all the way down to -40° F, I’ve found that modern digital SLRs do quite well, especially the pro models. When the temps are above 0º F, you’ll have no problems with most D-SLRs, save for the batteries not lasting as long as normal. Keep a spare battery with you in a warm pocket and trade them out every half-hour or so. The main problems you’ll run into below 0° F are keeping the batteries warm and the LCD from freezing, which can happen.

To overcome these issues, I usually tape a chemical hand warmer over the battery compartment—either on the bottom of the camera or on the grip. I try to keep it as far away from the back of the camera as possible since heat will increase the amount of noise produced by your imaging sensor. In super-cold environments (e.g., -20º and below), this is less of a concern. To keep the LCD from freezing, I occasionally warm it up by holding a hand warmer on the LCD. I don’t tape it onto the LCD because it would start to heat up the CMOS or CCD sensor. I’d also suggest going with one of the top-tier cameras from any manufacturer because they have better weather sealing, which should help in the cold.
—Michael Clark

Q. I am just starting out with selling my photos and am wondering about ways other than my website to get my photos viewed and sold?
—Joseph Christy

A. Joseph,
I’d suggest starting with magazines, as they are the best way to get your images seen by huge numbers of people—and drive people to your website. When I was starting out, one of my very first submissions actually was to Outdoor Photographer. I submitted a few landscape images along with an article about a local area and they published it a few months later. Getting published in a magazine is one of the best forms of marketing—and you get paid for it, as well. Many photo editors also will allow you to include your website address in the photo credit which is another great way to drive potential clients and those interested in your work to your website.
—Michael Clark

PDN Great Outdoors Photo Contest

2009-08-08T12:55:00.000-07:00

I just got the latest issue of PDN in the mail today and found out that my image from the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta (above) was a finalist in the 2009 Great Outdoors Photo Contest. My image appears in the magazine and will also appear in a soon to come web gallery on PDN. Stay tuned for that - I'll put up a link as soon as it appears online. The judges in this years contest were Mark Pinsukanjana (Modernbook Gallery), Julia Vandenoever (Backpacker), Brenda Milis (Men's Health) and Krista Rossow (National Geographic Traveler). My thanks to them and PDN for choosing my image.

Summer 2009 Newsletter

2009-08-07T16:29:00.000-07:00

The Summer 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 with updates on the newsletter and other topics, a review entitled "A few of my Favorite Things", a portfolio of recent images shot this summer in Utah, New Mexico and Texas, an article about the future of magazines and much more.

The Michael Clark Photography Newsletter goes out to approximately 5,000 thousand photo editors, photographers and photo enthusiasts around the world. You can download the Summer 2009 issue on my website at:

http://www.michaelclarkphoto.com/summer_2009.pdf

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

Lowepro Photography Showcase

2009-08-07T16:16:00.000-07:00

I have been working closely with Lowepro for the last year or more and they have now included me in their Photography Showcase which features images and bios of top photographers from around the world. It is an honor to be included in such talented company. I must also say, working with Lowepro has been a pleasure. In my conversations with the design team I have been very impressed with how much they have thought through their products before they bring them to market. My Lowepro packs and bags have taken an incredible beating over the years - one fanny pack even took a hundred foot fall with three lenses in it. Two of those lenses survived and are still in my camera bags. Check out my latest newsletter for more info on the Lowepro Vertex 300 AW.

Cameradojo.com Interview

2009-07-24T18:29:00.000-07:00

Last week I was interviewed by Cameradojo.com about my adventure sports photography and what it takes to photograph adventure sports in general. As usual I delved into the nitty-gritty details of my profession in this hour long conversation with Kerry Garrison and David Esquire. Check it out on their website, it is Podcast #59 - A Conversation with Michael Clark.

Nikon Mentor Series Workshop in Philadelphia

2009-07-17T16:54:00.000-07:00

Workshop: Mentor Series Master Class: Lighting

Workshop Date: October 30 - November 1, 2009

Location: Philadelphia, PA

Cost: $999*
* includes in the field instruction, entrance fees, presentations, digital review sessions, an Mpix photo book and transportation to each shooting location.

Workshop Description:

Pack your camera gear and join the Mentor Series as we trek to the birthplace of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” this coming fall! Philadelphia will provide the perfect backdrop to learn the rewards of using light to create an intentional effect in your photos, as well as explore the history and culture this city has to offer. Follow Nikon professional photographers and illumination gurus David Tejada and Michael Clark as they simplify various techniques and help you address lighting scenarios that will convey a desired atmosphere, while capturing unique images in both controlled and spontaneous shooting situations.

*NEW* This trek includes a Master Class on Lighting, providing an exclusive opportunity to determine how luminosity can shape the mood and color of the photographs you create. Allow our mentors to assist you in finding the best angles, interpreting natural light sources, utilizing reflectors, and understanding how to control light. By learning how to properly use light modifiers such as umbrellas, soft boxes, snoots, grids, silks and even bounce techniques, you will walk away with a solid comprehension of how easily an image can be enhanced.

Visit the stunning Longwood Gardens, one of the world’s premiere horticultural display gardens, as you gain experience directing hired models and practice using off-camera flash. Or reveal the beauty of the yellow, orange and purple trees, and the golden honey locusts, scarlet sweet gums, and ruby northern red oaks in the sunlight. Inside the Conservatory, have your camera handy as you discover a lush world of exotic flowers, with more then 20,000 blooming chrysanthemums, making for spectacular macro images. Travel on to the infamous Eastern State Penitentiary, and explore what lighting is best suited to subject and scene, as we use America’s most historic prison (open from 1829 to 1971) to shoot models and further practice learned techniques “on location”. Take advantage of the penitentiary’s vaulted, sky-lit cells to capture a particular mood in the jail that held some of America’s most notorious criminals, including Al Capone. Later, photograph along a tour of Philadelphia’s remarkable landmarks from the top of our own double-decker bus. Try your hand at making long exposure night images while you capture the Betsy Ross Bridge, the dramatic city skyline from Camden and visit the waterfront area of Penns Landing, and Boathouse Row.

Spend some time in Center City, exceptionally conveying Logan Square, or the famous Love sculpture by Robert Indiana. You will capture history with your camera at Independence Hall as you take in the birthplace of the Declaration of Independence, stop in Washington Square, and pay a visit to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Everywhere you go in Philadelphia, you’ll find a piece of America’s past, and continually discover the chance to utilize the lighting techniques you’ve learned to capture these historic landmarks. Explore “the city of brotherly love” with expert photographers by your side!

Sponsors:

Nikon, Bogen Imaging, Microsoft, SanDisk, Photoshelter, Mpix

Instructors:

David Tejada
NikonNet
Photo District News
www.tejadaphoto.com

Michael Clark
National Geographic
Sports Illustrated
www.michaelclarkphoto.com

This promises to be a great workshop. For more information on the workshop and to register click here. Here is another link where you can also download the workshop itinerary. You can also download the workshop announcement ad.

Bogen Cafe Webinar with Michael Clark

2009-07-06T08:12:00.000-07:00

Bogen will conduct a webinar with me on July 17, 2009 talking about my experiences as an adventure sports photographer. The webinar is an interactive interview with Bogen Product manager David Fisher, where participants will be able to listen in on the interview, ask questions and get answers and are also eligible to win one of three Gitzo Traveler Series 2 Carbon Fiber 6X Monopods. For more information about the webinar click here to go to the Bogen Website. If you would like to sign up for the webinar you can Register here!

The Webinar is FREE and will take place Friday, July 17th from 2 pm to 3 pm EDT! During this session David & Michael will discuss:

- Adventure photography fundamentals (light, autofocus, histograms, exposure)
- Artificial lighting
- Photo equipment
- Outdoor gear
- How to approach and shoot rock climbing, mountain biking and whitewater kayaking
- What it takes to be a pro!

Bogen Imaging, which is the US supplier for such great gear as Elinchrom strobes, Gitzo and Bogen Tripods, Avenger Light stands and many other fine products, has been an imaging partner for a number of years now. This should be a very exciting and informative webinar that I think many will find very interesting.

Nikon and Digital Photo Pro feature Michael's work

2009-05-21T12:50:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-29T08:56:00.000-07:00

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 light 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

2009-04-21T12:35:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-12T20:16:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-25T15:28:00.001-07:00

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

2009-03-15T14:08:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-11T08:06:00.000-07:00

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.

Big Wave surfing in Hawaii

2009-01-31T14:46:00.000-08:00

I recently met Brian Bielmann [ www.brianbielmann.com ], one of the top pro surfing photographers in the world, and he invited me to come out and shoot some surfing at Bonzai Pipeline on the North Shore of O'ahu. Pipeline, as many of you know, is one of the world's most famous surf breaks and regularly has swells that produce waves in excess of 30 feet. So last Thursday, Brian gave me the call about a large swell rolling in and I flew out the next morning at 6 AM. The waves turned out to be sizable, in the 15 to 20-foot range (in Hawaii they would be called 6 to 8 foot waves because the wave height is measured from the back of the wave instead of the front face). Regardless of the wave size, they were the biggest waves I have ever seen and it was a blast hanging out with Brian and his family, and learning all about the surfing world which is far removed from my normal shooting.

While I was there, on queue, two surfers were severely injured while surfing pipeline. One surfer fractured his femur! From the shore the waves look big but the expert surfers, who had traveled from all over the world to surf there, made it look so easy that I felt like I could go out there and play in the waves. The accidents were a good reminder that even though these weren't the biggest waves to roll in at pipeline they were still very dangerous. Next time I am out there I'll have to try shooting from the water as that seems like the next step to up the ante on my surfing images.

Also, Jamie O'Brien, who has recently been working with Vincent Laforet, was shooting video with a helmet camera while surfing Pipeline. I am sure that footage is quite spectacular.

Needless to say, I hope to return to Hawaii and shoot when the waves come up again, and if I am lucky, hopefully JAWS (a.k.a. Peahi) will rear up on the north shore of Maui and I'll be back out there in a heartbeat to shoot the biggest wave on the planet! I'll have some of the selects on my website here in the next week or so. Thanks again to my good friend Brian for having me out and for letting me pick his brain about surfing photography!

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T20:16:00.001-08:00

With a few hours to go before the new year I just thought I'd post a blog here and wish everyone a very happy new year. 2008 turned out to be one of my best and most profitable years so far in my career. I would like to thank everyone who helped make that possible: my clients, stock agencies, assistants and everyone who purchased the Lightroom e-book this year. 2008 was filled with many highlights including a number of dream assignments and since 2009 looks to be continuing that streak, I am excited to move into the new year. Onwards and upwards as they say. Cheers...

Following Your Passion

2008-12-23T08:03:00.000-08:00

This article is an excerpt from my Fall 2008 Newsletter.

The idea for this article is a direct result of reading an article written by Doug Menuez entitled On Chaos, Fear, Survival and Luck: Longevity is the Answer which was published on the Editorial Photographers’ website (www.editorialphoto.com). In the article Doug discusses the dilemma of getting paid to do what you love - or for the photographer this would mean getting paid to shoot what you love to shoot. The main question he asks himself is “how can I build a satisfying and challenging creative life in photography over the long-term?” My purpose here is not to paraphrase his article, but to discuss my own path to creating satisfying work and getting paid for it.

As freelance photographers we all struggle with what we want to shoot and assignments that we have to shoot to make ends meet. If we shoot too many boring assignments it takes a toll, both in terms of creativity and motivation. Doug’s article was just one more reminder of lessons I learned earlier this year and how those lessons figure into the future of my career. To explain I’ll have to back up here and give you some background so this all makes sense. When I got into photography as a kid, way back when I was 14, I loved shooting sports. Photographing sports was challenging (especially in the manual focus days) and their was never any lack of action. Years later when I started climbing mountains and rock climbing around the world it seemed like a natural fit to bring along the camera. It was through those adventures that I became passionate about photography again and decided to make a go of it as an adventure photographer. Since climbing as a sport was one of my great passions, photographing that sport in all of it’s forms (ice and rock climbing as well as mountaineering) was a natural progression. Over the last twelve years I have branched out and shot other outdoor sports as well - in fact, I have shot just about every outdoor sport their is which fits with the “extreme” sport motif visible on my website. And since these sports and the outdoors in general were always my passion it wasn’t hard to pursue this type of work. Photographing adventure sports and adventures in general was always very satisfying for me both creatively and professionally. In this light, the question of how I could build a satisfying and creatively challenging career was a non-issue. I was lucky enough to be already doing it. And even more to the point, I was creating images that stirred my creative juices and pretty much concentrated on producing the type of images I wanted to create even to the detriment of my wallet. I could have made way more money shooting weddings or family portraits or whatnot but I realized early on that wasn’t why I became a photographer. And that is the central question one has to ask is “are you being true to yourself?” Or in photo speak, “Are your images true to your inner vision and creative spark?”

Around year ten of my career, I found myself in a conundrum that still continues. When I started out as a pro photographer I had big dreams and big goals. In the first ten years of my career I achieved almost all of those goals. Hence, I got to a place where I was asking myself “ok, where do we go from here?” At the same time I started working with a broader range of clients that needed more than just adventure sports images. This broadened my horizons a bit and tapped into another passion of mine (I have many) which is photography and art in general. I started shooting a lot of portraits - and still do. I also started to shoot a lot of non-adventure images which was a fun distraction and no doubt helped sharpen my skills as a photographer but after a few years of not concentrating solely on adventure images the “where do I go from here?” question loomed even larger. And that is why earlier this year, while covering the 2008 Patagonia Expedition Race I had a “eureka” moment. Of course discussing it now and writing about it in this newsletter the answer to my question seems so obvious. Basically, in the midst of one of the most adventurous and exciting assignments so far in my career, I realized that what gets me excited, what really makes my soul sing is a good adventure - and in terms of my professional career, creating stellar images of that adventure. And the fact that adventure images are what I produce and I can make a living producing is just icing on the cake. The problem comes in when I start to think bigger and get greedy. I want it all. I want to experience and record grand adventures but I also want to experiment with other genres of photography and have a long and rewarding career. And there is nothing to say that I can’t widen my horizons to include other genres of photography as long as they motivate and inspire my work, it is more just a matter of patience. Like the Queen song says, “I want it all, and I want it now!” Perhaps it is the ambition in me asking these questions rather than the creative side. Patience is a virtue I am still learning. Even so, don’t get me wrong, I am grateful for the very successful career I have already had and I look forward to the next ten years as a photographer (knock on wood).

In the end this article is more of a musing to get the synapses firing so both I and you, the reader, can ponder where it is we want to take our work and to find out exactly what our passions are. This is another reason Doug’s article struck me right between the eyes because he hits at the heart of what makes us tick as artists. And he really nails it in terms of how to “be true to yourself” by saying no to jobs that don’t fit into your plan, letting go of the fear of financial and creative failure and lastly breaking free of categories and being categorized by your clients. The tricky part to all of this is how to remain a pro and make enough money to continue to produce the type of work that gets your creative juices amped up. As I have said, in that respect I am lucky because to a large degree I am already doing just that and as I said in the opening editorial of this newsletter business is better than ever. In these tough economic times nothing is certain but by thinking about my career in the long term I hope to do better than just weather the current storm. So in the end the answer to my question, “where do I go from here?” is to keep on shooting adventure images and expand my photography into other genres that are in keeping with my passions.

Fall 2008 Newsletter

2008-12-02T15:45:00.000-08:00

The Fall 2008 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 the current economy, a review of Elinchrom's Ranger RX Speed AS kit, an extended editorial on Following your Passion and much more.

The Michael Clark Photography Newsletter goes out to over three thousand photo editors, photographers and enthusiasts around the world. You can download the Fall 2008 issue on my website at:

http://www.michaelclarkphoto.com/fall_2008.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.

"New" Black and White Portfolio

2008-11-04T06:46:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to let everyone know I have updated my website this morning and added a new Black and White gallery to my Portfolio section. There are now separate web galleries for my color and black and white portraits.

Aurora Photos Action:Reaction Project

2008-11-02T13:49:00.000-08:00

It has been quite a while since I have posted a blog here. As you might guess I have been so busy with work that I haven't had much time to blog. Between road trips, assignments and other big projects there hasn't been a whole lot of free time.

Recently I shot a few portraits as part of Aurora Photos Action:Reaction project which celebrates 15 years of being in business as a stock agency. The Action:Reaction project has been in progress since June 2008 and the basic concept is that every 48 hours a new image is uploaded to the site that somehow relates to the previous image. It is a very interesting progression of images by an incredible group of pro photographers.

Each photographer submits three images and then an editor chooses the one that goes live. Part of the project is that it brings photo editors and photographers together, for instance my set of images was edited by Sadie Quarrier of National Geographic Magazine. Some of the other guest editors include Rob Haggart of APhotoFolio.com, Sacha Lecca of Rolling Stone and Miki Johnson of American Photo Magazine.

Sadie chose the color image (as in the image above). Here are the other two images I submitted:

As you can tell these images are a bit off the beaten track for an adventure photographer but I am experimenting a lot these days with portraiture and especially black and white portraiture.

If you'd like to check out the project click here.

Hanging out of an Airplane

2008-09-04T18:09:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I was strapped into the back of an airplane with the door removed. I had my climbing harness on and was anchored to three attachment points in the back of a Piper Cub. Dressed in a down jacket with windproof gloves and a face mask we took off to test out our system for photographing mountain terrain in the Sangre de Christo mountains above Santa Fe, New Mexico.

I was on a test flight with a friend of mine, Jerry Van Slambrook, who is an excellent pilot and is also very experienced at flying in big mountains. We are working on a project to photograph some Colorado peaks from the air. I can't reveal the full nature of the project just yet but it will be really fun to work on and should result in some wild images. I just thought I'd share a few of the test images here as it was a pretty cool experience and I am really looking forward to working on this project some more.

The best part of the day was when Jerry rolled the plane over so that I was looking down past my feet directly at the ground several hundred feet below us. All in all though it was pretty casual. Breaking the plane of the doorway was a little harsh since we were going over a hundred miles per hour but I was very comfortable having hung off 3,000 foot cliffs on several occasions. More to come on this project. Stay tuned.

Lightroom eBook featured on Adobe's Website

2008-08-26T19:43:00.000-07:00

Adobe has been kind enough to feature my Lightroom workflow eBook Adobe Photoshop Lightroom: A Professional Photographers Workflow on the Adobe website. It is a great honor to be included with other excellent Lightroom books by such well known authors as Scott Kelby, Seth Resnick and Martin Evening. This is a huge stamp of approval for my ebook. You can check out the Lightroom resources page here.

I have had several people email me and and ask what sets my book apart from all of the other Lightroom books out there? That is a great question. My response to that is, as far as I know, my eBook is the only book that details a complete workflow from capture all the way through to finished images. My book isn't just about Lightroom. Most of the other Lightroom books are an in-depth detailed discussion of all the features in Lightroom but none of them that I know of come from the perspective of a professional photographer and show how Lightroom fits into a complete digital workflow. Also, my book contains a lot of information on setting up the camera, a shooting workflow, detailed naming conventions, storing and archiving strategies and an overview of when I use Photoshop after exporting images out of Lightroom as well as many other topics that aren't covered in the normal Lightroom books. Basically my book fits all the pieces of digital photography together to take you from your current digital knowledge base to a much more expanded and complete understanding of the digital process. And it does it with straight talk and very understandable and concrete examples.

I have been working closely with Adobe (not as an employee) for a number of years now and they are a fantastic company to work with. From top to bottom they are a responsive corporation that listens to photographers and artists so that they can make better products. If you haven't downloaded Lightroom 2.0 yet then you don't know what you are missing. For me and my workflow, it is the best thing to happen to photography since digital came on the scene back in the late 1990s.

The latest version of my eBook has gotten rave reviews and has been reviewed independently on several blogs. My many thanks to all of you who have purchased my eBook. Your continued support guarantees that the book will be expanded and made even better as Lightroom is upgraded and when the next version comes out. And lastly, many thanks to Adobe and in particular Frederick Johnson (who has been a great resource and friend) and the entire Lightroom team.

Ok, I know I have been talking about my Lightroom book all over the place. Enough for now. If you want to check it out go to my website at:

http://www.michaelclarkphoto.com/workflow.html

Summer 2008 Newsletter

2008-08-21T15:06:00.000-07:00

The Summer 2008 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 burning the candle at both ends and the creative urge, a review of Adobe Lightroom 2.0, a new section named Inside Scoop which details the Anatomy of a Portfolio and much more.

The Michael Clark Photography Newsletter goes out to over two thousand photo editors, photographers and enthusiasts around the world. You can download the Summer 2008 issue and back issues on my website at:

http://www.michaelclarkphoto.com/backissues.htm

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

Ken Milburn writes a glowing review of Michael's Lightroom 2 eBook

2008-08-19T13:36:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a five day trip in Colorado and saw that Ken Milburn wrote a glowing review of Lightroom 2.0 eBook Adobe Photoshop Lightroom: A Professional Photographer's Workflow.

Here is an excerpt from his blog post on Inside Lightroom:

I did, however, get a chance to read the Table of Contents, Introduction, and his very, very professional procedures for setting up his camera(s) for the best possible RAW capture…including one of the most clear and understandable discussions of the importance of Histograms, how to read them, and how to expose in order to capture the most RAW data possible in order to be assured of having the most to work with when adjusting the image. It’s all very scientific and thorough, but totally understandable, logical, and just plain interesting.

What I learned from the table-of-contents is that he seems to be covering a very complete suggested workflow that is specifically aimed at high-volume production, advertising, and editorial photographers who are expected to produce the very best pictures and present them almost instantly. He also has an entire chapter devoted to what you should save for doing in Photoshop, when and why.

Check out Ken's full blog post at Inside Lightroom. And if you'd like to check out Ken's website click here. Please note that I did not ask Ken to write this review. He purchased the book from my website like everyone else. My many thanks to Ken for his great review.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom eBook Now Available

2008-08-07T17:33:00.000-07:00

After spending more time than I want to think about updating the Lightroom eBook, I have finally finished the updated version of my eBook Adobe Photoshop Lightroom: A Professional Photographer's Workflow. To purchase the updated version of this eBook click here.

The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom workflow, a 124 page PDF e-book, is a workshop in book form. This workflow, while not exhaustive will cover the main topics of a shooting workflow then move into a RAW processing workflow with Adobe Lightroom Version 2.0 and Photoshop CS3. This book gets down to the nuts and bolts of a real world workflow. With so many new updates and changes in Lightroom 2.0 this eBook was almost completely re-written and presents a workflow that can be adapted by any photographer, professional or amateur.

Below is a list of some of the new content:

Lightroom as a Digital Asset Management Tool *NEW*
Six Ways to Speed up Lightroom *NEW*
File and Folder Naming Conventions *NEW*
A Logical Editing Process *NEW*
Library Filters *NEW*
Adobe Camera Profiles *NEW*
Creating Panoramas *NEW*
Using Merge to HDR *NEW*
Localized Adjustments *NEW*
Lightroom 2.0 and CS3 Compatibility *NEW*
Photoshop Workflow *NEW*
Creating Photoshop Actions *NEW*
Running Batch Actions *NEW*
Storage Options *EXPANDED AND IMPROVED*

Please note that, true to my word, anyone who purchased the previous version of this eBook on April 1st, 2008 or after will receive a free copy of the updated version. I will be compiling a list of emails of everyone who has purchased the eBook since April 1st and I'll send the download link to those individuals over the next few days.

Busiest Summer Ever!

2008-08-04T10:30:00.000-07:00

This summer has been the busiest I have ever been in my career, hence the lack of blog posts the last few months. Things have cranked up to a whole new level here at Michael Clark Photography and I am working on some very exciting projects right now - which I can't disclose at this time but hopefully here soon I will be at liberty to say what is happening.

Starting in September my travel schedule gets nutty. I'll be in New York city for a few days meeting with clients, then fly off to Portland Maine for the Aurora Photos stock agency meetings which are always a blast. Two days after I get back from those meetings I am off to Yosemite Valley to shoot for three weeks. After that I'll be back here in New Mexico and dive right into assignment mode.

I also have finalized my latest print portfolio (the image above is one of the images from the book). If you would like to meet with me while I am in NY on September 9th and 10th please drop me an email and we can set up a meeting. I am excited to get back to the Big Apple and meet with many of my clients and many new ones as well.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom: A Professional Photographers Workflow

2008-08-04T10:10:00.000-07:00

I have been working sixteen hour days for a week now revising my workflow eBook Adobe Photoshop Lightroom: A Professional Photographers Workflow. The eBook will be available here in the next few days. All I have left to do is read it once more and make the final edit. The changes in Lightroom have been drastic in many ways that might not be apparent and this has drastically altered my workflow (for the better).

I have received many emails from folks who can't wait for the new version of the eBook. I'll have it out as soon as possible, I just want to make sure it is up to par and a fair bit better than the previous version. Guaranteed I'll make a posting here and on several other blogs I write for when the new version is available here in the next few days. The image above is a sample cover - I am still finalizing the look of the cover but I just thought I'd make a blog post here today to wet your appetite!

Michael signs on with Wonderful Machine

2008-06-17T09:57:00.000-07:00

I am happy to announce that just a few days ago I signed on with Wonderful Machine. Wonderful Machine will act as a rep for my work and also as a portal driving potential clients to my website. Wonderful Machine represents the highest caliber photographers from 44 international cities with a wide variety of specialties. I am honored to be a part of their stable of photographers. You can check them out at:

http://www.wonderfulmachine.com/

The Spring 2008 Newsletter

2008-05-28T15:41:00.000-07:00

The Spring 2008 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 inspiration and the creative spark, Part 2 of my Nikon D300 review, an article on finding inspiration, a special portfolio and article about the Patagonia Expedition Race and much more.

The Michael Clark Photography Newsletter goes out to over two thousand photo editors, photographers and enthusiasts around the world. You can download the Spring 2008 issue and back issues on my website at:

http://www.michaelclarkphoto.com/backissues.htm

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

Michael makes the cut on A.P.E.

2008-05-05T07:50:00.000-07:00

Michael made the cut on Rob Haggart's A Photo Editor's Slideshow of photographers he likes and would hire (and has). The image that made the cut (above) appears near the end of the show.

Rob initially asked for submissions and culled them to help photo editors find talented photographers to work with.

A faster thnumbnail version of the slideshow is available here.

The Copyright battle begins again!

2008-04-28T11:51:00.000-07:00

This past week I heard from ASMP (American Society of media Photographers) National that two versions of the Orphan Works bill has been introduced - one in the House and one in the Senate. Photographers and artists alike have been fighting off this bill for a few years now. And it seems like the lead professional photography associations that have been working with folks on the hill - both ASMP and PPA - have given up to some degree stating that no matter how loudly we cry foul some version of this bill will be passed. They are just trying to limit the damage the bill can do from my understanding. If you are a photographer it is time to contact your senators and congress members.

Also, I found a very interesting article on the UK Editorial Photographers website by EPUK moderator Tony Sleep entitled Why the Orphan Works Act is Uncle Sam's thieves' charter that talks about the new bills in detail. It is very interesting to see just how much our own copyright legislation affects the rest of the world. Tony points out a lot of real world facts about copyright infringement that with the current laws that will be further strained if a version of this bill is passed. Stay tuned to ASMP, PPA, APA or EP for more information on how you can help defeat this bill.

Sierra Magazine Cover

2008-04-22T20:12:00.000-07:00

Michael got the cover of the April 2008 issue of Sierra Magazine recently. The image (above) is a self portrait shot while mountain biking on the Red Dot trail near White Rock, New Mexico. The camera was mounted on the seat post with a special clamp that held the camera steady as I rode the singletrack trail.

Michael also shot an assignment for the April 2008 issue of Sierra which detailed the Building Bridges to the Outdoors Project which is sponsored by the Sierra Club and locally mentored in New Mexico by the Santa Fe Mountain Center. The article follows a group of Santo Domingo Pueblo native american students as they take a day hike just north of Santa Fe and learn about their culture and how they relate to the outdoors. The image above shows three students crossing a small stream during that hike.

Winter 2008 Newsletter is here!

2008-03-20T14:17:00.000-07:00

The Winter 2008 issue of the Michael Clark Photography newsletter is now available for download from my website. If you'd like to sign on for the Newsletter just drop me an email and I'll add you to the mailing list.

This new issue of the newsletter is really late in coming. I apologize for that. It has been busy around here and I was out of the office for pretty much the entire month of February. I'll get the Spring 2008 newsletter out here in the next few months hopefully with a portfolio of my images from Patagonia.

This issue includes an editorial written on a flight to Patagonia, a first look at Nikon's new D300 DSLR, a perspective article on an inspirational day, and much more.

The Michael Clark Photography Newsletter goes out to over two thousand photo editors, photographers and enthusiasts around the world. You can download the Winter 2008 issue and back issues on my website at:

http://www.michaelclarkphoto.com/backissues.htm

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

A month in Patagonia

2008-03-17T11:28:00.000-07:00

I spent most of February and a wee bit of March in Chilean Patagonia. I was flown down to cover the Patagonia Expedition Race which started in Punta Arenas and went south from there – way south. The race was 600+ kilometers long and like a triathlon on steroids the teams of four (with at least one woman) mountain biked, sea kayaked and trekked in some of the most remote and wild scenery known to man.

Since it was pretty much impossible to cover the entire race the photographers were split up to cover different sections of the race. Lydia McDonald, the writer who accompanied me, and myself chose to cover the second half of the race starting just north of the Darwin Range. We waited for the racers for five days. Luckily we had a deserted house that was workable to relax in. I don’t know who built it or how long it had been there – probably a good 50 years or more. Since it was raining a fair bit the house was a nice respite and it also allowed me to work up images on my laptop since we also had a generator.

You might be wondering how we got all this gear out there to La Paciencia (where we were waiting) and the Darwin Range since it is extremely remote. We took a boat, an old coastguard cutter, from Punta Arenas on an overnight (16 hour trip) to this remote location. The boat was full and included the generator and a healthy supply of gasoline. While waiting for the racers I basically went into stock shooting mode and had Lydia pose down for me when the light was good or we found an interesting spot. My stock agency will be very happy!

When the racers did show up it was an education in suffering. I have gone on several big mountain expeditions and have done my fair share of suffering but I don’t think I have ever seen people suffer like they did in this race. I’ll admit that before the race my idea of adventure racing was rich, bored dentists out for a weekend of excitement but this race far surpassed any preconceived notion I ever had of adventure racing. These athletes were pushing the envelope of the light and fast philosophy in unmapped terrain. Sadly the waves were so big (2 meters) for safety reasons the sea kayaking section was cancelled. We, the media – all four of us – and the racers piled onto a Chilean marine boat and were shuffled 40 km over to the foot of the Cordillera Darwin (aka The Darwin Range).

So, we went with the racers into hell. We tried to do this 60 km traverse through the Darwin Range in the Valley of Death (no I am not making that up). This was an area where (we were told) only ten expeditions have ever been in recorded history and one of those was Darwin who named the range after himself. There were no real maps. We had a satellite photo of our route and the surrounding peaks. This is one of the few unmapped areas left on planet earth. We were at the very tip of South America – save for a few islands on the far side of the traverse the next stop south was Antarctica.

And we could have done the traverse easily - even with our huge packs of camera gear and such but we only had two days to do the traverse which was a really, really short time with that much gear. We had to do it in two days because the boat on the other side would be gone in two days and we would be left behind. But we had to give it a shot - this is what we came for. The racers did it in 30 to 40 hours but they basically had daypacks and small ones at that and they didn't sleep at all – they just went straight through. One team didn’t even take packs but just stuffed food into their pockets, carried one water bottle per person and took off.

The first 10 km were the hardest and we were three quarters of the way through that when we decided to start look for a campsite as it was getting dark. There was this "turva" stuff which I have never seen anywhere else on planet earth - it is like a living sponge that is filled with water and you can fall into them quite deep. I even found a large pool of quicksand-like stuff early on (not quicksand - worse). I went in up to my waist and it locked onto me like concrete. It was the consistency of pumpkin pie (with the strings) and Lydia was trying to pull me out and nearly dislocated my ankle so I had to start digging in this stuff for like 10 minutes to release my foot - finally I got out but it was a big eye opener into the type of terrain we were heading into. I have never seen anything like it. It was a peat bog jungle with dense forests and no trails.

Even the racers said it was the craziest terrain they had ever seen. Some even came back and quit the race so I didn't feel too bad for not making it through. So we set up a camp on top of a granite spine - above the jungle below. We had a great diner with our Chilean friends who where there to write about the race for the biggest paper in Chile. And then it started to rain....and it kept raining. All night and all day the next day - pretty much everything we had was wet save for my cameras, the sleeping bags and one set of clothes. We had crossed some pretty big rivers the day before but now on the way out those rivers were huge because the entire mountain range was draining into this river basin. So when we got back to the river crossings we had done the day before the levels were over our heads and they were raging with ice-cold glacier water. When we first came up to them I was really worried that we could not cross them and that we would be locked in - in places it was pretty deadly looking. We found a place that was dicey but possible - maybe - two by two we used some standard river crossing techniques and crossed in pairs - it was only up to just above my waist - near chest level for Lydia. And the water was moving fast, so fast it was taking me off my feet for a few seconds and then I could find a foot hold.....later that day we had to cross an even bigger river and we went as a team of four people. That one was pretty scary - even bigger than the earlier one....

Back at the check point we had started from I was told a helicopter was on it's way to shuttle me to the next check point where I could continue covering the race. But the weather reigns supreme in Patagonia and the clouds rolled in and killed any chance of a helicopter taking us anywhere. It rained for another day and a half.

The boat we left on was an old US Coast Guard cutter and the waves were 2 meters tall (6 feet) on icy waters. Hence, we are bouncing around a lot and waves of nausea came and went but never seemed to get bad enough to really get sick. If we started to feel ill then we would go topside and it is was little less rough up there. The boat was pretty nasty and dirty - and all of our gear was completely wet so there wasn’t much in the way of comfort.

Summing up, it was a serious adventure I'll never forget. We have truly gone to places that are off the map. And I'd go back tomorrow if I could!

I’ll have an expanded version of this blog post in my Spring 2008 newsletter. The Winter 2008 Newsletter is nearly finished as well and will go out as soon as possible.

And because many of the images form the race are being considered for publication in several magazines I have not included too many images with this blog post – you’ll see them soon enough and I’ll report in a future blog post as to where the images have been published. I’ll just say there are a few zingers that will make you cringe and maybe even look away!

How to take a $#@% in the woods when it is raining sideways…

2008-03-17T10:43:00.000-07:00

This is another little trick I learned while down in Patagonia last month covering the Patagonia Expedition Race. It rained a lot which is not that unusual – though for a desert dweller like myself that much rain and especially sideways rain is an interesting phenomenon. And at times it was pretty comical trying to stay dry. Sooner or later you just gave up and accepted it. And once accepted it wasn’t that bad.

But in an attempt at comedy I’ll give you the low down on how to keep your buns dry while going #2 during a driving rainstorm! Here goes:

1. Suit up in full rain gear. A nice Gore-Tex jacket and pants are essential to staying warm and somewhat dry in the harsh Patagonia climate. If you have pants that have zippers on both sides this will come in handy for pit stops.
2. Choose your spot and dig a hole which shouldn’t be too hard because the ground is by now well saturated.
3. Face the rain. Put your face into the driving rain, push down your long underwear and unzip those fancy Gore-Tex pants to about mid thigh. Keep the front flap tucked up into your jacket and pull the rear flaps forward a bit to keep them out of the way but not so much so that they get wet on the inside.
4. Commence the task at hand.
5. Once finished, pull out the toilet paper (if you have some – otherwise rocks and leaves are pretty good but be careful with leaf selection) and clean up.
6. (Optional) As a final rinse, pull the back Gore-Tex flap up and turn around so that your cheeks face the driving rain. It’s like a cold shower!
7. Bury your poop!
8. Zip up and run back to the tent. Or look forward to slogging through miles of jungle like peat bog and beaver infested trail-less wilderness. Enjoy.

Perhaps I had too much time to contemplate the finer details of trekking in the Cordillera Darwin at the end of the world. More to come soon….

Joe McNally and The Moment it Clicks

2008-02-03T20:26:00.000-08:00

A few years ago I went to a mid-week lecture given by Joe McNally and a few other photographers who were teaching at the Santa Fe Workshops here in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Ever since I started working as a photographer, I had ogled quite a few of Joe’s images in National Geographic, Sports Illustrated and many other magazines. I liked his style and the way he thought about photography – and I was blown away by what he could create given carte blanche on an assignment. But nothing I had read about him previously prepared me for his lecture that evening.

As Joe worked himself into the talk, he started telling stories. They were tales of woe spun in a humoristic tone that was without any ego. It was the “straight skinny” no-holds-barred, this-is-what-happened manner in which he communicated that really caught me off-guard and had me hanging on every word.

He told a story about an assignment that he worked on for Sports Illustrated where he was shooting in fighter jets. At one point while shooting, the pilot was pulling some pretty extreme maneuvers and Joe told us “I began to feel sick, and then I threw up.” As you can imagine his puke was all over the canopy of the F-15. He then went on to say, “I wiped the puke off with my arm and kept shooting – you only get so much time up there in a fighter jet.” That was it. We were all rolling in the aisles with laughter. It was then that I thought I need to take this guys workshop to learn about lighting but more so because he tells it like it is – unvarnished and real. I had not meet many photographers up till then that were willing to be so open about their work and the profession. And Joe didn’t disappoint, when I finally did take his workshop it was just what I expected: intense, real, inspiring and challenging. And it was chalked full of little tidbits and one-liners that had us reeling for five straight days.

So when I got a copy of Joe’s latest book The Moment it Clicks, I was reminded of the stories I had heard him tell, his great enthusiasm for photography and his incredible talent for teaching. The first thing you’ll notice when you start reading Joe’s acknowledgements is a long list of friends and colleagues that have helped him get to where he is. While reading this I remembered how much Joe is a people person. And I thought to myself, what an important lesson for all of us, no matter what profession we are in – no matter what we do, it’s all about people. Joe understands that. That is the heart of his photography and I would bet it is a huge reason for much of his success, aside from his obvious talent. If you understand this about Joe, then his incredible skill as an instructor, as a photographer and his openness all falls into place.

As I read the The Moment it Clicks, I got the feeling I was back in a photo workshop and Joe was whispering words of wisdom in my ear. His book is filled with pearls of wisdom for the amateur or aspiring pro photographer. Some of them I had heard before in his workshop and lectures but many I hadn’t heard. The book is laid out in a logical fashion but I found myself skipping around a lot keying in on photos that were of particular interest. And I have to say my favorite part to the book is the last chapter: The Bar is Open. In this last section Joe moves onto to other topics regarding the life of a professional photographer and he gives us an insiders perspective on the life of a pro photographer via some very comical stories.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit and learned a few new lighting tricks I hadn’t seen before. All in All, it is inspirational and I laughed quite a bit – Joe’s humor and sharp wit were in fine form. Another bonus is a whole other chapter that is available for download from the Peach Pit Press website. Check it out on Amazon.

If you’d like to read more about my experience in Joe’s Location Photography and Lighting workshop check out my Perspective article entitled “Real Moments” in the Summer 2006 issue of my newsletter.

New Mexico Magazine Cover

2008-01-11T13:20:00.000-08:00

I just got the latest issue of New Mexico Magazine and I have the cover image this month. It's an image of Jessica Kilroy standing on top of a Hoodoo Spire in the Ojito Wilderness (see photo above). The caption reads:

Photographer Michael Clark and his friend Jessica Kilroy (pictured) made their first trip to the Ojito Wilderness to shoot our February Cover. They're going back. (Editor's note: The sky in this photo has not been altered in Adobe Photoshop. It is 100 percent pure New mexico.-Tricia Ware)

Many thanks to Jessica Kilroy for going out and exploring the Ojito Wilderness and to Fabian West for the assignment. Other images from the Ojito Wilderness assignment accompany a feature story in this issue as well.

A few good links...

2008-01-09T09:01:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I last posted. I have found myself reading a
few very interesting blogs related to the photo industry of late - that
is when I am actually here in the office. Hence, I thought I would share with you some links to my favorite blogs. Here goes....

A Photo Editor
A Photo Editor is one of those rare blogs that comes along every once in a while and actually has something useful to convey - if you are a photographer, check this one out right now - you won't regret it. And it is published by former Outside and Men's Journal photo editor Rob Haggart. An insiders look at photography...and one of the few blogs where good info can be gleamed from the comments as well as the posts.

Whats the Jackanory
Another good blog similar to A Photo Editor - some very good articles for pro photographers as well.

A Visual Society
Some good stuff here - check out the articles on Portfolios and websites.

Strobist
A well known blog but none the less very informative.

Popular Photography's State of the Art Blog
Entertaining...

Photo Business Forum
John Harrington gets it right pretty much every post. A gold mine for smart business practices.

Photoshop Insider
Scott Kelby often posts some very informative stuff and I just like his style.

Chase Jarvis
Chase shows the rest of the world what is inside the "black box" of advertising photography. Some very interesting information on his blog.

What the Duck
And last but not least we all need a little humor in our lives and What the Duck provides a good dose of reality on a daily basis!

These are just a sampling of blogs I check on a regular basis - by no means daily - but check them out and see what you think. It is my hope that my own blog here can become a valuable resource for photo editors and photographers alike. My newsletter is very well known and is sent out to thousands of photo editors, photographers and art buyers around the world. If you want to check that out you can download back issues on my website here.

Thanks for checking in. Until next time...

Michael wins 1st Place in Sportsshooter.com Clip Contest

2007-12-01T14:40:00.000-08:00

The image I spoke about in an earlier blog post which was shot while covering the 2007 Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta has shown itself to be a solid image. In the recent October 2007 Sportsshooter.com clip contest this image won 1st place in the Feature category. To see the winners go to:

http://www.sportsshooter.com/contest/clip/winning_image.html?id=763

The sportsshooter.com clip contest brings top notch photographers from across the world and asks them to submit their best images from the month prior. The winners are selected by over 7,000 sportsshooter.com members.

Fall 2007 Newsletter available for Download

2007-10-14T12:37:00.000-07:00

The Fall 2007 issue of the Michael Clark Photography newsletter is now available for download from my website. If you'd like to sign on for the Newsletter just drop me an email and I'll add you to the mailing list.

This issue includes an editorial on hanging tough and giving back, an article entitled "Digital Photography - Where do we go from here?", and an article on how to expose for digital capture and much more.

The Michael Clark Photography Newsletter goes out to over a thousand photo editors, photographers and enthusiasts around the world. You can download the Fall 2007 issue and back issues on my website at:

http://www.michaelclarkphoto.com/backissues.htm

Please note that the newsletter is best viewed in the latest Adobe Acrobat reader which is available for free at http://www.adobe.com. If you see lines accross the images in the newsletter this is due to the reader you are using - please download the latest Adobe Acrobat reader from the link above if you wish to view the newsletter without lines in the images.

Being in the right place at the right time

2007-10-14T12:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, while shooting images at the 2007 Albuquerque Ballooon Fiesta I was looking for a shot of people standing outside of a balloon while I was standing inside the balloon as it was being inflated. I had no control of anything as I was shooting in a photojournalistic style and I had nothing really set up. I knew it would look better with a bright balloon so I picked one out that was just starting to be inflated and chatted with the owner and pilot - hoping that I might get what I was looking for.

As I have found to be the case quite often, if you are prepared luck seems to find you more often than not. In this case four figures started to help pull the balloon out just opposite me and I got the above photo which seems to have some kind of religious overtones. It is as if the people, who look like ghosts or apparitions are worshiping the balloon or the early morning sun which had just risen. Of course they turned out to be crew for the adjacent balloon and I just got lucky - and snapped 40 or 50 images before it was too late.

I just thought I would share this image on the blog. I was really excited when I saw those folks and got some incredible images yesterday morning at an event with thousands of people and 800 + balloons rising into the desert sky. It is a photographers dream event...look for more images in the winter issue of the newsletter.

Devils Tower, Wyoming

2007-09-25T08:14:00.000-07:00

I'm just back from Devils Tower where I got some stunning images (like the one above of Jacopo Aliamo on 'El Matador') - and we had a fantastic time. I went up to the Tower with some good friends, Gabriela Baumeister and Jacopo Alaimo who is a certified climbing guide in Italy and quite strong. While up at the Tower I also shot portraits of Frank Sanders and a phenomenally talented singer/songwriter (and rock climber) Jessica Kilroy.

I have been shooting a few assignments and working here in the office since my return and am just now getting these images out. It looks to be a very busy fall with workshops, stock shoots and perhaps another trip back up to the tower. This is just an update on the latest news and I thought I would also put up a few of my favorite images from Devils Tower.

My many thanks to Frank and Jessica at the Devils Tower Lodge for their wonderful hospitality.

Michael wins 2nd Place in Sportsshooter.com Photo Contest

2007-09-02T07:04:00.000-07:00

I just this morning saw that I won 2nd Place in the monthly Sportsshooter.com photo contest for an image I shot in July of Timy Fairfield rock climbing in a cave at sunset. The caption for that image is: Timy Fairfield hanging from the lip of the Crystal Cave on "Super-Dope" (5.13b) while rock climbing near Jemez Springs, New Mexico.

Here is a link if you want to check it out:

http://www.sportsshooter.com/contest/clip/winning_image.html?id=719

Microsofts answer to the iPhone

2007-08-27T15:32:00.000-07:00

Just in case your Monday needs a little injection of comedy I was sent this link to a video on You Tube - its a parody of a possible Microsoft iPhone - quite funny! Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRKIDdIaFyE

It is called the ZunePhone. You'll laugh for sure - take a minute and check it out....

The Importance of Professional Photography Organizations

2007-08-25T18:41:00.000-07:00

One of the best articles I ever read on making it as a professional photographer was written by David Lyman, the founder and director of the Maine Photographic Workshops and published on digitaljournalist.org. You can check it out at:

http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0410/lyman.html

I highly recommend this article to both seasoned and emerging photographers as an incredible resource for career development. One other addition I would make to that article is to stress the importance of joining your peers in a professional photography organization. There is nothing as informative as talking with other photographers about their experiences both shooting and working. There are a lot of very good photography organizations out there including ASMP (American Society of Media Photographers), APA (Advertising Photographers of America), EP (Editorial Photographers), NPPA (National Press Photographers Association), and PPA (Professional Photographers of America), which are just a few of the better known organizations. I belong to ASMP, EP, TOPA (Travel and Outdoor Photographers Association) and Sportshooters .com and I have found the resources they provide invaluable to furthering my career. If you are a professional photographer you owe it to yourself and to this profession to join one of these organizations and get involved.

I find that the membership dues are paid for by the discounts available to members (especially with ASMP). Also, the reduced insurance rates specific to the professional photographer are fantastic and only available to members. On top of the discounts, ASMP in particular has a fantastic Find a Photographer database on it’s website that many clients use when selecting photographers for a job. Just last week I got a call to shoot some portraits from a magazine in Washington, DC that found me via the ASMP Find a Photographer database. That assignment more than paid my dues and just being listed as an ASMP member gives a photographer a lot of credibility in an overcrowded industry. Aside from the database, ASMP has so many discounts and perks available for the professional photographer it is hard to keep track of them – so every time I am buying gear or have to rent a car for an assignment I check their website to see what the options are. They also have some of the best articles, digital know-how and photo information of any website on the internet today. Check out their website at www.asmp.org.

Editorial Photographers (EP) is another organization that is inexpensive to join but has an incredible amount of information available to their members. The EP website has a magazine database with the circulations and ad rates of just about any magazine you can think of. This greatly helps when pricing editorial jobs. The EP forum is also a treasure trove of information especially related to the business side of editorial photography. APA also has incredible digital and business forums where top-notch photographers talk about the state of the industry and the latest tools and techniques – and you don’t even have to be a member to sign onto these forums. And speaking of fun the folks over at sportsshooters.com have a crazy good forum that offers the latest news on anything in the photo world - sometimes funny, sometimes serious and also sadly it can become a serious time sync.

Meeting and talking with your peers is a key aspect to growing as a photographer, a business person and a human being as well. I have learned so much from other photographers in ASMP, TOPA and EP – not to mention the incredible forums on sportsshooter.com and APA – that I certainly would not be the photographer I am today without them. Information I’ve found on those forums has led to some incredible opportunities for me including some big time jobs. Need to figure out how to put together your portfolio? Ask a few thousand top pros on APA or EP. Need to get your digital skills dialed in? There is a lot of great info on all of these organizations websites to get you a long way down that road. Need someone to talk about pricing? Get involved, meet some new people and you’ll have plenty of folks to call when you need to talk money with a client.

Last but certainly not least, by joining a pro photography organization you support your profession because they hire lobbying firms to represent our interests in the U.S. Congress (e.g. Orphan Works). And since photographers in general are a very splintered group we have very little bargaining power save for when the organizations ban together for the good of the industry. Hence, your dues go towards furthering photography as a career both now and in the future. Just imagine what your career would be like if ASMP hadn’t stepped in back in the late 70s to help pass the Copyright Act for photographers.

In the old days, back in the 1990s, most photographers were very secretive about how they conducted their businesses – or how they got that incredible image. In my experience that has changed drastically, most photographers are willing to share war stories, pricing info and much more. A mentor of mine, Marc Romanelli, one of the top stock photographers in the U.S. always said there is “room for all of us”. I was amazed by that comment (made back in the mid 90s). And now ten years on, the local ASMP chapter here in New Mexico is a model of photographers mentoring photographers. Perhaps this is because most of us shoot and work in radically different segments of the photo world, but it is also a result of the great attitude that my good friend Marc related to me so many years ago.

So if you want to further your career, join a pro photography organization asap.

Summer 2007 Newsletter available for Download

2007-07-30T11:06:00.000-07:00

Just in case you didn't get the Summer 2007 issue of the Michael Clark Photography Newsletter in your email today, it is now available for download from my website. If you'd like to sign on for the Newsletter just drop me an email and I'll add you to the mailing list.

This issue includes an editorial on the updated higher resolution newsletter, a short review of Photoshop CS3, an article on backing up your computer and images and much more.

The Michael Clark Photography Newsletter goes out to over a thousand photo editors, photographers and enthusiasts around the world. You can download the Summer 2007 issue and back issues on my website at:

http://www.michaelclarkphoto.com/backissues.htm

Please note that the newsletter is best viewed in the latest Adobe Acrobat reader which is available for free at http://www.adobe.com. When you click on the above link it will appear in your browser or may start to downloadimmediately depending on what internet browser you use. If you see lines accross the images this is due to the reader you are using - please download the latest Adobe Acrobat reader from the link above if you wish to view the newsletter without lines in the images.

Digital Photography and Medium Format

2007-07-27T23:05:00.000-07:00

Excerpt from my Spring 2005 Newsletter

I wrote this "Perspective" article over two years ago and was recently re-reading it and found it intersting just how accurate my predictions were based on a little physics. Hence, I thought I'd repost it here on my blog for those that may have missed it. If you'd like to check out the back issues of my newsletters, they are available for download from my website here:

http://www.michaelclarkphoto.com/backissues.htm

Here is the article as it was originally written in May 2005:

Before I was a photographer I was a physicist. I helped to create the worldʼs first low temperature STM microscope that could slow the particles of an atom down so they could be “electronically” photographed by a chemically etched probe. All of this happened on a scale most people can hardly even comprehend. I bring this up because my experience with micro-electronics and CCDʼs gives me a different perspective than that held by the masses out there shooting digital. Donʼt get me wrong, digital is rewriting what is possible in photography, but we have only seen the tip of the iceberg in terms of what it can resolve, and that is where medium format will come in.

I hear a lot of people saying “medium format is dead.” Pro photographers are selling off their medium format gear everywhere you look. Medium format seems redundant next to the latest 12 and 16 MP professional 35mm DSLRs. As a result medium format camera companies are having a very rough time staying afloat. But I can see in the very near future that they will have reason to celebrate once again. Physics tells us that in order to increase resolution you need to increase the size of the lens and the size of the medium the information is being recorded on. In digital we have already seen this - an 8 MP image from a tiny ʻpoint and shootʼ sensor is inferior to an 8 MP image from a 35mm sized DSLR sensor. And it is well known that the larger the photo site on a CCD the lower the noise and the higher the image quality. All this boils down to the fact that as resolution increases the sensor size and lens diameter will have to increase as well and that is where medium format cameras will make their comeback.

A perfect example of this is Canonʼs EOS 1Ds Mark II with its 16.7 MP sensor. It is a fantastic camera and Canon is to be commended. Sadly, I donʼt own one personally but I am hearing from many who do that they have to use the best lenses Canon makes because the sensor is very close to outresolving the lenses. No matter how well you make a 35mm lens it can only resolve so much information. A Hasselblad lens still out resolves any 35mm lens, that is just physics. Optics will be the limiting factor for digital imaging. I predict that 35mm DSLRs will top out around 22 to 25 MP. Above that you will have to use medium format to get higher resolution with digital. And I predict the limiting factor will be the size of the lenses, not the sensor size. Of course at 22 MP you may ask why would we need anything larger? But one look at a life-like print from a medium format 35 MP camera will have us all drooling.

Adobe Lightroom Workflow eBook updated to cover Lightroom Version 1.1 and Photoshop CS3

2007-07-17T17:48:00.000-07:00

I have revised the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom: A Professional Photographer's Workflow eBook so that it now covers Lightroom Version 1.1 and Photoshop CS3. New topics covered in this workflow include:

Lightroom Catalogs *NEW*
Five Ways to Speed up Lightroom *NEW*
Synchronizing Folders *NEW*
In-depth explanation of Clarity Slider *NEW*
In-depth examination of the new Sharpening sliders *NEW*
Explanation of new Lens Correction controls *NEW*
Lightroom 1.1 and CS3 Compatibility *NEW*

Also, since I have sold an incredible number of these eBooks I thought I would offer it at a new lower price.

The new Price is $24.95.

To purchase this e-book contact Michael directly at mjcphoto@comcast.net. Payments accepted viaPayPal. Drop me an email and I can send a payment request to you directly via PayPal.

For more information on the Workflow eBook go to:

http://www.michaelclarkphoto.com/workflow.html

Also, for those of you that have bought a previous version of the workflow eBook - drop me an email and I can send you the upgraded version for only $12.95!

New Mexico Magazine runs Portfolio of Michael's Work

2007-06-19T18:14:00.000-07:00

In the July 2007 issue of New Mexico Magazine, Michael Clark's work is featured in an article entitled Focus on the Extreme: The Photography of Michael Clark. The article, written by Steve Larese, details some of Michael's more harrowing adventures and dispels several myths about being a professional photographer, especially in the adventure genre. The six-page layout also contains a nice set of images shot in New Mexico and one portrait of the photographer at work while shooting images on assignment for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom in Moab, Utah.

The teaser in the table of contents reads: "See the heart-stopping action shots of Michael Clark of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and learn how this avid climber made the journey to become one of the country's top adventure photographers."  

And the opening few paragraphs set a super-hero tone: "Whether it's photographing a mountain biker launching off of a 40-foot-high cliff, kayaking through boiling Class IV rapids or rock climbing with nothing but 200 feet of air between himself and oblivion, for Michael Clark, it's just another day at the office."  

"Santa Fe-based Michael Clark has made a name for himself in the world of extreme sports by capturing beautiful, death-defying shots of athletes pushing the limits of their physique and, some might argue, sanity. If you've ever breezed through any climbing magazine, Bike, Men's Journal, National Geographic, or have seen ads for Patagonia or other outdoor sports companies, chances are you've seen Clark's work. When editors or marketing teams need big air or whitewater, Clark is high on their list of shooters to call."

To read the rest of the article pick up a copy of the July issue of New Mexico Magazine or you can download a PDF version of the article from my website at:

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

Michael wins Teva Mountain Games Photo Competition

2007-06-10T20:46:00.000-07:00

Michael was just recently awarded the overall grand prize "Best in Show" in the Teva Mountain Games Zest for Adventure Photography Competition for his image of Chris Sharma deep water soloing on Big Momma (5.13d/14a) in Mallorca, Spain (see image above). The image also won "Best in Category" for the Ice & Rock section of the competition as well. With close to 400 images submitted it is a great honor to have my image chosen as the "Best in Show".

The image of Chris Sharma - who was also awarded an Everest Award for "Male Climber of the Year" - will appear in Outside Magazine this summer and it was also on display at the Teva Mountain Games in Vail, Colorado.

For more info on the Teva Mountain Games and the winning images visit:

http://www.tevamountaingames.com/ev_photo.cfm

ASMP Los Angeles Presentation Recap

2007-06-10T20:06:00.000-07:00

I was just recently in the City of Angels giving a presentation for ASMP Los Angeles. About 75 people attended and it was a 3-hour extravaganza of digital workflow and discussions. My thanks to ASMP Los Angeles for having me out and to Digital Fusion for hosting the event. I had a great time and it is always nice to hang out with my peers.

I also had a stock shoot in Encinitas, California the day after the presentation. I was shooting some surfing and surfing lifestyle images for my stock agency Aurora Photos and the Outdoor Collection. Thanks to my good friend Laura Perfetti, pictured above, who was kind enough to meet me and be my athlete for the day. The weather was perfect and the waves weren't bad either. And I even got to get out and try surfing again - my second day ever out on a board. I have to say that surfing is an awesome sport - if only I lived closer to the ocean I would be out there every day I could.

Spring 2007 Newsletter available for Download

2007-05-14T21:15:00.000-07:00

Just in case you didn't get the Spring 2007 issue of the Michael Clark Photography Newsletter in your email today, it is now available for download from my website. If you'd like to sign on for the Newsletter just drop me an email and I'll add you to the mailing list.

This issue includes an editorial on blogging and my new blog site, equipment reviews of the Epson R1800 Photo printer and Pocket Wizards, a tutorial on CMYK conversions and much more.

The Michael Clark Photography Newsletter goes out to over a thousand photo editors, photographers and enthusiasts around the world. You can download the Spring 2007 issue and back issues on my website at:

http://www.michaelclarkphoto.com/backissues.htm

ASMP Los Angeles Presentation

2007-05-09T10:42:00.000-07:00

Michael has been asked to speak to the Los Angeles chapter of the American Society of Media Photographers on the topic of digital workflow on June 5th , 2007. The presentation will be held at Digital Fusion in Culver City (part of West LA). The presentation will start at at 7 PM officially and will go for three hours. Michael will cover his digital workflow from shooting through processing and final preperation of his RAW images using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop as well as his cataloging and archiving systems. If you’d like to attend you can get more information through the ASMP LA chapter and on their website at www.asmpla.org.

Risky Business

2007-04-26T07:46:00.000-07:00

This article was originally published in the Summer 2005 issue of my Newsletter.

A few months ago I photographed some good friends, Ryon Reed and Nate McKay doing some extreme mountain biking (aka Freeriding)at a brand new secret location near Moab, Utah named Canfield Canyon. Having photographed these guys before I knew it was going to be extremely dangerous, not for myself but for the riders. When we got to the canyon, which was basically a set of sandstone bowls dropping into one another Nate gave me the scoop on what he had done and what he wanted to do that day. As I usually do, I encouraged the riders to start off casual and I gave them the lecture “don't do anything you aren't sure you can do.” After some casual warm ups, or at least what the riders would call casual - 20 foot jumps off the lip of one of the bowls they moved onto jumping off another drop - this time the lip of a 25 to 30 foot overhanging cave. All of this went off without a hitch and without too much fanfare.

But the piece de resistance was an 80 foot near vertical wall ride Nate had done only a few times before (see photo on the contents page). When Nate told us what he was going to do Ryon and I stood there silent with our mouths agape. I had never seen or heard of anything like this or on this scale before. The upper part of the wall was at least 80 degrees, just off vertical and it also had an overhanging cave in the middle of the wall so that if something went wrong Nate would free fall from 80 feet at the top of his arc onto sandstone rock! On his first go Nate hit the line perfectly and it was unbelievable. By the time he dropped into the lower bowl he was going in excess of 80 mph. He thought it was so fun he did it three more times for the camera (so I could get different angles) and on the last ride he almost stalled over the cave - so we called it quits.

On the way out, Nate told us about another drop he had been looking at and we went over to check it out. I looked over the edge and the rock climber in me took over. I was looking down an 80 foot sheer vertical rock face. The bottom was a smooth transition but that wasnʼt what alarmed me. A small ledge halfway down was the only break in the cliff. I tried to talk Nate out of doing it. If he hit the ledge he would go headfirst all the way to the bottom but he was sure he could do it. At that point I told Nate I wouldnʼt photograph it even if he did do it and that I was going to hike out. I didnʼt want to watch someone die. He was still adamant that he was going to drop in and got on his bike. Luckily, Ryon, an EMT talked him into waiting
until he could get down there on another day and Nate took his advice. I was very much relieved. But I would not be surprised if he has since dropped that line. I still would not want to see it.

This article is an excerpt from the Michael Clark Photography Newsletter which is available through my website. To check out back issues of the newsletter cick here.

Shooting in the Studio

2007-04-17T11:54:00.000-07:00

I recently shot some new images of outdoor athletes in a studio for my stock agency Aurora Photos. The image above is a portrait of my good friend Celine Cousteau, member of the Ocean Futures Society, scuba diver and all around elite world traveler. This image of Celine was worked up using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Photoshop CS3. If you would like to see the process involved in working this image up you can see that in my post on the Inside Lightroom website here:

http://www.oreillynet.com/digitalmedia/blog/2007/04/selective_desaturation_with_li_1.html

It is always refreshing to do something completely new, and while this wasn't my first photo shoot in a studio - it has been a while and it was a lot of fun.

James Nachtwey on Documentary Photography

2007-04-05T17:51:00.000-07:00

James Nachtwey is one of those photographers that has always inspired me as a photographer and as a human being. If you haven't seen the "War Photographer" documentary I highly recommend it.

This afternoon, while updating my website I found a video of Mr. Nachtwey accepting the 2007 TED prize. It is a heart wrenching acceptance speech and a very timely injection of clarity for the news media world. I highly recommend watching this clip if you have a spare 24 minutes - well worth your time. Here is the link to the high res version:

http://ted.streamguys.net/ted_nachtwey_j_2007_480.mov

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design. Each year over a thousand of the industry leaders, movers and shakers get together for the TED meetings. For more info on TED visit their website at http://www.ted.com.

The Straight Skinny

2007-04-04T18:17:00.000-07:00

An excerpt from the Winter 2007 issue of the Michael Clark Photography Newsletter:

The more I look at recent photography trends the more I see Photoshop becoming an accepted reality in the photography market. I’m not saying Photoshop is bad or that manipulating your images is impure or anything. I see more and more images in magazines, ads and even newspapers that have been helped out in one way or another. The fact is that every image, digital or film, is manipulated in some way, shape or form. With film the film itself magically altered reality with deeply saturated colors and stark contrast built in. With digital the photographer basically takes a RAW image file and tries to make it look as the original scene did - albeit with a little more drama and warmer skin tones than really existed. And if that isn’t good enough then the image gets photoshop’ed (verb tense) to help it out. Is this a good thing? Is it sacrilege? Some photojournalists might think so but they do it too even though they would argue they don’t.

The truth is all photographs are skewed - images reveal the photographer’s view point just as much as a writer can imbue an article or a book with their own ideals. I can crop out the trash and poverty in an impoverished region or city and make it seem like paradise or I can focus on the poverty and change the entire message of the photograph. Photographs are like seeing the world through a keyhole. They only tell part of the story as everyone knows. But they can also bring worldwide attention to both good and bad in a way that few other mediums can.

Digital photography and the many methods we have of “developing” digital images has leveled the playing field to some degree so that everyone with the knowledge and a decent computer can alter their images to improve them - to make them more interesting and more arresting. When you get down to it, photographers are artists. And every artist loves to have a new tool to work with so they can create something they’ve never seen before. Photographers have had Photoshop for some time but the combination of Photoshop, digital cameras and the plethora of plug-ins and image manipulations tools are too tempting to ignore. In the end, it is all about the image. Save for the photojournalist - who should keep an image as it was shot for credibility sake - the rest of us are creative artists and any tools we can use to produce better work are an advantage.

The flip side of this is that images can be manipulated to look a million times better than they started out. I’ve looked at a few of the before and after images shot for huge commercial jobs and some of the before shots look like my Grandmother could have shot them with her point and shoot. It just goes to show you there are many ways to get a final image and many photographers aren’t doing all the work in-camera anymore.

If you'd liket o subscribe to the newsletter please email me at mjcphoto@comcast.net. Backissues of the newsletter are available for download here.

Michael's Lightroom vs. Aperture article on Inside Lightroom

2007-03-06T13:28:00.000-08:00

As a contributor for O'Reilly's Inside Lightroom I was asked to conduct an extensive comparison of Apple Aperture and Adobe Lightroom. The article and the results of my comparison are featured on the Inside lightroom website at http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2007/03/05/lightroom-vs-aperture.html.

Michael's images featured on the Adobe Lightroom Website

2007-02-28T13:26:00.000-08:00

Michael's images are featured on the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom website in the top tutorial (as in the image below) and they are also featured in the User Manual that comes with the software. These images wee shot on assignment for Adobe last April - see blog post below. To see the Lightroom instructional video with Michael's images visit http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom/.

Michael signs on to be a blogger for Inside Lightroom

2007-02-01T13:24:00.000-08:00

Michael was asked to become a contributor for O'Reilly Digital Media's new website Inside Lightroom. As a contributor, Michael will write and publish blog posts every Monday and he will also be writing extensive articles from time to time. Inside Lightroom is one of the top five Adobe Photoshop Lightroom websites and is sponsored by Adobe. The website will feature a huge amount of information and resources regarding using Adobe Lightroom as well as working with digital imaging in general. You can visit the Inside Lightroom website at http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/lightroom/.

About O'Reilly:
Since 1978, O'Reilly has been a chronicler and catalyst of leading-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying "faint signals" from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism. Long the information source of choice for technologists, the company now also delivers the knowledge of expert early adopters to everyday computer users. Whether it's delivered in print, online, or in person, everything O'Reilly produces reflects the company's unshakeable belief in the power of information to spur innovation.

New Adobe Lightroom Workflow PDF eBook

2006-11-29T13:22:00.000-08:00

In this ever-changing world of digital tools, I have recently reworked my digital workflow using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. I chose Lightroom because of it’s intuitive and powerful controls as well as its user interface. I have found that 80% of what I do in post processing with careful shooting techniques can be done in Lightroom and can be done faster than using Adobe Bridge and Photoshop alone. Adobe Lightroom also has much more advanced image editing and RAW processing tools - allowing me to concentrate on the images. Because I teach workshops and seminars on digital workflow I have put my workflow into an 89 page PDF e-book which covers everything from image capture to output using Lightroom and Photoshop. The e-book sells for $29.95 and can be purchased at here. At $29.95 you basically get an advanced digital workshop in book form.

Nikon Advertorial for Digital Photo Pro Magazine

2006-11-25T13:17:00.000-08:00

Nikon and Digital Photo Pro magazine featured Michael and his work in an advertorial in the November/December 2006 issue of Digital Photo Pro. The advertorial which appears on the inside back cover, also included an interview with some interesting questions such as “What turns you on creatively? What’s your dream photo assignment?” and “If you could have diner with an artist from any era, who would it be?” One of the technical questions asked in the ad was “What is your favorite camera feature?” My response was: “The D2Xs has many incredible features but the white balance eye (Nikon calls it the Ambient Light Sensor) on the top of the camera is one feature that I use all the time. In a few seconds I can create a custom white balance for the light I am shooting in by just pressing two buttons and pointing the camera at the light source. It is a great feature for all lighting scenarios but especially when shooting at last light and the color temperature is changing every few minutes.” Also featured was the gear that I used to capture the image - a Nikon D2Xs and a 17-55mm DX Nikkor lens. The ad featured an image of Melisa Collett shot in Diablo Canyon just outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico on a route named “Evil” 5.10d/11a. My thanks to Nikon, Digital Photo Pro and to Eric Barth who shot the portrait image used in the ad.

Adobe Lightroom Podcast featuring Michael Clark

2006-09-15T13:12:00.000-07:00

During my workshop on Digital Workflow (May 2006) here at the Santa Fe Workshops I recorded a Podcast in which I talked about my work with George Jardine of Adobe. The Podcast is available now on iTunes. To check out that Podcast go to iTunes and type in Adobe Lightroom in the search box and all of the Adobe podcasts will come up. My Podcast is entitled: Podcast #20 (Enhanced Podcast): Michael Clark.

The podcast is a lively discussion with George of some of my adventure images and includes those images in the podcast so the viewer can follow along. This is the first Podcast I have participated in and was a great experience and it is a great new form of marketing for my work. I also sat in while Nevada Weir, with whom I was teaching the Digital Workflow workshop for the Santa Fe Workshops, taped her Podcast. Look for her Podcast as well - she had some very interesting comments on her work and the state of photography and her images are amazing! George also gave a very informative and exciting preview of Adobe’s Lightroom for our workshop participants. It was great to see a demonstration direct from one of the creators - my workflow changed after his presentation! Thank you to George and Adobe for choosing myself and my work and for coming out to Santa Fe and participating in our workshop.

2006 ASMP Best Of Issue Extended Interview

2006-09-15T13:07:00.000-07:00

ASMP's 2006 Best Of issue's extended interviews have been uploaded to their website. The interview also includes a sampling of Michael's images from the Adobe assignment. To check out that interview go to:

http://www.asmp.org/culture/bestof2006/Michael_Clark/index.php.

Michael featured in Nikon World Magazine

2006-07-25T13:04:00.000-07:00

The Summer 2006 issue of Nikon World Magazine includes a feature on Michael and his work. Along with the magazine, Nikon also recorded an interview for nikonworld.com with Michael speaking about his work. Since Nikon World Magazine is not available on newsstands Nikon has graciously sent me a pdf copy of the article which is available for download. To download that article click on the following link:

http://www.michaelclarkphoto.com/NWSum06_mclark.pdf

It is a great honor to be included among Nikon’s photographers in Nikon World Magazine and I look forward to working with Nikon in the future.

Extended Nikon World Magazine Interview with Michael

2006-07-25T13:01:00.000-07:00

Nikonworld.com recently posted an extended audio interview with Michael talking about his images, how he got them and the equipment used to capture the images published in the Nikon World Magazine article.

You can check out the interview at http://www.nikonworld.com/. Click on Portfolio in the left-hand menu, then click on Portfolio Archive and choose Michael Clark from the list of Nikon photographers. The opening spread of the Nikon World Magazine article will appear (as below) - just click the "play" triangle below the spread and the interview and images will start. The interview lasts about 15 minutes and includes commentary on the images that Nikon chose for the article.

On Assignment for Adobe Lightroom

2006-04-29T12:29:00.000-07:00

Michael recently shot demo files for Adobe’s new digital specific software named “Lightroom” currently in beta stage. For this assignment Michael was asked to shoot mountain biking and freeriding, an extreme form of mountain biking involving jumping off rather large cliffs and taking big risks. We chose Moab, Utah as our location and mountain bikers Ryon Reed, Ed Strang and Kathy Parent. We shot at Bartlett Wash, the Fin near the Porcupine Rim Trail and up on the Chili Pepper trails above Moab. It was an exhausting 24 hours of shooting up at 4 AM and out till 10 PM the night before.

Adobe needed a series of exciting images for the upcoming launch of Lightroom and we got a good sampling of extremely risky mountain biking images to satisfy their needs. In all we shot over 30 GB of images in a 24 hour period! That is over 3000 images with a Nikon D2x and D200. The images will be used on the box and a few will also be included with the software as sample images as well as to demonstrate the software.

It was a pleasure working with Adobe on this project! They gave me a lot of creative freedom to come up with exciting and visually stunning images. And I feel like I am ahead of the curve having used Lightroom extensively already and having had a personal demonstration by one of the Lightroom creators. Look for my Lightroom workflow later this year.

Read the enxtended article Behind the Scenes: On assignment for Adobe Lightroom.

ASMP Bulletin 2006 Best Of Issue

2006-04-04T13:08:00.000-07:00

Michael’s recent work shot for Adobe Lightroom was chosen by the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) for their “Best Of” issue in the ASMP Bulletin. ASMP is the world’s largest organization for professional photographers. The bulletin is a quarterly publication for it’s members and the “Best Of” issue features the best assignments and work produced by it’s members from the last year. In addition to the interview inside, one of Michael’s images was also chosen for the cover and the full interview will appear online on the ASMP website (www.asmp.org). This is a great honor to have my work chosen for the “Best Of” issue and I must extend a huge thank you to Adobe and George Jardine for the assignment and for allowing me so much creative freedom. If you'd like to download that issue of the bulletin you can do so at the ASMP website- here is the link: http://www.asmp.org/pdfs/bulletins/2006/bestof06.pdf.

Michael partners with Leslie Alsheimer for Digital Workshops

2006-01-05T13:30:00.000-08:00

Leslie Alsheimer and Michael Clark have combined their expertise and talents recently announcing a new series of Digital Vacation Workshops. We teamed up because we saw a niche that wasn’t being filled - workshops that will amplify digital skills and knowledge, and take care of it’s participants from start to finish. I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce Leslie, as she is a woman of many talents with whom I have worked with on a number of projects. Not only is she the first person I call when I need expert Photoshop advice, but over the years she has also assisted me on photo shoots, and as has even modeled on occasion (as below). On top of all that she is a talented photographer whose clients include Nikon among many others. She has taught workshops for the Maine and Santa Fe Photo Workshops, Anderson Ranch Arts Center and the Nikon/American Photo Mentor Series. In addition to our exclusive private instruction services, we currently have three workshops scheduled for this year and are developing several more exotic workshops in locations such as Russia, Italy and Southern France for this Fall and 2007. If you want to see what all the hubbub is about check out our website at http://www.santafedigitaldarkroom.com. For more information on our extensive workshops please email us at info@sfdigitaldarkroom.com.

On Assignment in the Valles Caldera

2003-02-15T13:16:00.000-08:00

On a recent assignment for Government Executive magazine, I was shooting a Cover for an article on the Valles Calderas Preserve near Los Alamos, New Mexico. I got the call for the assignment that morning and the editor was keen on late afternoon images of the Caldera under a blanket of snow. As it turned out, that day was the only clear day of weather we had for the whole week. That and the fact that they needed the images in three days total had me scrambling.

I packed up my equipment and drove up to the preserve. When I arrived I met with a Private guide who leads tours in the park and asked permission to cross the fence (and the "no trespassing" signs) so that I could get down to the Jemez River. I got her OK and crossed over the fence a few miles back down the road.

The Preserve is highly criticized in northern New Mexico for its unorthodox limitations. The Preserve still allows cattle grazing, hunting and logging on its land but humans are not allowed to enter the park without a private guide. ( I still have not figured out what they are trying to preserve. It seems everything of economic value on the land is being exploited.) As it turns out the Caldera, which is an ancient extinct volcano that blew it's top millions of years ago, is home to the third largest elk herd in the lower 48 states. Over 4,000 elk roam the 89,000 acre section of Land.

The "wildlife preserve" sells hunting permits in a raffle every year. Last year, over 4,700 hunters paid $25 per ticket to enter the raffle for the 85 permits given each year to hunt the Elk that reside in the preserve. The park also sells a small number of permits on e-bay each year for the sum of $12,000 to $15,000 per permit.

One Weekend in Moab

2001-11-25T13:23:00.000-08:00

Every once and a while when the planets align and God is smiling on me, a photo shoot goes much better than I could have ever dreamed or planned. I had such an experience in November 2001 while photographing five downhill mountain bikers in Moab, Utah. Kris Baughman, Ryon Reed, Lance Canfield, TJ Cowern and Nate McKay re-defined for me what is possible on a mountain bike that weekend. Whether they were dropping thirty-five foot jumps onto slickrock or riding near vertical 60-foot slickrock cliffs, the risk factor was very high. This has to be some of the craziest stuff I have ever seen. These guys were going for it. And when I say going for it I mean they had to take ten to twenty minutes to get their heads together before they went. There was no room for error. Luckily in our three days of shooting no one was injured and I came home with 30 rolls of amazing footage.

If you haven’t figured it out yet these riders are BOLD! I have photographed a lot of risky sports in my time but this easily takes thecake. If you mess up on a 30 + foot drop onto Slickrock you’ll be spending the next few months in the hospital if you are lucky. We also photographed a new 7000 foot descent from the La Sals into Moab that easily qualifies as the longest single track descent in the world. Not only is it long (37.5 miles) but it also has frequent big jumps built into it. And by big I mean 30 plus foot drops threading through tight aspens. In the photo at right TJ Cowern is getting some big air off a small jump at full speed (i.e. 30 + mph).

These guys are part of a new revolution in mountain biking called freeriding and downhilling. Freeriding blends BMX stunts with modern mountain biking while downhilling involves descending technical mountain and canyon slopes. These riders are experts at both styles. I was impressed by their ability to read a slope and know what is and isn't possible or safe. As Ryon Reed put it, "we are not just 'hucking' ourselves off any old cliff. We use the experience we have aquired from years of riding. This isn't a sport you just start doing one day. You have to build up to this level over a number of years."

These riders have suffered a number of injuries. Kris Baughman, nicknamed "Krispy", has broken his back and I personally witnessed Ryon crash hard the first time I photographed him. Thankfully he was uninjured but his bike was not so lucky. When he hit the ground his front wheel exploded. Spokes were flying eveywhere and the rim was taco'ed. Feeling responsible, since we were out there just for photos, I bought him a new rim.

These guys are not doing these stunts on your average mountain bike. These are seven to ten thousand dollar machines weighing fifty pounds or more. Riding uphill isn't an option. These bikes are full suspension and designed with a foot of travel or more in the front and close to that in the rear. They are also equipped with beefy frames to take the shock of hitting the ground at seventy miles an hour or more. Depending on the jump the riders can acellerate to near eighty miles an hour before hitting the ground. Gravity is pulling on them at 9.86 meters per second squared. Multiply that by ten meters or more and add in their initial velocity and it is one hell of a roller-coaster ride.

There were moments when I was seriously concerned for the safety of the riders on this shoot. One such moment was a jump they deemed "Where the sidewalk ends." We were looking around at new territory on the unexplored side of Bartlett Wash and they came upon this ramp that ended over a very steep slickrock bowl. When they first started discussing jumping off of it I was wondering if they were really considering it or if they were just dreaming about it being possible some day in the future. I asked and Kris and Lance said they were going to do it. When l looked over the edge I thought that now someone was definitely going to get seriously injured. Lance went first and nailed it beautifully. There is no 'practice run' in this sport and there are no second chances. Kris took a little more time and set up his line meticulously. After a short breather to calm the mind he went for it and got huge air. Even though these images might look spectacular they don't necessarily give you a feel for how steep the jumps really are. Needless to say, I was very relieved to move on to other less risky projects.

The images to the left and below are of a modern classic freeride descent. This formation is called the Mushroom beacause of it's distinct shape. When these images where shot there were only eleven people in the word who had done it. Three of them were with us that morning. And TJ and Nate expanded that number to thirteen.

All five of the riders jumped off the Mushroom at least three times for me that day at dawn. By the end they had it so dialed that it seemed casual, at least to an observer. Ryon (photo at right), on his first go a few weeks before leaned back a little too far and ended up riding a wheely down the steep transition. He said, "It looked like the space shuttle landing!" I wasn't there to see it but I am sure it looked amazing. That wasn't what he was intending to do and I am sure it raised his heart rate a little more than he would have liked.

On our shoot, he nailed it three or four times in pefect style. He seemed to get more air off it than anyone else and as a result the images of him are more exciting than of the others. As you can imagine I went through film like crazy. I was shooting at eight frames per second all the time on my Nikon F5. On an average jump I shot 17 frames which is roughly two seconds of hang time. The F5 did a spectacular job of keeping up with the riders even when they were coming staight at me at thirty to forty miles an hour.

All in all, I came back with some amazing images many of which will, I am sure be published soon.

Going to Extremes: A behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to get "the shot."

2001-10-15T13:35:00.000-07:00

Michael was featured in Outdoor Photographer in September 2001 along with several other well known photographers for his work photographing adventure sports. Above is the opening spread with Michael hanging 600+ feet off the ground while shooting with climber Kurt Smith in Potrero Chico, Mexico. Below is the article and caption.

Going to Extremes: A behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to get "the shot."

Their photographs captivate us. They see a scene from a perspective that looks completely unique and original. We look at the images and wonder, "How did they do that?" "Where did they have the camera set up?" In the following pages, you’ll get a glimpse of the incredible extremes the world’s most renowned photographers go to in order to get "the shot."

What does it mean to be extreme? For Galen Rowell, Gorden Wiltsie and Michel Clark, it means dangling by a thin rope hundreds of feet above terra firma. For Steve McCurry, it’s braving monsoon swollen rivers in driving rain to illustrate the culture of the Indian subcontinent. Nick Nichols-famous for punishing his body in the jungles of central Africa and Asia-also endures the cold and claustrophobic innards of deep caves to get the right shot. Then there’s Frans Lanting, who never seems to tire of positioning himself in an impossible place to see wildlife from a different perspective. Carr Clifton’s idea of extreme is to outfit a small, inflatable boat and cruise the perpetually ice floe-riddled waters of Alaska, seeking a new and dramatic composition that may exist somewhere out there.

It has been said that the extreme always makes an impact. The next time you gasp when you see one of the photographs from this corps of image-makers, you’ll also have some insight into what went into getting "the shot."

Photo Caption:

On a climb in El Potrero Chico, Mexico, photographer Michael Clark sets up a shot of climber Kurt Smith. For Clark, the main drawback of this kind of work isn’t the climbing or the dizzying heights, it’s carrying the packs of photographic and climbing equipment that weigh upwards of 100 pounds up and down the rocks. There’s also the little problem of switching lenses while hanging from a rope. Clark once lost a $1,200 lens when it took a hundred-foot whipper (climber slang for fall) over the Obed River Gorge.

Clark approaches his photography with a healthy respect for the extra burden it puts on the climbers he’s photographing. Scaling larger rock walls requires many hours, severely limiting control over the times of day shots are taken or what light will be like at certain positions. Ultimately, fundamentals-having a good sense of what makes a shot dramatic and knowing how to create on the fly-are what make Clark’s work pay off.