New Website and Blog

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.