Published author and former physicist Michael Clark has been an adventure sports photographer for many years, known for his powerful images, captured at their rawest point of action.
He is a photographer’s photographer, willing to put himself at risk and go to great lengths to get the right shot in the field.
Beyond adventure sports, he also specializes in landscapes and travel photography. He lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Michael’s 5 photographs that stand out
- This is Michael’s top Red Bull image and one that has gone on to win multiple awards worldwide in competitions. And what a shoot it was. It involved carrying 180kg of equipment to a remote location near White Salmon, Washington.
They battered they’re bodies over 4 days for these shots to exist, each time coming back to look at the results, and want to go out one more time to get more. All in all the athletes went over the waterfall seen here over 15 times.
Watch behind the scenes here.
- Shot for the Red Bull Supermoon project in Los Angeles, California. Image taken almost 7km away, it shows Mike Swanson in his wingsuit careening towards earth like he’d just broken through the earth’s atmosphere. The ascent is meteoric, powerful, awe-inspiring and mysterious.
The gigantic production included 4 helicopters, dozens of cinematographers, and 2 producers, all to take a shot that was fleeting. The window for a skydiving shot is mere seconds, nevermind that the supermoon was in itself also a rare occurrence.
Later on, the evening news would indeed have to explain that this was a person, and not a meteorite falling to earth.
Behind the scenes footage can also be watched here.
- Skydivers Jon DeVore and Luke Aikins stare at each other during their jump from a helicopter over a ranch in Eloy, Arizona.
Felix Baumgartner is behind the helicopter, and Kirby Chambliss flys a stunt plane. Michael is in a third plane shooting from out of an open door.
- One of his all-time favorite images sees biker Danny MacAskill doing a backflip in what was Michael Clark’s first-ever shoot for Red Bull. After a couple of days of location scouting and shooting in San Diego, California, both photographer and athlete were worn out but could have kept going forever.
- While most of Red Bull’s imagery is action photography, it remains true that all athletes require portraits as well. This one stands out as another excellent example of Michaels trademark style, with pro skydiver Jeffrey Provenzano looking pensive against the studio’s start lighting. The attention is all on the athlete, who is concentrating on the world beyond the lens.
Michael’s advice to aspiring photographers, and on overcoming creative blocks
The best advice would be to capture photographs of things that you are deeply passionate about. You’ll be able to know what a good shot looks like having hopefully already seen hundreds, if not thousands of similar images before, that have been taken by other photographers. It is also much easier to give all your effort and hard work over to a discipline you are interested in and feel invested in.
More about turning passion into a career can be found at Michael’s blog here.
Michael has little experience with creative blocks, but suggests travel as a way to clear the creative fog that may appear mid-project. Exploring a new location, local or otherwise, is a helpful exercise as well.
See and discover more of Michael Clark’s work at michaelclarkphoto.com and on his blog at http://blog.michaelclarkphoto.com.
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