The blog of adventure photographer Michael Clark

Summer 2013 Newsletter

07.28.13

The Summer 2013 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 about finding inspiration on a recent assignment, an overview of the new features in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5, a behind the scenes article on a recent Red Bull windsurfing assignment, an editorial entitled “The Illusion,” and much more.

The Michael Clark Photography Newsletter goes out to over 6,000 thousand photo editors, photographers and photo enthusiasts around the world. You can download the Summer 2013 issue on my website at:

http://www.michaelclarkphoto.com/summer_2013.pdf

If you’d like to check out back issues of the newsletter they are available here.

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

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Announcing Limited and Open Edition Fine Art Prints

07.19.13

I am happy to announce a Limited Edition series of fine art archival pigment prints as well as an Open Edition series of fine art prints. For the Limited Edition fine art prints I have chosen thirty of my best-known images. The Open Edition encompasses any and all of my other images. Pricing for each series of prints depends on the size of the print. You can read more about my pricing and our satisfaction guarantee for these prints on my website.

The photographic process has traditionally meant that a finished print was created at the end of the process. Since the late 80’s, most commercial photographers rarely finished out the process of printing their work because they had to give up control of the final print. Printing has traditionally been a tedious and laborious process. With the advent of digital printing, we now have complete control over the final print. Creating a fine art print is still a tedious process but the end results are prints with much finer detail, color rendition and resolution than has ever been seen before. I can now create prints of my work that share my vision and my intent exactly as I want to present it. Hence, I am very excited to offer my images as high-resolution archival pigment prints in both Limited and Open editions.

These archival prints are pain-stakingly created by some of the best fine art printers in the United States. We print on Canon and Epson printers and work with a variety of papers including both fine art matte papers and Baryta Photographic papers. The printer and paper combination is chosen specifically for each image so that each image will be rendered with the highest possible resolution and the widest color gamut.

The Limited Edition prints are offered in editions of 40 prints total at any size. Each print will be signed and numbered. As I produce new work I will add those rare images that qualify to the Limited Edition series. The three images pictured in this blog post are part of the Limited Edition series. Please note that the images on this website do not show the all of the detail and the extended color gamut of the fine-art prints we produce in-house.

If you are interested in purchasing a print please do not hesitate to contact me and we can discuss the options. You can view the images available as Limited Editions and Open Editions on my website.

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National Geographic “Extreme Photo of the Week”

06.26.13

National Geographic has chosen one of my recent windsurfing images, which was shot while on assignment with Red Bull, for their “Extreme Photo of the Week” gallery on the Adventure page of their website. This image of top windsurfer Levi Siver (see above) was shot near Gold Beach, Oregon while hanging out of a helicopter. Levi broke the world record for the highest wind surfing jump and he used an extremely accurate measuring device to gauge just how far above the water he was able to get.

Below is the text from National Geographic:

Windsurfing on the Pistol River, Oregon

“I remember being really cold, but I wanted to get a few more moments in with the helicopter before the sun set,” says windsurfer Levi Siver, who was shooting for the upcoming film WindBoost. “I felt very blessed sailing late into the sunset having that beautiful canvas behind me.”

Located a six-hour drive from Portland, this coastal spot is always windy and picks up swell from both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. “It’s a pretty remote place, but windsurfers from around the world have been coming here for decades,” Siver says.

“Using the wind as your energy, you end up riding five times as many waves as you would surfing,” notes Siver, who lives in Maui. “It used to bother me that mainstream America is so out of touch with how progressive the level of windsurfing is now. But popularity means more crowds, which equals less fun.”

Getting the Shot

“I shot over 800 images in an hour while in the helicopter,” says adventure photographer Michael Clark, who got this image while on assignment for Red Bull. “With such high winds, the helicopter gets buffeted around quite a bit. Just keeping the windsurfer in the frame can be difficult at times.”

A veteran of photographing from a helicopter, Clark worked closely with the pilot. “Cody, of Apex Helicopters, was an excellent pilot and was able to get us down low, only ten feet off the water, and moving at the same speed as the windsurfer.”

As Siver aimed for the highest windsurfing jump, Clark kept shooting. “It was incredible to see him go to work, and his windsurfing abilities were absolutely incredible to watch,” Clark says.

Clark photographed with a Nikon D4 and a Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/2.8G ED VRII lens.

My thanks to Red Bull for yet another amazing assignment, to Levi Siver for being such a stellar athlete and a fun human being and to National Geographic for putting the word out there. If you would like to see more images from this photo shoot with Levi Siver please check out my Red Bull Windboost gallery on my website. Look for a full report on this assignment in my upcoming Summer 2013 Newsletter.

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Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5

06.19.13

The final version of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 shipped just a few days ago and I have to say I am loving it. There aren’t a ton of new features in this version of Lightroom, but there are several key improvements that I am finding quite useful. First off, Lightroom 5 seems to be much faster than it’s predecessor. Second, the new “Full Screen” mode (as can be seen below) is perhaps the best new feature they have included, maybe ever, in a Lightroom update. The fullscreen mode allows me to get all of the clutter out of the way when editing images. I can just sit back and view the images full size on my large Eizo display and rank them with no other distractions.

The fullscreen mode is accessed by hitting the “F” key. At first I was miffed that Adobe changed the old fullscreen mode keyboard shortcut to “Shift + F”. I used the “F” keyboard shortcut all the time and now it doesn’t do what it has done in the past. But I quickly got over this slight change after editing a recent Red Bull assignment in the new “fullscreen” mode in Lightroom 5, which you can see below.

The Develop Module has also been updated ever so slightly. There are a few new localized adjustment tools that have been added to the Develop Module which allow us to create off-center vignettes and use advanced cloning techniques. The new Smart Previews feature also allows for working on images without having a hard drive [with the images] attached to your computer. This is great for a number of situations. I recently used this feature to work up some images while flying back from a recent assignment where I didn’t want to pull out the hard drive and connect it to my laptop while sandwiched into a window seat at 1 AM.

All in all, Lightroom has matured quite a bit since the early days – way back in 2006. I started using Lightroom back when it was Beta and before the public had ever heard about it. Working with the Adobe engineers in those early days to create images to promote the new software and also to learn how to use it so I could work up said images, I instantly saw how this software was going to change my workflow for the better. Now, five versions later, Adobe has yet again defined the industry standard raw processing engine for photographers worldwide.

For those of you that have purchased my e-book Adobe Photoshop Lightroom: A Professional Photographer’s Workflow, or are looking to purchase it in the future, please note that I will be creating an additional chapter to cover all the updates in Lightroom 5. Because there are only minimal changes to Lightroom from Version 4 to Version 5, I don’t feel the need to completely revamp the entire book. This new chapter on the Lightroom 5 updates will be included in the book going forward (when I get the time to work it up) and I will also offer it for free to everyone who has purchased a copy of the latest version of the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom: A Professional Photographer’s Workflow e-book over the last year.

I have a summer that is stacked with back to back assignments, adventures and workshops so this new chapter won’t be coming out until this fall at the earliest. My thanks to Adobe for offering up another stellar version of Lightroom to make our lives a little easier on the post-production side of things. Hope you enjoy it.

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Summer Photography Workshops

05.27.13

This summer I happen to be teaching a number of workshops – more than normal it seems. Most of the workshops I am teaching this summer are rather brief but intense two-day workshops with the Santa Fe Workshops. As you can see by the list below, I have two Nikon D800 workshops and an Adobe Lightroom workshop that I am teaching at the Santa Fe Workshops. I am also teaching an Adventure Photography workshop at the Maine Media Workshops in August. Here are the dates for these workshops:

Nikon D800 Intensive: Get the Most from your Camera – Santa Fe Workshops, Santa Fe, NM – June 17-18, 2013

Adobe Lightroom Intensive: The Develop Module – Santa Fe Workshops, Santa Fe, NM – June 24-25, 2013

Nikon D800 Intensive: Get the Most from your Camera – Santa Fe Workshops, Santa Fe, NM – July 29-30, 2013

Adventure Photography – Maine Media Workshops, Rockport ME – August 18-24, 2013

If you would like to sign up for any of these workshops you can get more information on my workshops page here on the blog or on my website. The first Nikon D800 workshop is sold out already (as far as I know), which is why the Santa Fe Workshops elected to host another one in late July. Come join me for one of these workshops and we will work hard to expand your skills. If you are on the fence about taking a workshop here are some testimonials from participants who have taken my workshops in the past:

“Michael set an incredibly high bar for his workshop. He gave 110%, covered a broad range of topics and did an outstanding job.” – Chris Council, Adventure Photography Workshop, Summer 2010

“I just finshed Michal Clark’s Adventure Photography Workshop at the Santa Fe Workshops in April 2013. I had a terrific time with the group of people – one from China, another from Seattle, another from Wyoming, me from Michigan – you get the picture that we came from everywhere. We came because of Santa Fe Workshop’s reputation of presenting an intense learning experience guided by fantastic instructors. We got both. Michael Clark really knows his stuff and has a lot of excess energy, which he focused on us, and he can also teach. He read our skills and weaknesses quickly and went to work to improve each of us technically. He sorted out our individual goals, even when we couldn’t really articulate them. Then he gave us plenty of time to address those goals and ask question after question after question. The rough environments in which we photographed were great fun to explore. Couldn’t be better.” – Tania Evans

“Thanks for running such a great workshop. I couldn’t have chosen better photo shoot locations, and the post-shoot critiques were invaluable. It’s the first time I’ve had my work reviewed, and I learned a ton from each session. While I didn’t go into the workshop expecting to pick-up too many marketing and business tips, I’ve come out of last week inspired to set-up my photo website in earnest.” – Jeff Hylok, Adventure Photography Workshop, Summer 2010

“The recent Adobe Lightroom Intensive Workshop in Seattle was excellent. The two-day format was perfect–just enough time to cover all the important features but not so much time as to be draining or get in the way of work. Michael Clark was an outstanding instructor. Not only was he clear, concise, and comprehensive, but his manner was friendly and equable. The fact that he is also a working professional photographer made the instruction all the more relevant. I have used previous versions of Lightroom, but it had been a while and I had recently upgraded. I was able to review some things I knew, learn about new features, and change my perspective on some workflow steps. An absolutely great workshop that I recommend wholeheartedly.” – Karen Huntt, Lightroom Workshop, Spring 2011

“Thanks again for such a terrific workshop. I have taken one other two day Lightroom workshop, but your’s is the best!” – Vance Thompson, Lightroom Workshop, Spring 2011

“Just wanted you know how much fun I had during the workshop last weekend! I learned a lot a look forward to doing other workshops with you.” – Jason Quevedo, Philadelphia Mentor Series Trek, Fall 2009

The image above of Tim Sewall was shot while teaching the Adventure Photography workshop at the Maine Media Workshops last year. Feel free to drop me an email if you have any questions about upcoming workshops or what will be covered. I hope to see you at the Santa Fe Workshops or the Maine Media Workshops this summer!

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High Praise for the Newsletter

05.08.13

Yesterday I was surprised and happy to see a glowing review of my latest Newsletter and my Newsletter in general on the ASMP Strictly Business blog by Blake Discher. In the blog post Blake goes on to say, “Michael has the most impressive, self-published, quarterly newsletter I’ve ever come across.”

I have attended a few of Blake’s excellent ASMP seminars over the years. In fact, an excerpt from my book Exposed: Inside the Life and Images of a Pro Photographer was published in the Fall 2012 issue of the ASMP Bulletin. That excerpt included an anecdote about how Blake’s SEO seminar led to my assignments in Patagonia over a three year period. To say the least I have learned quite a bit about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) from Blake through his seminars.

Later in his blog post, Blake goes on to say, “It’s an astonishing effort…” My thanks to Blake for promoting the Newsletter and for the high praise. It still remains to date my best marketing tool. If you would like to read more about the “Newsletter as a Marketing Tool” check out an interview I did with Rob Haggart for the aphotoeditor.com blog.

The ASMP Strictly Business blog is chocked full of good business ideas and advice from a wide variety of ASMP members and consultants. ASMP stands for the American Society of Media Photographers and it is the largest organization of its kind in the world. Its mission is to protect and promote the interests of independent photographers, to promote high standards and ethics, and to empower and educate professional photographers.

You can download the latest issue of the Newsletter by clicking on this link. If you would like to subscribe to the Newsletter please send me an email and I will add you to the mailing list. The Newsletter is a quarterly magazine that goes out when I get around to putting it together in between assignments. If you would like to check out back issues of the Newsletter you can find them on my website.

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Spring 2013 Newsletter

04.25.13

The Spring 2013 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 about adapting to new technologies, an equipment review of the TrekPak dividers for Pelican Cases, an article about an on-going personal assignment, a perspective article entitled “Taking Risks,” and an excerpt from my recently released e-book Location Lighting for the Outdoor Photographer, and much more.

The Michael Clark Photography Newsletter goes out to over 6,000 thousand photo editors, photographers and photo enthusiasts around the world. You can download the Spring 2013 issue on my website at:

http://www.michaelclarkphoto.com/spring_2013.pdf

If you’d like to check out back issues of the newsletter they are available here.

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

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