Derek Clark

Derek Clark

Documentary photographer based in Scotland, UK. Winner of UK professional Photographer of the Year 2012 in the News category and member of The Kage Collective.

October 8th, 2018 at 19:40 pm (Motherwell, Scotland)

By Derek Clark

We stood in silence as my sisters two eldest sons lowered her ashes into the small hole in the ground. Almost three months have passed since her death, and this, the final step, hurt so bad. My dad and my eldest brother put their arms around my mum and then one by one we all walk away.

Even in death, Joyce manages to bring us all even closer together.

I returned two days later by myself to see how it looked. There is still a sense of disbelief, even when the proof is right in front of my eyes. She was the first person I would call in times like this and the urge to talk to her is overwhelming.

October 1st, 2018 at 6:30 am (Motherwell, Scotland)

By Derek Clark

This week has been a struggle due to my ongoing back pain, which just seems to be getting worse. I had a shoot a few days ago for another CD cover, although I can’t share any pictures of that at this point. But the X-T3 performed flawlessly, never missing focus once, even though the room was pretty dark towards the end of the seven-hour shoot.

Yesterday we took the kids for a bit of indoor climbing and then an obstacle course fifty feet in the air. It gets them away from screens for a while and lets them blow of some steam too.

It’s October 1st and I can feel the cold setting in. Puffer jackets are back on the streets and leaves are everywhere. Winter is well on the way, and after the snow last year, I promised myself the Audi will be gone and another Land Rover will take its place. I’ll make a start on it this week.

Happy Monday everyone.

September 24, 2018 at 15:50 pm (Motherwell, Scotland)

“But I knew that someday I was going to die. And just before I died two things would happen; Number 1: I would regret my entire life. Number 2: I would want to live my life over again.”
— Hubert Selby Jr

That quote by Hubert Selby Jr made a big impact when I first heard it many years ago and it has stayed with me ever since. It’s been rattling around my head recently, thanks to this Chronicle 90 project that we are currently on. I’m sure all 7 of us (our eighth member will join us at the end of the project) have analyzed our lives through this experience and most have realized just how uneventful our lives are. Sure we can all blog about the exciting things that happen once in a blue moon, but mostly it just feels like putting your foot to the floor in first gear while sitting in a carpark full of snow. But I know I will want to do it all again someday.

This week: Kids on holiday, but with plenty of homework, Lots of driving, a trip to the cinema, a storm that caused a fair bit of damage, a notebook that just isn’t filling up as fast as it used to, and of course the X-T3. But now it’s time to hit publish on this post and start prepping my gear for tomorrows shoot.

September 17, 2018 at 17:25 pm (Motherwell, Scotland)

By Derek Clark

It’s been a quick week. Loads of editing in Lightroom for the first few days, then child number two left for an outdoor activities week. This is her first trip away without any family members. She was so excited, she was making weird dolphin squeaks in the back of the car on the way to the bus.

As usual, I’ve been tinkering on the music front, tweaking EQ settings for the saxophone. I’ve also been modifying a new keyboard case that the keyboard and accessories stay permanently inside the base. This should mean less wiring up to do. At least that’s the theory, but time will tell.

September 10, 2018 at 15:15 PM (Motherwell, Scotland)

By Derek Clark

It’s been a heavy weekend of music related stuff. Rock on Friday, Jazz concerts on Saturday and Sunday, then throw in a white seamless shoot with a mobile setup. That would be all well and good, but try fitting sixteen musicians on a 6’x7’ background. I did manage five at one stage, but that was pushing it. I’ll probably end up using the single shots of each musician and then making a composite.

I’m now at my desk. 1:1 preview's have been built in Lightroom and I’m ready to start editing. This is where I tell myself to be ruthless when culling, but I always end up giving myself more work than I need to.
Okay. Cappuccino in front of me. Sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin.

September 3, 2018 at 21:40 pm (Motherwell, Scotland)

By Derek Clark

My friend Steven needed to go to Glasgow today to film some B-roll for a project he's working on. So I tagged along and shot some street while he grabbed some footage. It wasn't intentional, but when I started to look at the photos in Lightroom tonight, There was more than a few people lost in their phones.

The world is a beautiful place!
Life is far too short!
These things are worse than the crack pipe!

August 27th, 2018 at 16.23 pm (Motherwell, Scotland)

By Derek Clark

Late nights, early mornings. 2 am bed, 5 am awake. Most of my adult life has been this constant struggle. A morning person mixed with the musician time. It was easier when I was younger, but it gets more difficult as each year passes. This might be eased with a siesta, but I don't do afternoon snoozing.

August 24th, 2018 at 08:10 am (Motherwell, Scotland)

By Derek Clark

I take the afternoon and head out for a wander with my camera. I've no idea what I'm looking for other than escape. Then my phone pings. Incoming, in every sense of the word. Dad's had another heart attack and has been taken by ambulance to the hospital. I head over there and make my way to the medical receiving unit. My mum and my older brother are there. The absence of my sister is front and centre, a gap in the chainmail, surrounded twisted metal.

My dad's levels are fairly normal, so the doctor asks if there has been any sort of trauma in his life lately. They have adopted a Japanese theory, that a lot of heart conditions are less to do with medical conditions and more to do with stress or trauma. My dad tells them that my sister died just over a month ago. It turns out there is such a thing as broken heart syndrome. 

August 17, 2018 at 7:05am (Motherwell, Scotland)

By Derek Clark

Every day seems like groundhog day, but different each time. I've been making adjustments to this pedal board for months, ironing out problems by removing pedals and replacing them with solutions. A mic preamp, a monitor mixer, graphic EQ. It always looks so over the top for saxophone and a little bit of guitar, but it's all relevant. I hope it's finished. I'll find out soon.

Then a short intermission in groundhog day to go to the opticians to get my eyes tested. My eyesight has got worse since my last check, but I already knew that. I take a quick look at the kids section because that's where I choose my glasses from, due to my tiny cranium. But I'm not in the mood for change these days and I ask the optician to find me the exact same Ray-Bans I have at the moment.

I format memory cards and charge batteries for a shoot on Saturday and then the kids come home from the first day of school, showing mum the new timetable as they grab the first thing that's edible. It's official, the holidays are over. The recent groundhog day is about to become more like the old groundhog day. Pretty soon dance and music classes will begin again and we'll settle in for the winter.

August 10, 2018 at 0:15 am (Motherwell, Scotland)

By Derek Clark

Our trip to Prague is over, but we went out with a bang. We took the 6:33 am train out of Prague and headed to Decin, a small Czech town on the edge of the border with Germany. From there we took a bus into The Switzerland Bohemian National Park and started the two and a half hour trek up the mountain.

I’ve been at the top of many mountains so I didn’t expect to find anything there except a view. But I was surprised to see a restaurant at the top and wondered how they got supplies up there. A quick investigation revealed a dodgy looking cable car contraption. I'm not sure if the workers travel on the same cable car though.

After a quick meal at the restaurant, we headed. Back down the mountain, shaving 30 minutes off the time. Then the previous bus and train setup in reverse and we were back in Prague by 10 pm.