Oswald Pike

From awkward rock legends to pensioners with bed sores, that's the way we roll at The James Clarke Photography Blog.

This is Oswald Pike of Worthing, West Sussex who I shot for The Daily Mail. He suffered from a horrific 6cm deep bed sore he got from a short stay in his local hospital that resulted in over a year's treatment that is still ongoing. He also had a particularly grim story about being left in a toilet for two and a half hours. Although he has trouble moving around and uses walking poles to get around his flat, he was a happy soul who regaled me with stories of previous work with Burberry and travel in The Congo. He was also keen to tell me about his new girlfriend. Good to meet you Ossie and good luck with everything.

Lou And Me

In order to avoid further thumb-twidling in what is always a quiet time on the work front, I've been doing a bit of extra post production to give some new life to a few pics from the archive. Lou Reed seemed like a good place to start. The shoot was for The Times and took place back in 2007 when he was promoting an album of chill-out meditation music hence the "Walk On The Mild Side"  headline which The Times used to go with the interview. It was the most nervous I'd ever been before a shoot. Lou, as well as being a keen photographer himself, was renowned to be awkward at the best of times and it was no secret that he didn't much like journalists and the interview process. True to form, on his eventual arrival, he refused to sit on the chair that I'd found and certainly wouldn't sit crossed-leg on the floor as I also suggested. He told me he would remain standing and would only be shot from the waist up and also insisted that I count one, two then three when I click the shutter. This I did of course but seemed unnecessary as he did not move or change expression in any way. He also wanted to see each shot on the back of the camera, we thus ended up in a kind of creative stale-mate. One, two, three,  show Lou the picture, hmmm he doesn't seem to like it much but won't move or do anything, oh well, one, two, three......

After a few painfully long minutes doing this I think he must have sensed my stressful state or just realised it was worth making an effort to get a decent picture, so he changed into his stage gear for that nights performance, and  adopted a bit of rock star attitude. One, two, three, click. I had the picture and once he'd seen it, I was suddenly in the company of a surprisingly friendly Lou Reed who wanted to talk cameras and agreed to have his picture taken with me while adopting what he called a RUN DMC pose. (This is now framed and proudly on show in my downstairs toilet)

Then he went off and did the interview. Going straight back to grumpy mode, he made very nice lady interviewer cry, accusing her of not listening to his new album. I didn't care though, I was basking in the warmth of a few minutes of bonding with a rock legend!

As a courtesy, I sent some of the shots to Lou via his publicist and the feedback was that he really liked them but could I do a bit of work on his neck so it was less wrinkly. Sorry Lou, 4 years later, after I've upped the contrast and taken out the colour, your rock star neck looks even older and leathery!

At School Up North

A few shots for the prospectus and website of Brabyns Prep School in Marple, South Manchester. A beautiful little school with fantastic views across the Derbyshire dales and a very keen hands-on headmaster who worked me hard and changed his tie 3 times. It was a fun morning though, thanks Mr Sanders!

Compassion People

A few pictures from my recent trip to the US. These were all quick, 2 minute portraits of people who took part in The Compassion Convention in Colorado Springs last month. Most are church pastors and  all are advocates of the supremely worthy Compassion charity which works through american churches finding people to sponsor children in developing countries. Not being a god believing person, it was fascinating to meet people with such strong religious convictions, They had really good teeth and were actually very nice.

Daughter Picture

Daisy Mae shows off her new glasses and the latest in on-trend autumn knitwear. Un-promted, she automatically adopted that much underused pose, "the teapot" which works well here I think..

Village People

A few local people from Quetzali, near San Marcos in the San Pedro district of Guatemala, the tiny village I've just returned from. I was mainly taking pictures of the children who benefit from the local church project sponsored by the american charity, Compassion. As with most strong communities the women seemed to be at its it's heart, cooking, teaching and looking out for the children, most of whom survive in the most basic accommodation with little to eat. The few men I met including the gent in the hat here, worked by the river breaking stones with a sledgehammer and loading them into truck. Proper back-breaking work but they are entertained by the man in the blue shirt who turned out to also be the local clown and showed us a few tricks including this umbrella "illusion".

More about sponsoring children through Compassion here: http://www.compassionuk.org/

At School In Guatemala

I'm just back from Guatemala. An amazing trip, photographing kids and village life for Compassion who are an american charity that organise and promote sponsorship of Third World children. There's hundreds of pictures to edit but I thought I'd start by posting up a few from our visit to the village school, the contrast of which, to my previous post of my own children's school is stark to say the least.

During rainy season and after a wet and at times, hairy 6 hour journey from Guatemala City, we (that's me and a 3 man film crew) arrived on the last day of term at Qeutzali village primary school. Apart from the school having large classes and an absolute lack of any facilities except the enthusiasm of the teachers, what hit me beyond how happy they seamed, was how small the children were. Most of the shots here are from a class of 11 year-olds, nearly all of whom were smaller than my 5 year-old daughter and this is simply due to the fact that they are malnourished and many including 11 year-old Elizabeth (in the white top with pale stripes) survive on just one meal a day. More on Elizabeth in later posts as she was the focus of the story we were there to shoot.

At School In East Sussex

Some shots from last week's visit to Skippers Hill School where I'd been asked to get some pictures for their new prospectus. It's my children's school so it was particularly enjoyable and interesting to sit in on lessons and break-time. After some initial posing and showing off (mainly from the teachers), they mostly ignored me and were fully engaged in study and play.

Dummies

Recently inspired to just get out there on the streets and take some pictures, I couldn't resist these department store mannequins who were facing away from the shop window. I'm not sure if this was simply easier for the window dressers as they organised their outfits or if there was a more complex motive aimed at sparing the blushes of us prudish Tunbridge Wells folk. It does seem to create an intriguing image though and one that is far more interesting than the safe autumn fashions that they are now modelling.

Taxi!

The wife and kids in the back of our new vehicle, Betsy an old green London cab that we inherited from Uncle Jeff. As well as having a certain cachet and a connection back to London town for us country dwellers, It's turned out to be a perfect mode or transport. There's lots of space for children, shopping and bikes, it's fairly economical, safe, solid and heavy and although it's far from speedy, other drivers generally keep out of your way. Best of all though, and what other car can do this? You can close the partition window and happily shut yourself off from those noisy passengers!

Star Jumper

This is 7-year-old Sam MacDonald at home in East Sussex. His mum wanted a fun portrait perhaps with their pet labrador. However, Pippa the dog wouldn't play ball so Sam, who likes lego, took over art direction duties and we worked together to get this lively jumping shot.

The Ladies Of Trouser Mountain

These are a couple of test shots for an exhibition idea on charity shop volunteers. Norma is the seated manager and Laura who is standing and dwarfed by a pile of unwanted garments is one of her many able volunteers. This is the backstage sorting room at Oxfam in Tunbridge Wells where they go through tons of unwanted clothes, toys and various household goods and decide what is and isn't worth moving downstairs to the shop. In these recessionary times, the charity shop continues to thrive and in my opinion is far more worthy of a visit than all the usual high street names that are more popular with looters. Watch this space for more on charity shopping and their volunteer workers.