It's all in a day's life at this prep school near Stoke-On-Trent where I've been getting a few pics for their new prospectus. The aptly named headmaster, Mr Copestick, dispensed moral fables at assembly, even tackling that tricky "life" dilemma of why someone has to get picked last for playground teams. There was an art lesson done on iPads, blazing Bunsen Burners and nostalgic smells for me in chemistry as well as a surprisingly tasty lunch of chicken korma, rice and broccoli.
Blog
Compassion For Elizabeth
A pic of mine in an ad for Compassion Sunday which is a day when churches in the US promote the Compassion charity and encourage people to sponsor deprived children from around the world. Elizabeth who features here was the star of my recent trip to Guatemala. She is 11 years old , lives in a tin shack and takes care of her 3 younger mal-nourished siblings and disabled father. She is sponsored through Compassion by a lady from Colorado Springs also called Elizabeth who sends her about $30 per month which helps to make her very tough life a little bit easier.
You can see it in full here as well as the video that was shot of the two Elizabeths on the same trip I was on.
Ding Dong
Avon calling..... This is Pam, intrepid door-to-door cosmetics sales person and all round nice lady. I just photographed her for a well known monthly woman's magazine.
Thanks
in Blog
Thanks to all of you out there who have just endorsed my work or recommended my services. Such a great way to lift my shallow soul during this darkest of months. Here's where we are so far:
“James has the prime attribute of all really good photographers – he’s an excellent bloke who everyone (including his subjects) gets on with. He knows a bit about cameras too. The end result is top notch photographs which follow the brief.” Simon Crompton, Medical Editor, The Times.“James is a true professional – one of those people you can leave to get on with the job in complete confidence that you’re going to get a great result. It’s a pleasure to work with him and I can’t recommend him highly enough.” David Killen, Art Director, Prospect Magazine.
“James has photographed portraits for Wanderlust magazine twice, and always delivers a great job with no hassle. He has a real knack for bringing out subjects’ personalities and relaxing them so that natural, fun portraits result. He’s also a lovely chap and a pleasure to work with.” Dan Linstead, Editor, Wanderlust Magazine.
“I found James to be an excellent photographer. I do not normally feel comfortable in front of the camera but James made me feel at ease and the results were fab. I received a lot of compliments about the pictures he took”. Catherine Amey, writer and subject of a shoot for Prima Magazine.
“James got the results we wanted on time and on budget. He also used his initiative to get the best out of the shoot. Very pleased all round.” Rob Williams, ITV Account Manager, Radley Yeldar.
“I have worked with James on a number of projects. He is a very creative, professional photographer. He is a joy to work with.” Deborah Malthouse, Events Manager, Kent County Council
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.