Flag.

I'd just finished talking with art gallery owners, artists, and random people in the Las Vegas Arts District. As I walk back to my car I take a detour, climb a cement embankment to a train overpass. As I crest the cement hill I find myself in a drainage ditch filled with all manner of remnants from society.

Some are likely from a person living here. Jacket, pillow, satchel, trash bag hanging from the fence, foam pad. Others seem to have been carried or dropped here by the hands of fate. Sears catalogues, wrappers, cans, paper. I look up the wash, and see a path laid out in front of me, cut through thick weeds glowing gold with the setting sun.

On my right the weeds grow thicker, obscuring any view of the earth beneath, and as I make my trek forward, I hear light rustling from hidden creatures. Lizards, mice, rats, I do not know.

To my left I see a steep embankment of dark lava rocks with train tracks on top.

I stay to my path, listening to the breeze as it sighs over the tracks, across the tops of the weeds, and through the chain link fence. I come across a section of downed telephone pole, bathed in sunlight, and I walk along the top of it. The wood cracks and splinters beneath my boots. At the end I hop off and look to my left. Almost hidden beneath the weeds are red and white stripes.

Crouching down, I peer into the bush and find a sun faded American Flag. Taking care not to disturb anything, as is my practice, I raise my camera and take a shot of the flag hiding in shadow. Once I have this shot I pause before walking on. Many great photographers have told me that patience, along with the eye to spot a subject, are the most important skills a photographer can use. As I look around, I take notice of the direction of light.

Sunlight is coming through a chain link fence, casting golden patches of light throughout the wash. In a few minutes, a patch of sunlight will dance across and highlight the hidden flag. As I wait, I notice that directly across from me is another American flag, flapping in the intermittent breeze. I frame it along with the weeds in front of me and add to my collection of photos for the day.

After I finish this shot, I notice that a patch of sunlight is quickly approaching my flag. I frame a few photographs with the Las Vegas skyline behind it. As I shoot I notice a faint light in the distance. At first I believe it's the sun reflecting off of the Trump tower. It gets closer and I realize that it's not a reflection, but the headlight from an approaching train. My heart begins to race.

I'll only have a few moments to get a shot with the flag and the engine of the train up close. I get one with the train coming towards me and shift my position to get it as it's passing. As I dive back into the viewfinder I find a third flag, painted boldly on the side of the oncoming train. My breaths come in short almost panicked bursts as the train passes. I snap an image with both my flag and the painted flag in it.

Once it passes I feel comfortable leaving my flag where I found it. I remain for a while in this place somehow cut off from the stress of life and enjoy the breeze and the day as it winds down to darkness.

I present "Flag." a series made in the span of a sunset.

If ever I get the chance to display this series, I think I'd like the layout to be something like this:

Galaxy Tea

So I was making tea the other day and found that the bubbles and foam swirled to look like a galactic disk. So I gave Deanna her tea and the next day I broke out the star and moon mug and made myself a cup of tea. And then I photoed it. I drank it before it got to be too cold, I promise.

Anatomy of a shot: Alien Abduction

I recently put together a fun shoot with some family. We went out to the desert and took some photos of us being abducted by aliens. It was pretty fun, and I thought it might be fun to break down how I did it.

First, here's an overview:

That pretty much sums it up. But as you can see, it was a pretty fun setup. i did discover that i needed at least two shots to make the foreground and background come out in one seamless photograph. So I had to do one with a model, +Sean Clark , frozen in air. And another exposed so that I could get the faint mountains in the background. As far as the initial lighting setup was concerned, it was pretty straightforward. lots of duct tape, improvisation, and the right tools. the flash itself had to be modified a bit as well:

As you can see, this is all pretty advanced stuff. (Har Har). Just some good ol' tape and tin foil. I did a lot of experimenting to find the correct shape for the pool of light. And then came the actual image production in Photoshop:

Looks easy, takes FOREVER. I wanted to give Sean a bit more height so I had to cut him out and place him where I wanted him. Then I had to make sure the images fit together. So there was just a little tinkering with the lighting on each layer. In the end a pretty fun image was produced:

Hope you enjoyed!

Texas Tourism

I recently visited +Sean Hostmeyer in Austin Texas. While there I got to be a tourist and roam around, which was an interesting experience. Living in Vegas I see a lot of attractions, so it was nice to see how someone else does tourism for once.

I saw super hipster bars, a mammoth capitol building, delicious burger joints, The Alamo, and I got to visit my grandparents. here are some pictures.

Abduction finals!

Well I finished this one a while ago, but here are the images! I've been a bit busy buying a new house quitting my job and beginning a career in photography so please excuse the lack of posting!

Abduction Project

So, while I'm still very active over at www.flashrecord.tumblr.com, I've started another project! I always have so many. Anyhow, this one is just a fun photo shoot about being puled up into a space ship old school style. These are some test shots for the official stuff which I'll be doing out in the desert somewhere. I played with some light in my living room to do these:

Gallery Done, Reception Planned

So the room is oficially done, and we are really prout of it. If anyone is interested, we're holding a sort of opening for the gallery on August 12th at Dinosaurs and Roses upstairs in and around Studio #11. I hope to see people there!

The space is active.

I hope you'll check out our new gallery space at Dinosaurs and Roses located at 6029 W. Charleston. This is more of a soft opening as we're not fully operational there yet, but I'd love to hear what some people think. Here are a few photos from the (almost) completed space:

Oh! And I finished the logo, check it out:

Prints are in!

All our prints are in and I'm so excited. I'm going to Dinosaurs and Roses to prepare and organize. Deanna and I will be hanging after she gets off of work. Expect photos of the process. For now here are some of our little prints all sealed up:

City Moves

I recently photographed a dance show entitled "City Moves". It was a collaboration of Las Vegas Strip performers, CSN and others and it was fantastic. I was asked to provide photography for the event, and this is what I produced:

I can't take even half the credit for these, because the choreographers, dancers, stage lighting, and a long list of other people are responsible for most of the artwork here.

The Occupation

I headed out to Occupy Las Vegas last night for their first night of physical 'occupation'. It was very interesting. There's a lot of heart in the movement, and they're very accepting of new people and new ideas. They're part of the overall Occupy movement, but they're not afraid of doing things differently than other Occupations.

Here are some photos for your viewing pleasure:

Official Website

I've officially created a website with a cohesive portfolio of my work. Please feel free to check it out.

http://www.danjclarkphoto.com/

I will still update this blog with the array of things I've always posted here, so feel free to check back here as well.

Remnants.

What always seems interesting to me is what cultures leave behind. As I'm rarely around cultures other than American I have explored these types of remnants most closely. I recently stopped at what appeared to be a vacant lot. I stopped and pushed aside dense sagebrush and other desert plants to explore deeper. I discovered the remnants of a house. It seems someone deemed that whatever home had been here so unworthy of existence it was demolished and left to become an overgrown lot. It was beautiful in a sad kind of way. The foundations were left, loose roofing tiles splintered and half buried. And in the back there lies a swimming pool, filled with desert earth instead of chlorinated water.

Front Yard

Foundations

Foundations

Pool

Pool

Outside

Outside
A Mural Print by Daniel James Clark

Through my artistic development, my work has drawn from a common theme: the blending of reality and fantasy. I’ve made the association between childhood fantasies, and the adult need for wonder, excitement, and adventure. My thesis is that as we age, our thirst for the magical, the fantastic, and the “otherworld” just out of sight does not diminish. As adults we still need to believe that anything is possible. I feel that the way we can satisfy this need is through exploration: going “outside”. Whether exploring takes us just outside our comfort zone, or thrusts us into something wholly immersive does not matter, so long as we are outside.

“Outside” examines that conclusion by drawing the character, and thereby the viewer to peer outside through the window into a universe of possibility. Printed as a 40x26 inch piece, “Outside” is intended to place the viewer in front of a scene they can immerse themselves in more effectively than a smaller print would allow.

Urban Decay

This series, titled "Urban Decay" draws from my stencil archive. This is the first black and white series I've done in quite a while. It also draws from more narrative than conceptual roots, which is almost an about face from my standard techniques.