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:

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:

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:

Daniel Clark/Las vegas Review-Journal

I now work for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. They even pay me! I doubt anyone cares, but I will create a breif timeline of events to explain. Maybe this will be nice for me to look at in the future.

I am at my parents house. My brother comes home and informs me that there's some sort of sutuation over by my old high school. Against better judgement and logic I set off to see what's going on. I learn that there is what appears to be a hostage situation gouing on. No one can get close, unless they're me, and sneaky.

So I creep a bit, a man says to me, "Hey, want to see some smoke?" I tell him that I indeed would like to see some smoke. Se co down one dead end road and if you peer in between two houses you can see smoke wafting from the house where the alleged hostage situation is going on. I approach and find that from the backyard of these houses, I could see the whole situation below me. I wait. An old woman comes out of her home into her backyard. I ask her for entry, and I get in. Taking photos noone else has access to I phone the RJ. I ask them if they wanty them. They say yes. I finish up shooting and rush to a place to edit. I do, and then I send them off.

I get a call from the editor.

"These are great." "If we were running a story on this, these are the ones we'd use." (And various other nice things.) So I ask him if I could maybe meet him for coffee, just to talk about the photojournalism world. He tells me, "We have coffee here at the office, why don't you come down sometime?"

I go. We meet, he tells me that the photo world is inundated with new talent, and I'd probably have to get more school, or go somewhere else for a job in journalism. Another guy takes a look at my portfolio. He says that I need to trim it down, way down.

I leave.

I edit my portfolio, and I contact the person who'd looked at my portfolio. He invites me down again. We talk about my work, and he says that there's a lot going on at the paper right now and the photo editor I'd talked to was no longer the editor. We shake hands, and he tells me he'll shop my portfolio around when I edit it down and make it perfect.

I begin doing that.

Then, a phone call from a number I do not know as I sit watching TV. It's the interim photo editor, he tells me that he has work for me. The next day I do my first assignment, go to the office, and sign paperwork as a stringer.

People who need to ne thanked and without whom this wouldn't have happened:

Justin Yurkanin (Helped me with my portfolio, and showed my portfolio to people)
kevin Cannon (Interim photo editor who has given me this chance)
Jeffrey Scheid (Who let me come meet him at the RJ office, and looked at those initial photos)
Sean Clark (Who looked up the RJ phone number while I was shooting)
Deanna Jones (Who supported me and my crazyness)
My Parents (Who put me through school, which allowed me to develop the skill to do this)
And really a lot of people. Like...a lot. David Calvert, Amy Beck, Brian BBenedict, Jessica Estepa, Peter Goin, all my professors (art and jour)...

Seriously, without the help of others this path would have been nearly impossible. I'm not there yet, so don't think I'm just cosating along at this point. There's a lot of proving left to do.

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.

Update on Projects (II)

Another brief update. Projects, many of them. More than I have time for and a growing list.

- Las Vegas Project (This semester?)
- Urban Decay (This semester)
- Mobius Tree Sculpture
- Re: All Things
- Consumer Carcass
- The kiss.
- "The stars fell like snowflakes from the sky and soon we made snowmen of stardust."
- Behind the Glass
- Party Perfect
- Unnamed Female Portrait Diptych:
|__ Bust shot of girl in front of a field of stars.
|__ Close up of lips exhaling a thin breath. Stars behind.
- Untitled History Project

Artwork in Strega

So I've finished an epic amount of work. At least it felt epic. The final project for photo is complete. Not only is it complete, but it's on display at Strega. Yep, that's right, I have an outside show. And it's not even only for the book. I have other art up as well. Lets have a look.

Update

I haven't updated for a while. And while I think I'll update this soon I don't think saying "I'll update this later today" is going to stick. I'm about to pass out because I haven't slept quite well for a very long time. In fact I didn't sleep at all last night. Still up. Anyhow. Photos. Pretty time. I hope they translate from browser to browser and screen to screen... The official link is here.