Ian Clark is a West Newbury, Vermont, based photographer who creates compelling images which tell a story with a realism that allows you to share an experience as if you were there.
I’ve been tracking down operating steam locomotives since the 1970s. These days, most of my steam engine photography is done in charters; someone gets a group together and pays the railroad to run the engine for us. I’d love to do more, but travel is getting to be a bigger challenge every year.
In 2012, I took up wildlife photography. This blog started as a way to share my wildlife photos with my nieces and nephews and the kids of my friends. It was written for kids in late grade school. The idea was to amuse and to slip in a little education with a few facts about the critters.
The original audience for the blog has since grown up. But, the blog picked up a surprising number of fans along the way. Visitors are kind with praise about the adventures of the critters and the writing. Some even encourage the dad jokes. The loon families have gained a serious following. If I’m slow with updates, people write or call to find out what’s happening with their favorite family. I’m glad I can share their adventures.
A note about the loons: When I started getting serious about wildlife photography, I came across a loon tangled with fishing line. Fish & Wildlife put me in touch with the Loon Preservation Committee. LPC told me about the conservation effort for loons. Soon I was reporting sightings and putting out nest signs. And paying more attention to the loons on the ponds I frequented. Soon the loons attracted enough attention that I had to give them nom de plumes to give them some privacy. The three ponds I frequent are about the same latitude. One is to my west, one to the east and one between. The loons on the pond to the west became the Westons. The pond to the east now hosts the Eastons. And the pond between them hosts the Middletons.
About Ian
Back in 1975, as a sophomore in high school, I started stringing for his local newspaper, covering my high school sports team. These days, I shoot for editorial, stock and commercial users from home in West Newbury, VT. MY work has appeared in numerous books, magazines, newspapers, calendars and print ads.
My claim to fame is that I’m the former manager of NASA’s Photographic Section at the Langley Research Center. I’ve also owned or managed commercial photo labs around the U.S. Along the way I developed something like 10,000 miles of E-6 (Ektachrome) slide film, several thousand miles of color negative, VNF and black & white films, along with something like 6000 acres of photo paper.
In 1997, I decided to switch to making images full-time. In addition to editorial work and taking projects that use photography as an engineering tool, I’ve built a library of over 1,500,000 images, with lots of transportation and nature images. My transportation focus is on railroads. I’m working on photographing the remaining steam locomotives in the US. Of roughly 210 locomotives that can be operated, I’ve photographed 138 under steam. In the last several years, I’vehas found time to pursue myother love, nature photography. I’ve has photographed over 450 species from the Bay of Fundy to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
My other interests include receiving a B.S. in Photo Finishing & Management from the Rochester Institute of Technology, and meeting my editor and wife, Lee, while in grad school at The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.
I’m at the point of my career where I can insist on making the highest quality images possible. I use the best commercial equipment available, often finding ways to tweak off the shelf hardware to improve performance. You can see the results in my work; note the crisp focus and fine details in the images. I print with top of the line giclée printers, using only archival papers and inks. Giclée (“Zee-Clay”) is a high-end ink jet printing process that provides fine detail and allows the proper reproduction of over 64,000,000 colors.
There are more of my photos on his website, www.IanClark.com. You can contact me at UpperValleyPhotos@gmx.com or (848) 702-0774.