A SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF OUR LEAD GUY – Doran Clark
A Life Worth Living:
The Career Path of a Commercial Photographer/videographer
I was born and raised in Alberta, in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains where I spent most of my formative years hiking, climbing, skiing, biking and any other form of outdoor activity. If I were to describe the reason for my boundless energy, it was probably my unending curiosity with the world around me. There was always another corner to turn and a new discovery beyond the horizon. Life was just so exciting with all of its rocks to turn over and experiences to be had.
My family never had any problem finding me at home, they just had to follow the noise I made as I spent countless hours drawing out and sounding out all the characters and situations that were flying through my imagination. I went through paper and pencils at an alarming rate, drawing out all the images in my head. I think my mothers purchase of a camera on my 12th birthday was more a financial reason than a premonition of my future. Regardless, for me it was love at first sight, and I fell upon this new way of capturing all the events and locations that were around me with a passion.
Unfortunately, the technology at the time was not digital and I had to learn photography using film, one frame at a time. It was expensive and I became very frugal with each and every frame I captured. It made me really examine how to get the best exposure for the situation, and stretch my budget.
Aside from my own adventures with camera in hand, I did a lot of the typical things teenagers with a camera did, Junior and Senior High school yearbook committee, school photographer, the guy people went to for some photos, etc..
After high school graduation I listened to my peers and went off to university where I studied sciences, with a major in Forest Engineering. University left little time or money for photography, but I found time when I could and financed it with a part-time job. Some things are meant to be, and later a series of events in my working profession gave me reason to pause and consider following my passion.
The forestry industry took some hard knocks with cross border tariffs, and my career was not unfolding as planned . My instincts led me to make a life altering decision to follow my passion – photography.
I found a job working at an Edmonton photography studio that would introduce me to the business of photography. At the same time I enrolled in evening courses in photography and totally immersed myself in the profession. After one year of this I decided that I needed to get some formal training in the science and technical knowledge of photography.
Enrolling in the NAIT Film & Photography 2 year Program provided me with a solid background in the science of photography & film. Having a part-time job at a local photography store helped pay the bills and introduce to me to some business practices that were to become invaluable.
Two years later with a piece of paper in hand, I accepted a position with a commercial photography studio in Edmonton, and began my informal education into the ins and outs of corporate, industrial and advertising photography. It was one of the best decisions I ever made and my learning curve was beyond steep, but I was loving every minute of it. At the time, the studio had a client list to die for, most of the big Oil & Gas companies, political parties including the PC party at the time, utility companies, and anybody who was on the list of Fortune 500 Companies in Alberta. My head was spinning with the amount and variety of work I was doing on any given month.
After several years of this, and countless flights to destinations around North America and the globe, I made a decision to strike out on my own. My timing couldn’t have been better, as the owners of the studio were approaching retirement and were considering closing the business. When I did finally strike out on my own, a number of the clients came looking for me and the transition to self-employment was seamless.
As a side note to this, years later, my sister told me that all my family and friends knew that I was destined to be a photographer/videographer, and all the years spent at university and working in other professions were just me not listening to what my head and heart were telling me.
My home at the time was in Edmonton, but I found myself traveling all over Alberta, Western Canada, Canada and the world. It wasn’t until several years later, that my wife and I decided to make the move from Edmonton to Calgary, more for the location than the city itself. I like to think of it as my childhood roots were drawing me back to the proximity of the Rocky Mountains, and all that the Calgary area had to offer. The fact that a sizeable number of the head offices in Alberta were based in Calgary was also a business move that I thought made sense.
In time, I discovered that technology allowed me to live almost anywhere that had good internet connections, and a supply chain of materials and services that I needed to carry on with business. The move to Calgary was seamless, and I grew my business across Western Canada, and the world.
Fast forward 20 some years, and countless flights, driving trips and a few boat trips to points spread across the globe and I still get excited when a new project is presented to me. As my wife describes it, I kick into a different gear when a new, interesting project is on the board. I get a bit giddy, can’t stop talking about it, and go into planning mode.
There is a difference now, since adding a number of products & services to the business, projects quite often involve a team to accomplish it. This means we actually have to meet, discuss and get back to clients with our recommendations.
Our business approach and methods may have changed to suite the nature of the work, but our excitement level hasn’t changed. We still love what we do.
Some of the more memorable moments in my career are hard to pick, since so much of my career can be summed up by the statement, “it really doesn’t feel like going to work, and I get paid to do this”. The last time somebody said this to me was when I was sitting in the back seat of F-18 Hornet jet, and the pilot confessed the same thing. He loved flying, and I loved photography/videography. By the way, I was also a signature away from joining the air force many years ago, as I too, love flying
Memorable moments In My Career
My first big commercial photography job – 6 days working at Syncrude’s Ft. McMurray operation capturing the whole operation from the underground storage spaces, to climbing the 200M smoke stack to get some photos down onto the plant site.
Boating down the Mackenzie River on transportation barges from Norman Wells, NWT to Inuvik and Tuktoyuktuk.
Following the annual migration of caribou through the Firth River area of Northern Yukon and Eastern Alaska. The black flies were epic in proportion and numbers, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. We encountered animals that we are convinced have never seen a human being. They were more curious than cautious, and that can be a little disconcerting when it’s a 400kg grizzly bear, or a pack of Arctic wolves drawn by the plentiful source of their favourite meal – caribou.
Abu Dhabi – documenting the reforestation efforts along the Persian Gulf after the discovery of an underground water sourse running along the coastline.
Beaufort Sea drilling and exploration – A number of assignments documenting the activity and working conditions in an inhospitable environment that might be considered Canada’s last frontier. I actually had a chance to witness polar bears hunting seals, and had an opportunity to throw snowballs with a Polar Bear cub, which led to a game between the cub and myself.
Skimming across the Arctic Ocean in a Zodiac inflatable at 2am in full sunlight during the 24 hours of daylight experienced in early summer, and getting paid to experience the moment.
Documenting the transportation of an offshore drilling platform through the Bering Strait to its final destination in the Arctic. The only other place I’ve seen oceans as rough as this is the South Atlantic Ocean.
Landing on the North Pole, Accompanied a Ice Exploration team sponsored by the Canadian Government to the top of the world. Not many people realize this, but flying from the most southern location of Canada to the most northern location of Canada, is a greater distance than Canada from East to West. What do people do when they fly to the North Pole? Everybody pulls out their magnetic compass and watches it spin around and around. And the scientists do their thing by collecting data and samples. It’s interesting but a bit anticlimactic – a series of pressure ridges on the ice and snow, broken by the various flags of visiting Nations. It was difficult to delineate between the sky and ground, as everything was a shade of white or grey.
Seeing the amazement and wonder on the faces of a classroom of kids when they found their 1st dinosaur fossil in the Canadian Badlands – Dinosaur Provincial Park & Devils Coulee, Alberta.
Ten Days working with the Canadian Tourism Association and Travel Alberta filming and photographing locations from Edmonton, Jasper, Banff and the Icefields Parkway (one of my favourite locations on the planet)
Some of my fondest memories are of the tourism projects with Travel Alberta, Banff & Lake Louise Tourism, BC Tourism, and several other tourist offices, that had me traveling all over Western Canada to places many people have not seen, let alone heard of. I really enjoyed finding a new hidden gem, meeting the locals and hearing their stories about the area, and their life growing up in the middle of it.
The countless hours I spent in helicopters photographing/filming events or locations that varied from industrial sites to resorts in the mountains. Unfortunately it wasn’t always in ideal conditions, and there were many a winter day when I would be in the backseat of a helicopter with the back doors removed for viewing, at -20C. One had to dress for the occasion and be able to still operate cameras. Working from a helicopter in the Arctic, particularly over the pack ice were the most disconcerting moments because there was no reference point as to how high you were flying. At times it looked like you could step out of the helicopter onto the ice, until you realized you were flying at 1000M above the ice. Apparently many pilots suffered from this allusion and had close calls, and unfortunately a number of them died as a result of this error.
A memorable moment that is not photo/video related – going back to school part-time for a Business management program that turned into a 5 year slog through a MBA program. Too much work and no life for those years!
I have so many other memories of experiences like this, that it’s actually hard to pick the best from the bunch. One thing that most of them had in common was that I was privileged to meet and film/photograph people who live and work in many of these locations, and hear their life stories. It was a rare privilege and one that I will never forget. My assignment work was often about the people and the places they worked, and their contribution to their employer, the community and the locations they called home.
I am looking forward to a number of projects in the near future, the main driving force for these would be a new service that our business has started that focuses on photography workshops. I have always enjoyed anything to do with the great outdoors, so naturally landscape photography has always been an interest when I could find the time. As with most businesses, time is always in short supply, so I finally took the leap of faith to make this one of our priorities and incorporate this into our business.
I have a number of workshops running this year that involve my love of the great outdoors, but I also have included some workshops that focus on areas of photography that focus more on the expertise I have gained with my work in advertising, corporate and personal work. Adding these elements to the vast knowledge I have acquired with my work related travels, and I think the mix will provide for some very exciting fun and fact filled workshops. It’s also my way of giving back to the community, as I have been very privileged with my profession and where it has taken me.
I also have some assignment related projects in the near future that will have us getting some mud on our boots, and smiles on our faces. I do have a wish list of dream projects with my work, and I will definitely find the time to pursue these if the opportunity presents itself. The list is rather extensive but I will contain myself and make a shortlist:
I have always wanted to work on a National Geographic project, as I have been a big fan of theirs for decades. It’s the one subscription that I have had for years and will continue as long as I am able to read and appreciate the wonderful images.
I would love to find a sponsor to help me document all or some of the great locations throughout the province of Alberta, BC and Western Canada that I have been privileged to work in. I would also like to include the interesting people and their stories that call these locations home. I consider Western Canada my backyard, and I don’t want to overlook my backyard because it’s amazing.
I think it’s about time that not only this province, but Western Canada, and Canada as a whole has a travel magazine that is full of interesting locations, fun filled pages of stories, and beautiful images of its geography, the people and their stories. I know we have a few magazines that exist like Canadian Geographic, but we don’t have one magazine that appeals to a wider range of Canadians and visitors, with its content. I would definitely want to be involved with this, and would like to share my ideas and experience. I do believe that Canada is poised to become one of the premiere go to places for adventure and holidays. This type of magazine (paper & digital) would do well.
As I mentioned previously, one of my favourite locations in Alberta is the Icefields Parkway, and I have spent countless days hiking, driving, climbing and camping along its approximately 300km length. I would love to find a sponsor to help me document many of its hidden gems and the people who work along it, and their stories.
I continue on the same path with as much enthusiasm as I did on day one, but a little wiser and informed on what truly makes me happy. We are each given a finite number of minutes, days and years in our lifetime and I for one, don’t want to waste any of them.
LIFE is not a rehearsal, and we have one crack at it, so make it a GREAT ONE!
Doran Clark