Adventures in Light with David Clifford
Some photographers are lucky enough to say they had a parent inspire them to pick up a camera. For David Clifford, his father was a longtime Minolta shooter with a subscription to American Photo magazine. Clifford’s story is one that follows an interesting narrative of immersing yourself in what you love, realizing when you have to make the hard choices of following passions, and setting yourself up for success with investing in yourself.
Many creatives who have an eye for design but also have a nagging left brain (think your parent’s giving you advice in your head) make a natural progression in college age and study architecture. For many it’s the perfect culmination of left brain/right brain thinking, as well as some decent salaries. No one blames these individuals as that’s a hard package to say no to. When David arrived at Northeastern in Boston, he decided to major in architecture with a minor in photography. His time wasn’t spent partying and drinking like most college aged kids, instead you could find David in the film lab working as a lab tech for the school. He spent all his time learning as much as he could about techniques, the craft, and bettering his work – so much so that he eventually also worked as an intern for Polaroid. Few can say they worked harder than Clifford during their college years at something they were only supposed to minor in. Which is why after a few years, David made a tough choice.
Many creatives who have an eye for design but also have a nagging left brain (think your parent’s giving you advice in your head) make a natural progression in college age and study architecture. For many it’s the perfect culmination of left brain/right brain thinking, as well as some decent salaries. No one blames these individuals as that’s a hard package to say no to. When David arrived at Northeastern in Boston, he decided to major in architecture with a minor in photography. His time wasn’t spent partying and drinking like most college aged kids, instead you could find David in the film lab working as a lab tech for the school. He spent all his time learning as much as he could about techniques, the craft, and bettering his work – so much so that he eventually also worked as an intern for Polaroid. Few can say they worked harder than Clifford during their college years at something they were only supposed to minor in. Which is why after a few years, David made a tough choice.
Realizing his passion lay more with photography than architecture, Clifford had the decision to drop out of Northeastern and move to Aspen to pursue a career as an outdoor adventure lifestyle photographer. Early after his arrival, he knew he had to keep investing in himself so he signed up for paid for two workshops put on by National Geographic with their esteemed shooters. After shooting full-time for around nine years, the itch of another challenge came along in the form of working as a Photo Editor for Rock & Ice Magazine and Trail Runner Magazine whom loved his body of work and stylistic eye for outdoor work. Knowing these new roles would give David a new perspective on photography as well as access to new clientele, he quickly took over the new position.
It was around this time as a photo editor, that National Geographic came knocking for an assignment on how global warming was affecting the ski industry. After pitching NatGeo on his vision for the shoot, they simply said it couldn’t be done, especially by a virtual unknown at that time. So in his usual fashion, David, told NatGeo he’d agree to shoot it on spec for a chance to show them it could be done and he was the photographer to do it – taking big risks. While having some reservations, the staff at NatGeo decided that being on spec would mitigate the risk they were incurring, and agreed to the terms David set out. Upon returning with a set of images that blew the people at NatGeo away, they quickly realized Clifford’s vision was just what they were looking for and he’s the real deal.
Around this time, his second NatGeo assignment came through that was a bit more prestigious in nature seeing as how David would be going out on-location to India, to shoot the first descent of the Subansiri River by a team of rafters with a kayaker through Red Chili Adventures; Bridget Crocker, Kevin Thompson, Erik Meldrum, Mara Drazina, Beth Nolan, Tilak Borah, Arun Ray. They used gear graciously loaned by Arvind Bhardwaj of Red Chilli Adventures and logistical support was provided by RiverIndia and Nino Dai of Donyi Polo Tours. Now, an interesting side-note worth mentioning, this second gig for NatGeo was actually the work of Bridget Crocker, whom is a talented outdoor travel writer, who pitched NatGeo on the article idea and insisted bringing on Clifford, who she had worked with on a previous piece for Trail Runner magazine. Quickly, I was seeing why David made the transition to photo editor at that point earlier in his career. These adventurers would be the first to ever ride the Subansiri in it’s entirety in India and Clifford would the first person to capture stills from this moment – a big feather in his cap career-wise for a college dropout. And adventures they were! With Crocker and her crew in India for a month prior to the shoot, which was quite the lesson in Murphy’s Law. Turned out the rafts that were suppose to be used for the shoot were stuck in customs, so Crocker & Thompson had to gather materials and enlist the help of a local welder to make the four-day rafting trip happen, luckily using some accrued ingenuity from their travels across the globe for years before this India trip.
Speaking of gear failing you due to rigorous traveling and shooting, David made it a point to invest in some used Chimera gear from a local NatGeo shooter early on which quickly made him realize the quality of their products. Overnight he became enamored with their ruggedness for the work he was doing on-location with heavy abuse being put on all his gear. Speaking of abuse, there was one incident that David still brings up all these years later but finds tough to talk about: While shooting on a cliff with his assistant, it came time to break down all the gear and go home. Suddenly, the wind picked up at the high altitude and Clifford witnessed his beloved, rare Chimera soft-box (with the old purple Chimera logo) go flying off the edge of the cliff down into the foggy abyss below. For David, it was like watching an old friend, with an out of circulation old logo mind you, fall to it’s death. Whether that day was the assistant’s last day with David or not, he won’t tell with a sly smile on his face. However, it’s a good sedge-way into the topic of who you know – after having some talks with Chimera about new poles for his soft-box and sending it in for some light repair for a tear, he was pleasantly surprised to get back a good as new soft-box with extra poles & an enclosed note saying something to the effect of: Thanks for being a loyal Chimera customer all these years, we’ve been following your work for a while and consider the repair and enclosed poles a gift from us to show our appreciation!
Not many people can attest to that type of treatment from a high-end company, which he did not take lightly, instead assuring his loyalty over all those years. Around that time, he actually got a call one day from a former assistant of his that now worked for Chimera as a social media director. Upon speaking about his soft-box repair story, his assistant couldn’t believe that Clifford wasn’t a Chimera Visionary at this point, with the decades of abuse his Chimera gear was put through only to have him happily tell everyone they’re still holding up great and he couldn’t be happier. Like they say, it’s funny who you’ll meet again along the way in your career; who knows if it’s the same assistant who lost his last Chimera soft-box!
When asked about who inspires him as a shooter, he’s quick to show me the only print by another photographer he’s ever purchased: a beautiful BW shot from famed climber & photographer, Tom Frost. Now the name may sound familiar to some of you, since Frost is also noted for having co-founded Chimera Lighting with Gary Regester; yes the very one and the same. David also credits Getty shooters, Al Bello & Adam Pretty, whom between them have covered almost 20 Olympic games and won numerous awards. While still busy with client work, Clifford said that nowadays he’s making it more of a point to shoot what he wants, how he wants so he’s been shooting camping, hiking, and star trails – all the things that he’s been doing all his life now with a seasoned creative eye that years of big editorial & commercial work has honed.
