X100 Series : A Brief History Of Time

TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY DEREK CLARK

Back in the first quarter of 2011 when I was lucky enough to get one of the first X100's in the country, I had no idea how this little camera would change everything for me. Fast forward to the last quarter of 2016 and I'm being asked to be a part of the Aquarius project and test the pre-production X100F. I'm so glad the embargo has finally been lifted and I can now talk about this new supercharged X100. You can find my review and other X100F posts on my site by clicking HERE , but I wanted to showcase a few pictures I've shot over the last five+ years with the X100, X100S, X100T and now the X100F. I hope you enjoy.

IMPACT

PHOTOGRAPHY AND TEXT BY DEREK CLARK

My family has been cruising for a long time. By that I mean we have been luckier than most when it comes to tragedy and drama (maybe a little of the latter now and then). So it’s always been at the back of my mind that every good run must come to an end someday. That day came on the 17th of November when I was sitting in a coffee shop with my two photographer friends.

My phone rang and I checked the screen and saw it was my dad, so I answered it straight away. He told me that he had bad news about my sister. Bad news on this occasion was an understatement. He said that she had been diagnosed with a brain tumour. Time slowed, my heart rate rose and I felt everything from my shoulders to my stomach go into free-fall. Nothing can prepare you for a kick like this. I knew Joyce had been taking seizures lately and had been getting tests done, but I never thought for a minute that it would be anything serious. Not this. Not my family. Not my sister. But cruising was over. Time caught up, the red button had been pressed and the missiles had not only flown, but found their target and hit with full force. IMPACT.

Within days she was under a surgeons knife, in the form of a four hour operation to perform a biopsy, resulting in the picture you see above. The size of the scar and the metal staples that hold it together have taken something that wasn’t visible, but lurking beneath the surface, and brought it out into the open. All of this shit and I haven’t heard a single complaint. She takes it on the chin and moves on.

It’s too dangerous to try to remove the tumour, but the results from the biopsy say that the size of it can be reduced. So weeks or months of Radio and Chemotherapy are stretched out in front of her. I always think this time of year is all about looking back at what you have done and planning ahead for the year to come. But at least for now, the future isn’t what it used to be.

So right now it feels as though there is nothing much to celebrate. But. Celebrate courage. Celebrate modern medicine. Celebrate the man that dedicates his life to Neurology. Celebrate a country with a health service that treats everyone equally, not just the ones with medical insurance. But also celebrate the little girl in the old black and white photo with faded handwriting on the back. Because she shouldn't have to go through this! And lastly, celebrate the parents, who in their 70's and 80's are still looking after that little girl.

horizons

White Sands, New Mexico, USA

By Charlene Winfred

Reflecting on the different edges of the world, all of the metaphors that come to me are an echo: boundaries, fences, walls. Go forth and conquer, but leave the strangers where you found them. The horizon as a line in the texture of numerous such edges, fruitful and varied, is hidden.

It has been three years since I've started returning to the mother country regularly. This time, I find myself appreciating subtleties that were lost to me before. Finding hope in small corners, against the onslaught that usually drives me to despair and a whole lot of anger. I am learning to listen, and finally understanding what I cannot yet hear. In doing so, shrugging off my own yoke.

Third time's the lucky charm. 

Long may we seek to broaden our horizons, and discover all the remarkable things that lie between ourselves and eternity.

To Be Free Is To Have No Fear

To Be Free Is To Have No Fear

I'm as bad as anyone else, really.

I spend too much of my time trying to improve things, to make something better, or to upgrade - whatever the 'thing' is, there's a new one, and it looks better than whatever I've got. And this time of year just amplifies that feeling, many times over. Every second email shouts 'New! Shiny! Buy!'

But when you look around - really look - it's hard to miss the fact that actually, there are much bigger problems to solve in the world than the tiny incremental improvements I could make to my own life…

Moments of Cheer

By Kevin Mullins

As we come to the end of a very busy year for myself, both personally and professionally, I'm drawn back to a single day in March.

I'm not a gambling person, but once a year I head to the Cheltenham Festival or racing.  I'm always drawn to those that seem to have so much resting on a four legged beast as it rumbles over the turf.

It's been a year of turmoil for many, with huge choices being made in the political world, and for me, personally and professionally.

But one thing will always make me smile.....and that is other people smiling.

Keep smiling folks, and have a very wonderful end to 2016 and a most prosperous 2017.

Lose Yourself

By Flemming Bo Jensen

In that moment,
Everything feels right.
We are all in this together.
Celebrate the music.
Dance your cares away.
Worry's for another day. 
Music is the answer.
To your problems
Keep on moving
Then you can solve them.
Music sounds better with you!

(Credits/inspiration: Human Traffic, Eminem, Fraggle Rock, Danny Tenaglia, Stardust and others I may have forgotten) 

Time Gone By

Bobby Wellins | Saxophonist | 1936 - 2016

Photography & Text By Derek Clark

The jazz world lost another great musician last week. Tenor saxophonist Bobby Wellins passed away at the age of 80. I had the chance to photograph Bobby on the 23rd of May 2013 during the recording of the Culloden Moor Suite CD with The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra. These are the pictures I shot that day for the inside of the gatefold CD. We talked saxophones while he waited for the next take. Bobby found it interesting that I play sax and photograph musicians. It was a privilege to speak to him and an honour to stand a few feat away while he recorded the sax parts.

There's been a couple of times during the three years of shooting this jazz project (I don't even think I can call it a project anymore. It's just what I do) that I have questioned my motivation. Am I done? Have I got to the point where I'm shooting pictures I've already shot? Is this important in Scotland? After all this isn't New York or Paris during the jazz heyday. But I stick with it because I always come back with at least a few pictures that I'm proud of and that I would happily hang on a wall. I get to meet and photograph jazz legends from the UK and abroad, people that have been part of my Record/CD collection for years. But above all else, I get to shoot pictures for a few hours while listening to some of the most beautiful music I've had the pleasure of hearing. There hasn't been a gig went past that I haven't just stopped taking pictures and closed my eyes to hear the music. I mean REALLY hear the music.

It's so easy to get lost in the technical side of things while we're photographing whatever is in front of our lens, the aperture, the shutter speed...etc. But we need to set it and let it be sometimes. We need to take in the moment and witness it not just as photographers, but as human beings. Time is linear. It's here, it's gone and it will never be repeated. This could be the last day for any one of us, young or old. Live it like it was!

Tommy (Smith) put together a montage of my pictures from that day and set it to one of Bobby's tunes (below). I watched it in my car and realised, beyond all doubt, that the pictures I capture of this great music we call Jazz, are important!

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Meetings & Collisions

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Meetings & Collisions

At the most basic, fundamental level, photography is about collision.

Light hitting an object, bouncing, and being gathered.

I like the intersection of planes, the crossing of lines, the meeting places between people, between objects, or just between constantly shifting, fading shadows.

Surfaces. Textures. Light, shade.

That's all we have.

What Lies Beneath

Below The Surface Of Glasgow Central Station

By Derek Clark

An estimated 28 million passengers pass through Glasgow Central Station every year. From locals to tourists, business professionals to immigrants, old married couples to brand new couples meeting for the first time. I met my wife on the concourse (above) of this amazing station. Although we were born 7200 miles apart, fate (for want of a better word) brought us together 12 years ago in this station. In a sea of travellers on an extremely busy afternoon, I saw a rucksack move through the crowd as though it was floating on air. Then I saw her black hair swaying from side to side under the weight of her heavy rucksack and the rest, as they say, is history.

Central Station was opened on the 31st of July 1879 and is the largest building in the city. The glass roof is the largest in Europe and consists of 48,000 panes of glass. During the first world war the dead would be brought down below the platforms for relatives to identify and collect. It was then up to the deceased’s love ones to carry the body up the stairs and to get their husband, son …etc home.

The gate (above) and railings nearby are painted red because this area was dedicated to the Royal Mail. In August 1963 the regular mail train left from Central Station to deliver mail and a vast sum of money to London. A gang of 15 robbers tampered with signals on the track, attacked the train and got away with 2.6 million pounds (equivalent to 50 million today). In the course of the robbery, train driver Jack Mills was beaten with an iron bar and was unable to work again. He died 7 years later. This is known as The Great Train Robbery, one of the most infamous crimes in British history.

A tour beneath Central Station is now available HERE which I highly recommend taking if you visit Scotland or even if you live here. A huge thanks to Paul Lyons for his vision, wit and enthusiasm. Paul is one of the best story tellers I have had the pleasure of listening to and delivers his fantastic knowledge of history with tremendous passion.