David Clifford has been shooting since his parents gave him a Kodak 110 camera when he was about 8 years old. David’s main passion is analog photography, of which he is a master, he has many other photography passions. At home, he has treasures hidden away that would make every passionate photographer a little jealous. He welcomed us at his home, and we got a glimpse of what his life looks like behind the scenes.
David is a photographer/videographer with many talents and interests. As a result, he’s acquired quite an impressive collection of cameras and lenses. He’s also collected different f-stop packs throughout the years! Let us give you some examples of equipment he has and carries.
His main pack is the TILOPA 50L where he usually has his Nikon kit with 4-5 lenses which are mostly prime lenses. His second most used pack is an AJNA 37 L which carries his Sony kit or video kit. He also prefers the Ajna and its smaller dimensions as a light day pack for the mountains. Sometimes he brings it to his kids’ baseball games.
He is still using one of his first f-stop gear packs! The Ando 18L Shoulder Bag and he still loves it as a day-to-day pack. In the Florentin 11 L Shoulder Bag, he stores his CHAMONIX analog camera for 4 by 5 prints along with 1-2 lenses, film, and a handheld Sekonic meter.
When traveling you'll likely meet him with the Dyota 20 Rolltop. With the two side access zippers he usually carries his Sony or the Z6 camera and a lens on one side. On the other side access, he usually has a 70-200 lens. In the back, he has his laptop and passports for him and his son.
David is a well-rounded professional. He juggles commitments to his three kids and wife with quite a variety of jobs. With a deep knowledge of photography, he’s built up a broad spectrum of professional assignments from editorial work, portraits, events, commercial work, landscape, and video.
One of the biggest advantages to having everything in your garage is you can quickly repurpose ( as David loves doing) the garage and driveway into an outdoor studio! He has all the gear and cameras at hand so he doesn't need to carry anything far. With his son playing tennis in the background and his dog saying hi or playing with the models, it can seem a bit chaotic. David even uses a leaf blower as a wind machine. The working environment might be different than in a studio, but when watching David at work he is super focused. Nothing distracts him.
After a successful portrait shoot, David turned his attention to a client’s request to find an image the client lost. Over David’s 20 years in the professional, he’s accumulated quite a few hard drives. The client’s lost image is from a project several years ago, and David combed through 63 different hard drives looking for it. One of the challenges confronting David is matching the hard drive with the right cables. The technology of storage systems, cables, and photography has changed a lot throughout the years. Just watching him find the right cables for his hard drives gave Lena an idea of how long he has been active in the industry.
For David, it's all about staying adaptable. The modularity of the f-stop system allows David to customize his camera kit and bag for each shoot.
For his 150-year-old lenses - which he uses for his 8x10 wetplates - he even had a custom lens cap made by a friend in Ukraine. One of his favorite pieces of gear is his “Cyclops.” “This is a 165mm f 1.8 lens that shoots up to 5x7 inch and a little bit of vignetting at 8x10 inches - just amazing," he says. For storing his lens he configures the f-stop camera inserts and adds additional dividers to the sides for additional padding. In the padded camera Insert he adds extra protection for the lens. Next to the lens, he adds a bag full of silica gels and some cloth with additional bubble wrap to keep any moisture out and protect his gear. His kids call all that “dedication”.
One main piece of advice for packing he would give is "You’ve got to accessorize". For example, f-stop accessory pouches help David stay organized and keep gear accessible and easy to reach. He would tell you, "One can never have enough camera inserts." The Micro Tiny camera Insert fits his 4x5 inch shots perfectly! It’s even better for David to have two of them to separate films he’s not used to from films he needs to develop.
One of the main challenges of still working with "old arts" is that it takes a lot of skill and precision. Another challenge is the equipment he needs. The chemicals needed to develop photos are quite expensive, and sometimes lenses and cameras are very hard to find.
The time and skill needed for creating wet plate portraits are usually not clear to potential clients. Some clients shy away from these projects due to the cost. One portrait needs to be photographed with precision and afterward developed in a portable darkroom on location. David plans to transform a camping trailer into a darkroom to make wet plate projects more accessible.
You will notice the spark in his eyes when David shows you his treasures. With artists like David, the wet plate or analog photography is still practiced and lives on! Even after years and years of doing photography, he is proud of his work and still very much enjoys it. When sometimes things don't work out as planned David, just shrugs his shoulders. "Well - You got to make the best of it,” and he moves on to the next fun project.
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