NOTICE BOARD

GREAT PHOTOGRAPHER STORY

It was in the summer of either 1982 or '83 that a friend and I attended a pop concert in London. We then stayed an extra day to take in a few sights. I'd just bought an Olympus OM10.

I tried a few shots in Trafalgar Square. It was my first 35mm camera and I was trying to make sense of all those strange figures on the lens barrel and the shutter speed dial.

My friend was yelling at me to get a move on when a long-haired bloke with a camera bag approached me. 'Having problems?' he grinned. I was indeed having problems. As the camera lacked the add-on manual adapter, I'd been trying to sort out shutter speeds and apertures when in actual fact all I needed to do was just set it on auto, select an aperture and fire away. I didn't know this, of course until my knight in shining armour told me .

My friend sat there waiting for me to take her picture, and I was about to do so when my charming new pal said, 'Hang on a minute'. He took the newspaper out of my pocket, opened it and stood sideways on to my friend. He explained that by using the paper to reflect the light on to my friends face it would help control the contrast.

I pointed to his bulky camera bag and asked if he were a professional photographer. He nodded and I made a joke about how he must be loaded. He smiled and said, 'I do OK'.

After I'd thanked him for his help he reached into his bag, pulled out two rolls of film and handed them to me. 'Try it' , he said. 'You might like it'. What an absolute gent, I thought and with a smile he was on his way.

A couple of months later my late dad bought a copy of a now long-gone photo magazine. Inside was a portfolio by a world-famous photographer called Bob Carlos Clarke. As I sat gazing at a shot of a crashed helicopter my gaze then went to the small portrait of Clarke at the head of the page. It was him - the bloke who'd come to my aid. When I excitedly told my dad he was as stunned as I was.

We noted from the article that Bob was was a huge fan of Kodak Tri-X. I rushed to my room and dug out the two rolls of film he'd given me. Tri-X I'd noted. It was those rolls of film and a little help from my photography-mad dad that got me into processing and printing mono, which I have been doing ever since.

It was so sad when Bob took his own life, and he has been saddled with the 'troubled genius' label. He may have ended his life deeply troubled, but I will never forget the kindness he showed to an out-of-her depth Geordie lass trying to get to grips with her first camera.

From an article in the Back Chat section of Amateur Photographer magazine by AP reader Susan Cave, 22nd August 2009. An edited version is displayed here.

Footnote: I have heard a similar story from someone who I used to know, when he talked to Bob at the annual Focus on Imaging show held at the N.E.C, Birmingham in 1989. He obviously had time for people and was approachable.

I like no doubt many other serious photographers was very upset to hear of his passing in such tragic circumstances. I have one of his prints that takes pride of place on my living room wall.