In the footsteps of Clarke

In fear of being labeled a Plagiarist, I have always admired the work of the late Irish Photographer Bob Carlos Clarke (24-6-1950 til 25-3-2006) and always 'fancied' having a crack at his style of photography. After all, we all aspire to other photographers skills and wish we could take images as good as them. His images of models more akin to the darker side of photography, have graced many books, magazines, news-reel's and more recently laptops. His superbly lit images evoking a sense of foreboding in the viewer. You could feel the leather adorning his beauties. You could hear the PVC 'squeak' as you turn the pages. And you felt the piercing stare of bleached eyes behind Nazi officers caps.
So swapping a bridal gown for a pair of black PVC trousers and lime green PVC corset, the shoot with our model Jenny was to be slightly different to the work I am used to. An image on the front of a past 'Professional Photography' magazine showing one of Carlos Clarke's models dressed in a PVC body suit complete with shark's fin, sparked a thought in our heads to try a shot in the studio. 

Was it meant to be the same as Carlos Clarke's? Hell no! Was it meant to be a direct copy of one of his images. Nope! So what did it achieve? Well it reminded us of how much fun photography really is and we shouldn't be afraid to try something different in ourselves. Even if it has been done before and the style belongs to someone else.