News Stories

World-renowned photographer Jack Kelly Clark retires from the University of California

• May 2, 2005
• • CONTACT: Jeannette Warnert
  • (559) 646-6074
  • jewarnert@ucdavis.edu
• N / A
• 

  Jack Kelly Clark

  By combining an interest in science with an eye for fine art, photographer Jack Kelly Clark built a distinguished 38-year career with the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources delivering photos that educate and delight farmers and gardeners in California and worldwide. Clark retires June 1.

   

  In 1967, Clark was nearing graduation at UC Davis with a bachelor’s degree in zoology when he accepted a part-time darkroom job at the Agricultural Extension Service Visual Aids office. He never looked back.

   

  “I didn’t stick around for the money. However, after several months on this job, I became addicted to photography, and, because my work was being used to convey useful information out to the public, I just found myself in a very satisfying situation,” Clark said.  “I try to maximize the information content in my images.  If a picture is worth 1,000 words, I believe a good picture is worth 10,000 words.”

   

  Clark’s subjects have ranged from plant diseases to agricultural landscapes to aerials of major California reservoirs. However, he is best known for his extraordinary images of agricultural pests and beneficial insects.  With his patience and macro-photography skill, Clark captured thousands of close-up pictures of many different species which impact agriculture.

   

  These photos have been particularly helpful in producing the Division’s Integrated Pest Management manuals and publications.  More than 80,000 of Clark’s images are part of the UC IPM photo collection.

   

  “These photos of crops and their pests are used widely in ANR publications and in extension publications from other states, and are generally regarded as the best there are,” said Larry Strand, a senior writer for UC IPM who is responsible for archiving the program’s photo collection.  “They have helped garner for UC IPM's Web site a worldwide reputation for excellence.”

   

  Clark has been instrumental in providing professional images for the Division’s research magazine California Agriculture.  The magazine’s executive editor Janet White said there has rarely been an issue of the publication that did not include Clark’s work.

   

  “Because we are a scientific publication, readers expect the photographs to be scientifically accurate — as well as to have strong visual impact,” White said. “Jack has had a profound influence on California Agriculture for many years, and he has contributed immeasurably to the quality of the magazine.”

   

  Not one to call attention to himself, Clark has not entered his work in contests.

   

  “Jack may not have a wall full of awards, but he has universal professional acknowledgement that he is one of the best science photographers in the world,” said director of UC ANR Communications Services Bob Sams.  “By bringing an incisive mind and inquisitive eye to the problem, Jack conveys key scientific information through images that are rich in essential detail, but still pleasing. That makes him a very sophisticated educator.”

   

  In the field of photography, Clark is mainly self-taught. He attended various workshops, including a two-week session presented in Yosemite in 1969 by famed nature photographer Ansel Adams. And, he said, he “rubbed shoulders with a lot of talented photographers over the years.”

   

  

  Citrus publication cover by Jack Kelly Clark (Click for high-res.)

  One of those was former UC Davis colleague and continuing collaborator, fine art nature photographer George Lepp of Los Osos. Lepp praises the artistry of Clark’s photos, pointing as an example to the cover of a citrus publication that features the fruit trees in the foreground set dramatically against snow-covered mountains rising behind them.

   

  “His insect and agriculture pictures are better than everyone else’s because he approaches them as fine art in terms of composition, lighting and color,” Lepp said. “All the things we would do if we were shooting calendars he is out there doing for scientific illustrations.”

   

  As the field of photography began to transform in the digital age, Clark stayed on the cutting edge. Much as he trained himself in the art of photography, Clark became an expert in digital pre-press photo enhancement -- cropping, scaling, color correction and cmyk profiling. He has worked on photos taken by scientists all over the state, converting their snapshots into print-quality images that communicate information and are visually pleasing.

   

  “I had some good help here too,” Clark said. “Early on, my friend and colleague, UC Davis photographer Gabriel Unda, pointed me in the right direction on the digital roadmap.”

   

  Clark said the transformation from film to digital photography has been the most exciting development of his career.

   

  “The computer has completely replaced the darkroom,” he said. “I spend from 60 to 70 percent of my time at the computer now.”

   

  During retirement Clark intends to stay in Davis and come back to work for the Division part time. He is learning to play the cello and plans to pursue personal photography.

   

  “I’m going to try to make some art,” he said.

  ---

  Examples of Clark's photos:

   

  

  A predaceous mite, Anystis agilis, eating the nymph of a grape leafhopper, Erythroneura elegantula.

  
  

  

  Adult syrphid fly.

   

  

  Ascospores being discharged from apothecia of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum.

   

  

  Adult western malaria mosquito, Anopheles freeborni.