Ian Clark

I come from a technical background and curiosity leads me to wonder about the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of things. This is reflected in my photographs. My photos are often focused on how my subject is doing what it’s doing and why it’s doing it. My love of railroads – particularly steam locomotives – and wildlife give me lots of opportunities to illustrate these concepts. As you look at my photographs, you can see I strive to show why a critter is where it is and doing what it is doing. Is it feeding on something, hiding from something or trying to attract the attention of a potential mate? In my railroad photographs, I try to show why the railroad exists and how the particular railroad and equipment conquer the specific challenges of terrain and climate.

My work is ongoing, there are over 200 working steam locomotives in the US, I’ve photographed 138 of them under steam and intend to get to the rest. In the last several years, I’ve been able to pursue my other love, nature photography. I’ve managed to capture over 300 species, traveling from the Bay of Fundy to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Viewers are the ultimate judge of my images. An image succeeds when viewers recognize the effort – often dozens of hours to capture an image – and my a...