Plan B is for “Better”

by Delaney Dobson

Some vacations involve sitting on a beach in the middle of the Caribbean while a waiter serves you a pink icy drink with a tiny umbrella. Other vacations are filled with adventure and new experiences. When Scott Clark takes time off, an adventurous vacation is all he wants. Recently, he set out with three buddies on an alpine climbing adventure in Canada, but he had no idea what sort of journey was in store. Though the trip started out with no complications, Scott and his friends found themselves redesigning their entire trip when they were denied entry into Canada.

After the news sunk in we scrambled to salvage the trip. Matt [Lloyd] got on the phone and started calling anyone he knew that had beta in Idaho and Eastern Washington. We talked about going to the Cascades. It seemed feasible until we realized how much further it was to the climbing. We were tired and upset. We got a hotel for the night in Conrad, MT and tried to piece together a plan.

But this major setback did not discourage the four friends to give up on their journey and go home. They continued onto plan b, a spontaneous trip that involved climbing 600-foot-tall vertical-to-overhanging limestone cliffs in Glacier National Park, waking up in their tents somewhere in Idaho, taking a dip in Redfish Lake and finishing up their journey in Utah. There, they climbed cliffs and enjoyed the Summer Outdoor Retail Trade Show.

Scott’s approach to his photography mimicked the spontaneous adventure of his trip and he enjoyed partaking in the activities in addition to documenting them.

Photography-wise, I planned on going very lightweight. I had my camera and a few batteries that I used primarily. There’s not a lot you can plan out when you don’t know where or what you’re doing. The one side note is the great majority of these shots were not taken with my main camera, Canon 5d Mkiii, but my compact mirrorless, Sony A6000. By having the A6000 I was more willing to carry it with me at all times and shot more “random” things with it.

This incredible journey truly fits into Scott’s overall photographic style, making the personal work that much more powerful.

I’ve been shooting adventure lifestyle since around 2010-2011, changing my style from a much more traditional commercial look that I had been doing for the previous several years. A lot of what I do now is getting out with athletes to photograph them climbing, skiing, running, etc. It helps that I enjoy all of those things as well. In general I think most of this work fits within my style. Personal work inspires me to continually grow as an artist. One of the principles I’ve clung to as a creative is you must shoot what you want to do. Push yourself to shoot regularly for you.

The trip overall taught Scott one very important lesson when it comes to his shooting.

Rarely does everything go as planned. Most of the time you just have to make stuff up as you go. Always be ready to shoot. You never know what’s going to happen next.

To read more about his journey visit his blog. To see more of his commercial photography, check out his website.

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