Award-winning photographer and illustrator Chris Clor has spent his entire career as a visual communicator specializing in conceptual, portrait and product photography.
His imaginative, evocative style blends analogue and digital techniques to produce strikingly cinematic imagery with wit and a strong flair for storytelling.
A leading talent in photo illustration, working within the genre of conceptual, portrait, landscape and CGI rendering, Chris’ recognizable style, professionalism and easy going personality make him a favorite with clients such as Shell Oil, Gillette, Schick, Ford Motor, Pfizer, to mention but a few. A strong sense of composition, lighting and colour results in high impact imagery for his clients.
Chris was born and raised in a suburb of Detroit Michigan. He became interested in photography at the age of 12 and photographed his first commercial assignment at age 13, (even if it was for his father’s electronics company). He spent many years in a traditional darkroom working for small newspapers, portrait studios and eventually managed a darkroom for a landscape photographer.
He transitioned to shooting commercial and advertising projects and opened his first studio in 1990 and was well known for his analog (film based) multi-exposure techniques. Chris embraced digital technology early on and also added CGI rendering to his repertoire in the mid 90’s. Today his work is a blend of CGI, photography and composited elements. He also shoots both film and digital for his projects, depending on the needs of his client or his own preference for the look he wishes to achieve.
Chris is involved in all phases of his photoshoots. Meticulous planning and production insures that the project is executed smoothly.He also does all of his own CGI work as well as the compositing and retouching of his photo compositions and has done so since 1993.
Shooting a project and turning over the images to a retoucher does not fit into his work ethic. So many photographers today rely on others to achieve their imagery and in so doing also lose a bit of their own style as the retouchers have their own vision and impart this to the project. Hence he sees a lot of imagery that can be associated more with the look of the art studio doing the retouching rather than the actual visual style of the photographer.
He is also an avid landscape photographer and specializes in black and white, both film and digital capture and plans his landscape shoots much as he would a commercial assignment. Generally working from sunrise to sunset, each location is thoroughly researched and scheduled with alternative plans in case of inclement weather. His last venture to Isle of Skye in Scotland he logged more than 1300 miles on the island, 1 flat tire and more than a few altercations with the local sheep and cows roaming the fields.
Having spent many years shooting 8×10, 4×5 and 6×6 formats he adopted digital capture early. His first digital back was a Phase one H1. Chris has shot Phaseone, Canon, Hasselblad digital cameras and now shoots with a Sony A7rII for most of his work. He shoots a Horseman 6×9 camera and Bronica Etrsi 6×4.5 for film projects.
Chris has won numerous awards including the Communication Arts award for photography in 2012 and the 2013 One Eyeland Photographer of the Year award. His work has often appeared in the photographic press (Digital Photographer, Adobe Layers, Capture, etc.) and he is sought after for speaking engagements at various schools and universities (Blackpool and Fylde College, Oakland College, etc.) and photographic associations Including The Irish Professional Photographers Assoc. and The American Society of Magazine Photographers. [Official Website]
