David Clarkson
I am a military brat and a corporate gypsy. Monterey, CA is my 19th home. During that time I spent four years in the Marine Corps, graduated from CSULB, and Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. After almost fifty years in corporate life my wife and I retired in Monterey, CA.
Artist’s Statement
Photography reconnects me to my beginnings and who I once was. My Midwestern family and friends included blacksmiths, railroad men, barkeeps, farmers, industrial line workers, and clerks. Few had educations beyond high school. These folks worked hard and stayed close to their birthplace.
I was one of the few that left. However, fifty years of the Marine Corps, at university, followed by a corporate life, gave me the feeling that I did not belong, loosed from the moorings of my past and uncomfortable in a new life. I traded the familiarity of a small town for the anonymity of the city. Both can provide comfort. Either can kill the soul.
Unfortunately, one cannot go back.
Modern urban environments reconnect me to the folks with whom I lived, loved, and laughed. The settings differ, but the players are much the same. Everyday people leading everyday lives crowd these streets. If I cannot return to what once was, I can at least use my camera to get closer, to somehow make a connection, however fleeting.
