By

Bibb Gault

Last week we learned that D. Clarke Evans, who served as the TPS president for twenty years, passed away. Clarke's friend Bibb reached out to us to share some stories.

I made some notes and recalled some stories Clarke told me over the years that many might not be aware of. Please bare with me, its kinda random.

Clarke was born in Waco,Texas 10-3-1946. At some point early in his childhood, his family moved to Lubbock where Clarke graduated from high school in 1963 or 64. Clarke’s dad was a lawyer and an amateur photographer. This was Clarke’s introduction to photography. Clarke's dad had a twin-lens Rolleiflex and darkroom that he let Clarke use and this started the ball rolling. Clarke owned and displayed that Rolleiflex till he died.

At some point, I’m thinking late high school or when he was at Texas Tech, Clarke worked for a professional photographer in Lubbock and was exposed to the money making aspects of photography. That studio did all aspects of commercial and portrait photography. Told me that photographer was a kind of “quick and dirty” but it was a good learning experience.

Clarke told me he worked at a bank in Hobbs, New Mexico for a while. Said he learned a lot about the financial world while working at this little bank. He also learned the significance of personal relationships in business. He new clients buy their first name. Not sure what lead him to Hobbs.

Not sure if you are aware of the story about Clarke running out of money to finish his education at Brooks Institute. This is a good one. Living in Santa Barbara and attending Brooks was expensive. So while he was running the museum/gallery at Brooks, he put together a show that was seen by a very wealthy admirer of art. This admirer commented on how well the show was presented and wanted to know who put it together. The admirer was told about Clarke and that it was a shame he would be leaving and going back to Texas without finishing his education at Brooks. He immediately said he wanted to meet Clarke and pay for the remainder of his education and other expenses. He didn't want to be paid back, he just wanted Clarke to finish. This is how Clarke finished his Brooks education. Pretty cool story…

Then there is the Karman Ghia story…. where he was driving from Lubbock back to Santa Barbara and the starter went out at his first fuel stop. He push started the car and proceeded to drive across the country and never shut it off till he arrived in Santa Barbara. Left it running during fuel stops and while sleeping at road side stops. Crazy.
I met Clark in late 1985 or early 1986 when we worked together at a commercial photography studio named Bud Shannon Photography. He was a rep/studio manager for us and in charge of bringing in new clients and jobs. He didn't work there very long. Maybe a year and had to resign because of an awful disagreement between the owner and Clarke’s wife Kathy. His resignation is tied to the controversial 😂 photo that Clarke made of a firework display over the Alamo and some posters of the shot that Bud financed. Kathy was going to sell the posters but got in a squabble about her sales commission. After Clarke resigned, he immediately started running his own commercial photography business till he became the Spurs Photographer and started running TPS. Many people aren’t aware that Clarke did a lot of product photography, architectural exteriors and interiors, construction etc. It paid his bills in the early days of his career.

The controversy over the Alamo Fireworks image has another interesting twist. This one makes me laugh.. So at Bud Shannon Photo, we had a big in house lab and we were regularly called on by a Kodak tech rep named Ed Mays. Ed came in one day while Clarke was gone and saw the slide page of Alamo Fireworks images on the light table and really got excited. The shot was pretty damn good… So good that Ed Mays wanted permission from Clarke to submit it for use in an Eastman Kodak calendar. I didn’t want to tell the rep that the shots were on Fujichrome…. Clarke got back and had to tell him that the fantastic shot wasn't on Kodak film. It really caught the rep off guard…. It is funny looking back on it and where the film industry went.

Are you aware how Clarke got the job with the Spurs? An old fashioned solicitation letter he sent to Spurs management selling himself and expressing his interest in photographing some games pro bono… It worked! They had him start shooting some games. He did this for a while and the NBA was using some of his shots even though there was another photographer with the “Team Photographer” job. This photographer was a BIG name in San Antonio and a little cocky. The team photographer got in a squabble several times with NBA referees about where he was allowed to shoot at the edge of the court. He defied the referees one too many time and got fired! The rest is history. Clarke was in the right place at the right time and instantly became the official Spurs Team Photographer. Clarke photographed the Spurs during the “Glory Days” and NBA championships.

Clarke and I remained friends till the end. I used to assist him on Spurs Media Days and helped him shoot numerous Spurs Team Photos. We had some things in common in that we both had formal photographic education. He went to Brooks and I went to Sam Houston State University. I couldn't afford Brooks and the expense of living in California. All of my instructors at Sam Houston were from Brooks and he knew for some of my instructors.

When he started doing lots of inkjet printing of his WW2 project, Clarke discovered he didn’t see color all that well. He would regularly call me over to get my opinion on color balance. I was a custom color printer for many years having to match fabric, carpet and leather samples. Really tough. Probably why he trusted my judgement.

D. Clarke Evans is a graduate of Brooks Institute of Photography who served six years in the Marine Corps Reserve from 1964-1970 and was honorably discharged as a Sergeant. He also has a Master of Arts degree in Museum Science. Clarke was the team photographer for the San Antonio Spurs from 1989-2015. He served as president of the Texas Photographic Society from 1993-2013. Today Clarke devotes his time to two personal projects, "Semper Fidelis: Portraits & Stories of US Marines," and "Before They're Gone: Portraits & Stories of World War II Veterans." To read more about his work, go to www.dclarkeevans.com.