Working almost exclusively in black and white, Chuck Clarke looks for moments of connection, vulnerability, and shared humanity as they unfold in everyday life. His images are shaped by light, movement, and feeling rather than spectacle, whether made on the streets of Paris, through a car windshield, or at home with family. In this interview, Chuck reflects on his early influences, his commitment to monochrome photography, and why making images that feel true still matters in a fast, image-saturated world.
How did your photography journey begin, and what moments or influences shaped the photographer you are today?
Born in Australia, I spent my earliest years in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea, where my father immersed himself in documentary-style black-and-white photography, capturing both our family life and the Indigenous people, their customs, ceremonies, and environment. Our kitchen was often transformed into a makeshift darkroom after my sisters and I went to bed, and we would wake up to monochrome pictures hanging from the ceiling. His influence, my love of art, and later Jon Lewis, my college professor and acclaimed Australian portrait and street photographer, all contributed to my love of the genre.
Your work is almost entirely in black and white. What first drew you to this way of seeing, and what keeps you committed to it?
My class with Jon was very influential. Listening to his stories and love for the medium, and learning to shoot, develop, and print in black and white, mostly on Kodak TMAX 400 film, had a lasting impact. He once told our class that he could count on two hands the number of photographers in the world who could shoot in colour, and that everyone else should shoot in black and white. Half-joking, half-not, it stuck with me and gave me a whole new perspective on the impact and challenges that colour adds to photography.
In 2015, I decided to spend an entire year shooting exclusively in black and white, and this gave me a whole new appreciation for light, form, and composition.
But it was some summer trips to Paris a few years later that cemented my passion for black-and-white street photography. It’s a place that never ceases to inspire me photographically.
