In the small forest nestled between City College’s East Campus and Harbor Heights apartments, three Swedish students are working out how to perfectly capture a fall.
Among them is 29-year-old photography major, Andreas Clifford.
“Give me that ‘I don’t give a f—-‘ look,” he says to his model as he precariously balances on a tree branch.
This isn’t the first time Clifford has been in strange conditions for his photo shoots.
Just last week, he and six other photographers were at the beach until 1 a.m. to complete a project for an advanced lighting class. The shoot revolved around the story of Pandora’s box and the release of the seven deadly sins.
His passion for photography began when Clifford traveled around the world to Australia and Central America for his former favorite hobby: surfing.
However, during his travels, he found himself taking more and more pictures and surfing less and less.
Taking inspiration from surreal photographers such as Richard Avedon, Albert Watson and Alex Stoddard, Clifford began intricate projects that he posts on his website. One collection called “365” includes dreamlike self-portraits that he takes daily.
“I promised myself that I would shoot every day just to keep the creativity flowing,” said Clifford. “I used to wait for creativity to show up but I find it’s better to force it out because it keeps the creativity higher and I end up producing more show-able work.”
His current professor, Linda Lowell said that Clifford is an “excellent student.”
Looking at his work now, one would never know that just a few years earlier, Clifford knew absolutely nothing about photography.
“He’s definitely perfected his Photoshop skills to equal his creative skills,” Lowell said. She also added that his work is “uniquely original.”
“I learned everything here. I only knew the basics when I got here, but composition, lighting… everything technical about photography I learned here,” said Clifford.
He has also applied this knowledge to film production. Last semester, Clifford worked on a short, dark comedy zombie film called “Killer Raise” and submitted it to the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. The film was a finalist in the 10-10-10 awards.
Clifford has found a few mentors in his photography classes. Calling his teachers’ photos “well done” and “great” Clifford mourns the fact that the instructors rarely show their personal work.
“I mean, they show the pictures they take for like, weddings and stuff, but I wish they showed the work they do for themselves,” said Clifford.
At the end of this semester, Clifford plans to return to his hometown, Gothenburg, and briefly resume his old job as a logistics analyzer before starting his own production company and open his own studio to continue freelance photography.
Clifford’s parting advice to aspiring photographers is simply, “Hold your camera at all times. Shoot, shoot, shoot.”
So don’t be alarmed if you see a tall, blond guy dressed in dark colors slinking around campus with a camera hanging from his neck, stealthily taking a photo. It’s just Andreas Clifford.
Find his work at andreasclifford.com.
