We recently connected with Denise Clarke and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Denise thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

Becoming a cinematographer & artist was inevitable with my Mother being a stay at home mom who possessed an incredible talent for painting. Although she passed away suddenly when I was 11, I remember her telling me things like, “Learn to play the guitar, and you will get all the boys,” or “Follow your dreams, and do what you love. You don’t want to end up stuck inside like me.” My father worked two jobs and was tech savvy. One day he brought home a VHS camcorder from his job at SEARS. He let us play with it, and I would film movies using my stuffed animals, interviewing my siblings, or my sister and I would create special effects using the record button alone.

I would grow up to learn the guitar my first boyfriend bought me. I would make music videos and go to college for Fine Art. Then, after heartbreak after heartbreak, I would insistently follow my passion and come to find the next step from music and painting would be combining these mediums and create films. I found cinematography to be the most vast canvas an artist can play with. After graduating with a degree in digital cinematography, I now actively write stories, film them, and produce/compose music for them. All the while I’ve been learning the process of professionalism and protection of my rights in an industry where if you don’t have a voice or proper paperwork and research, you can easily be taken advantage of.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My films and message as an artist are always inspired and drawn from my most intimate and personal experiences. After experiencing winter storms in New England that would close down businesses and financially burden our creative process, my partner and I moved to the Atlanta area and started raising our family while never giving up our creativity with my mother’s dreams and words carrying me through. Although I have three kids and find myself a stay-at-home mom, I constantly take my children outdoors and guide them through all artistic mediums and outlets. They paint, act in my films, write their own stories, and become familiar with the latest technology to even advance my own projects with their knowledge in special FX. Together we have produced a webisode series still in progress called, “The Wards,” which is about what happens to those who commit suicide. Believing in faith and spirituality, we have never felt passionate about demonizing those who couldn’t find the strength to carry on. The Wards follows souls who become eternal servants to a higher power after letting go of life as they race against time to save others from making the same mistake. We have also produced other various short films that touch on the themes of heartache, transformation, and bravery while walking into the unknown. Our greatest inspirations are each other as well as the likes of Quentin Tarantino, Steven Spielberg, Jordan Peele, and other great artists.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My goal and mission driving my creative journey is my mother and her wish for me to follow my dreams, and allow them to take me across the world with my family instead of settling down without having achieved everything my heart desires.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Society can best support artists by funding their projects and spreading awareness of who is actively pursuing their creative journey as much as possible. We can keep sharing an artist and their work, buying local, and sponsoring those who create.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bluecocoonfilms/