an amazing experience getting out of a paper by doing a video, but at the
same time frustrated by the crudeness of my tools, I had an idea to use
the leverage of this science program to get me into ABC, which had an
affiliate in Norfolk, Virginia."
Since nothing in the program literature stated he had to study with a
scientist, the school reluctantly agreed to let Mathis intern at ABC. "That
was the catalyst for the rest of my career, because I got in with professional
people and was able to learn all about cameras and editing equipment."
After school, each day of his senior year, he made the hour and a half
round trip from his high school to the television station. While the college
communications students
interning at the station were rel-
egated to answering phones
and making photocopies,
Mathis asserted himself, looking
for opportunities to learn and
get his hands on equipment.
His investment of time paid off
when the chief editor became
gravely ill and was out for one
week. Mathis was promoted to
editor of the local nightly news,
at just 17 years old.
He was accepted into the
engineering and physics
program at Duke University
and scored high enough on
certain tests to allow him to
take a semester off, while still
receiving credit for his first
semester's work. He stayed on
at the station as an editor, but after his 10-hour shift was over, he would
go out for another six hours with the cameramen on their evening assign-
ments. Initially he hauled batteries, heavy cases, and fetched coffee, but
eventually the crew taught him how to shoot. "Only after spending hard-
core time at the news station did I realize that shooting was the aspect
that appealed to me most."
Come January, Mathis entered Duke full time and "for the next two
years pretended I was going to have a career in engineering." He
returned to the television station during summer vacations and in his
junior year transferred out of engineering and into art history.
What do you like
least about your job?
"I don't like the long
hours or the high proba-
bility that a job will take
me away from my
family."--Clark Mathis
What do you love most
about your job?
"I love telling a story in a purely visual
sense; in a way that compliments the words,
but enhances them beyond any point that
they would be if they were simply spoken.
I like taking the audience on an experiential
ride. I love photography and I love making
images that aren't just beautiful, but really
stir someone's emotions."--Clark Mathis
VOICES OF
EXPERIENCE
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