Clive Blackmore Barda OBE, FRSA (born 14 January 1945) is a London-based, British freelance photographer[1] best known for capturing the performances of classical musicians and artists of the stage (opera, ballet and theatre).

[4]: 20 Barda decided to combine his interests in photography and classical music, and a chance encounter with a journalist for South Wales Magazine led to his first commission: photographing the harpist Susan Drake at home, on 12 November 1968.

[4]: 21 [5] At the time, Drake's husband, John Wilbraham,[6] was recording the Haydn and Hummel trumpet concertos and the producer asked Barda to shoot the album's sleeve.

[4]: 21  Within a few months, Barda had his big break: In 1969, I went to a concert at London's South Bank, where pianist Daniel Barenboim and the cellist Jacqueline du Pré were playing Beethoven sonatas.

[4]: 21 During the following decades, Barda has portrayed the world's leading classical musicians, as well as performers in opera, dance, theatre and musicals,[8] as a freelance photographer.

"[4]: 7 The fact that I often spent hours with the artists and was perceived as a member of the recording team fed into my work in a number of ways (...) bolstering my sense of affinity with the musicians and their work.In 1970, Barda married Rosalind Mary Whiteley; they have three sons.