Garry had his first photograph published in the British Journal of Photography 18 August 1988, on a story about the regeneration of Bradford UK. It was as a newspaper photographer, that Clarkson then began his work, with coverage of the 1989 book burning in his home city of Bradford, UK, following the publication of Salman Rushdie's controversial novel, The Satanic Verses. The pictures were published widely, including The Independent, Sunday Telegraph, New Statesman/Society, New Internationalist and Channel 4 Television as well as 1989 'Pictures of the Year' in The Guardian newspaper.
In 2008 Garry was selected as one of 70 participants of 900 photographers from 42 countries to take part in the Descubrimientos (Discoveries) platform for the promotion and dissemination of works by ‘emerging international photographers’. This forum, at the Community of Madrid’s Council of Culture, was part of Photo España photography festival and Garry was one of the 5 eventual finalists interviewed in a special supplement in the Spanish newspaper El País.
