First Draft of "The Paper"

Karl Rodriguez

English 201

Oliver Walker

            As I sit and wait for Oliver Walker to show up to the coffee shop in LA, I keep thinking to myself that I don’t really know what he looks like, and he definitely doesn’t know what I look like.  How are we going to figure out who the other person is so we can have this interview?  Then a man walks up that doesn’t look anything like the picture that I saw, but he’s looking around as if he is looking for someone.   I stand up and ask if he is Oliver at the same time he asks if I’m Karl.  We figure it out and do our introductions.  We quickly get a drink, and take a seat at a table in front of the coffee shop.  Now I’m extremely nervous.  I don’t know anything really about how to interview someone.  I guess I just have to roll with the punches and find out who Oliver is and how he does what he does.

            I start off by giving a little bit of a background about myself so Oliver doesn’t think that I am just some weirdo.  I explain to him that I am a photography student, and that I’m writing a paper about someone in the field that I would like to get into, and the writings that they do as part of their work.  He seems fine with everything; so I just dive right in.

            By asking Oliver a few background questions, I find out that Oliver grew up in Gilroy, Ca.  Gilroy is known as the “Garlic Capital of the World.”  I’ve only driven through Gilroy myself, so I don’t know that much about it.  He then went to Biola College in Norwalk, Ca. where he got a BFA in sulpture.  Come to find out that when he was in college, he only took one photography class.  It’s kind of ironic that he became a photographer.

            Oliver proceeds to inform me that he thinks that one thing that helps him with his photography is that he took different art inspired classes.  He states that he’s better at composing his images because of the classes that he took.  It helps him to see the image before he takes it.  He likes to see something that is different from other concert photographs.  He doesn’t want to see the same thing over and over.  I like that.  This is something that I try to think of when I shoot photos.  I think that you won’t get noticed unless you are different.  You need to be able to distinguish yourself from the other photographers.

            During the interview, Oliver stated that he got his start in photography by just going to different shows and taking pictures.  He was living in Long Beach at the time.  He started out just taking pictures with a regular point and shoot camera and then upgraded to a DSLR.  According to Oliver, he had some friends in LA that ran some shows called “The Rumble.”  It was a show that occurred one a month and would bring different bands together to play.  This friend of his also had a blog.  Oliver was able to take pictures of the bands at “The Rumble” and get them posted on the blog.  Then he started to get work after that.

            When asked who is his inspiration, Oliver is quick to say that it’s Dennis O’Regan.  Unfortunately I didn’t know who Dennis O’Regan was, so I had to look him up.  According to Wikipedia, Dennis O’Regan is a renowned English rock photographer.  His imagery is particularly associated with the punk movement.  He was the official photographer to people like David Bowie, Duran Duran, The Rolling Stones, Queen, and a bunch of other hugely famous bands.  I then looked up some of his images.  This guy is a legend.

One thing that I noticed is that Oliver and Dennis definitely do have something in common with their photography.  The photos of live shows give a feeling to the viewer that they are right there in the moment.  Both photographers’ pictures evoke strong feelings of that moment when you, as a fan, are watching a performance and the person or persons on stage are giving you everything that they can possibly give.  It’s the moment that, you wish you could get to experience at every live show.  Both Oliver and Dennis are photographers that are able to convey that moment in a single shot.

            Since Oliver has a contract with Goldenvoice, he is able to sit down with someone from the company named Lindsey and pick out about 10 - 15 shows a month that he can shoot.  He says that he is lucky enough to be able to put in a lot of input on which shows he can shoot.  He can pick bands that he likes first, and then fill in the rest of his schedule with other bands.  He doesn’t seem to mind that he gets to shoot bands that he doesn’t know.  He told me that he likes finding new bands that he ends up becoming a fan of.

            When we were discussing different bands and getting to shoot them at festivals, Oliver told me that he is hoping to have his own business where he can shoot about 2 or 3 festivals a month.  This is a dream job as far as I’m concerned.  If I were ever able to get a job like that, I would jump on it in a heartbeat.  My 3 favorite things to do in the world, is take photos, travel, and go to live shows.  I have been known to travel just to go to a show or festival a few times in my day.  That would be a job that would include all 3. 

            Now that I have met Oliver in person, I’m glad I did.  Oliver was very nice that day when I got to sit with him for a little while.  We shared a couple of stories with each other, and bonded over the fact that we both lived in Long Beach.  He was very honest with me and didn’t seem to mind me stumbling all over myself from being so nervous during the interview.