I have been a professional photographer for over ten years working primarily in the heavy music scene. I am currently on staff for The Aquarian Weekly, a music/entertainment paper out of New Jersey. I also write for Metal Maniacs from time to time, as well as Metal Edge, Burrn and Rolling Stone. I am also the band photog for the band Clutch, spanning back since about 1999, doing
various albums and press work for Jam Room, Live At Googleplex, Live at Flint, Blast Tyrant and
Robot Hive/Exodus.
So before all that occurred, I learned my craft in places that afforded me the serenity to concentrate generally without distractions or interruptions. While also appealing to my nature of enjoying what at the time most people would think were, shall we say, a bit morbid or morose…? To be frank I’m talking about cemeteries, or what I prefer to call graveyards.
I grew up on a steady diet of horror films and vampire books and comics. It became obvious to me that I have a knack for finding what I considered to be amusingly ironic names on headstones and crypts, and making them the focal point of my imagery. I also developed an affinity for sculptured angels and the likes. One of my favorite things is to take seemingly normal everyday things, and distort the angles to make them appear more looming or ominous even. As a rule, I never digitally alter the image, only the perspective. You see them exactly as I did through my lenses.
Well that was then, and this is now. But right before now, a little over a year ago, I was working on a movie set in NYC as an electric grip. And safe to say, the Goth scene has grown enormously in recent years, Hard not to notice the flocks of pale girls in all black, roaming the metal and punk scene I work in...true? With that in mind, I got to thinking. Maybe some of my images would look cool on a shirt. As it happens I had become friends with one of the set decorators, Jennifer, who had a punky style about her. So one day I brought my portfolio to the set and showed it to her and asked her if she thought my concept was a viable idea. She agreed and thus, DEAD ISSUES CLOTHING was born.
So I spent some time looking online and checking out the shops in the Village and around the Lower East Side, getting a feel for what might be out there. I really didn’t see anything too special to say the least. A lot of corny images and cliche mottos, but nothing too photo related. Luckily for me a friend of mine owns a t-shirt company 313 Merch and I bounced the idea off him. So I made the test shirt of the “DOLL” image and gave a few of em to some of my friends.
Probably the most ironic thing about this venture is that to say I know NOTHING about men’s fashion, let alone women’s is quite a gross understatement. I’ve been wearing the same Lee Jeans, boots, Chuck Taylors, and band or tattoo shop shirts since I was like 13. Funnier still is the fact that 12 or so years ago girls made fun of me for these pictures you see on this site. Aint that something?!!? Now they are wearing them around on their adorable frames….my how times have changed. I haven’t but they have, go figure…now go check em out in the galleries!!!
Let me know what ya think if ya like, here’s what some of my favorite SG’s said about them so far.
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