From Road to Street with Acey Slade

Our new LomoAmigo Acey Slade has a pretty cool job. He’s a touring bassist for musicians like Joan Jett & the Blackhearts. Even though music is his whole life, Acey still considers his photography to be much more important work. In this interview, Acey talks about his favorite cameras and a mysterious disposable camera lying around his band’s tour bus—the developed pictures were nothing like his bandmates imagined!

Tell me a little about yourself as a photographer.

I’d like to say that I started shooting about 3 or 4 years ago when I was on tour with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts. But really, my Dad had a camera when I was a kid. He taught me how to load the camera, which was a big mistake because then I would load his camera and effectively waste his film. I also was an art major in high school and took photography there.

But when you’re in a band you get to travel a lot and have access to some amazing things. You have a lot of downtime that is mostly boredom. But I’m a firm believer that there is no such thing as boredom, just boring people. So, it was up to me to make life on tour more interesting. Photography is perfect for that.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen and photographed on tour?

I’m sorry to say, but photography is way to keep me out of the crazy stuff. While the party rages on, I’m usually out trying to take some street photography or long exposure shots. Additionally, if there is something crazy going on, and I’m involved, I definitely don’t want photos of it.

Have you always shot film? What are some of your favorite cameras?

Well, I stole my girl’s (now wife) Canon Rebel, then got a Fuji XE1. Fuji, because I knew that eventually film would call my name and I felt like Fuji made film and that their in-camera film emulation was going to be well thought out.

I was lucky enough, through music, to know some pretty badass photographers like Clay Patrick McBride and Steve Prue (who still shoots a lot of Fuji real Film stuff). They suggested that getting started on digital was better and that Fuji was the way to go. Better because you could make a mistake and see your results immediately, then correct until you got it right and see your settings right there. This was invaluable. I also took Photo I &II at the International Center for Photography under Keisha Scarville. Had I not had these mentors and had a film camera, I’m afraid I would have quit pretty quick. But now that I know the exposure triangle (better) I’m not scared of film! So, I have an LC-A 120, which is great for portraits, and a Sprocket Rocket that I love for super wide. I also have a Pentex K1000. I have this really great camera bag from Barbershop Bags so I don’t have to choose which one I want to take out shooting with me.

But I’m a firm believer that there is no such thing as boredom, just boring people. So, it was up to me to make life on tour more interesting. Photography is perfect for that.

Can you say a little more about why people shouldn’t be afraid of film?

Well now that I’m thinking about it, I do remember one story. It may not help the cause for the fear of film though.

It was the last day of the tour and we were cleaning out the bus. We had a guitar player who was super creepy and mysterious to the point of being kinda caviler and rude. It didn’t bother me so much, but it really was getting under our keyboard player’s skin. So as we were cleaning the bus our keyboard player found a disposable camera near the guitar player’s bunk. “Ah ha!” he said, “This must be our guitar players! I’ll bet you there are some incriminating photos here! Now we can see what creep stuff he’s up to!” He was elated!

We had a roadie at the time who was a Born Again Christian and a very, very shy guy. So we gave him the disposable camera and had him run to a one-hour photo place in a nearby drug store. He was supper apprehensive about taking the film because, if you remember, these places would develop the photos in a way that everyone could see them (this is like 15 years ago..). So we reassured him there was nothing weird on the film and off he went.

An hour later our roadie came back with the developed film and was bright red! Totally embarrassed and couldn’t believe not only what he saw, but what everyone at the Rite Aid saw too. Our keyboard player was overjoyed and couldn’t wait to dish out the salacious dirt on our guitarist.

We opened up the envelope, and guess what. It’s not photos of our guitarist. It was actually the keyboardist’s camera and it was photos of his girlfriend naked doing drugs with a cat in a Nazi helmet. I mean a real cat, a feline. Though, I don’t think that the cat partook in the drugs, but he was there with his naked girlfriend dressed in WWII garb. For real.

So, it ended up backfiring on the keyboard player. And the roadie.

No, don’t be afraid of film. Just keep track of your rolls of used film and and don’t let your significant other do hard drugs with house pets in military outfits. If you don’t do that, you should be OK. Oh, and start with a film camera like the LCA-120 that has a light meter.

I notice that you shoot a lot of portraits. What are you looking for in a subject? Are these people you know?

I like people whose faces tell a story. I’m not interested in fashion photography, I mean, what story does a beautiful 19-year-old’s face say except, “I’m 19 and beautiful” right? Most times I try to get my shots on the sly. I live in a still kinda sketchy part of Bed-Stuy so sometimes it would be in your best interest to ask first, because they can also shoot first and ask questions later. Only they don’t have cameras. But sometimes I approach them and ask. I’ve tried the Bruce Gilden method and it’s not as easy as it may look.

What can you tell me about the photo of the woman looking at the broken mirror? Beautiful shot!

Ha,ha. Well, you tell me what you think it’s about first.

I think that it’s about wanting something that you can’t have. I love the softness, the quietness.

Well, it’s my wife. And I took thatit at her house in Taipei one in morning when she was putting her makeup on. I may have proposed to her that night!

What are you inspired by?

Well that’s a tough call. If you mean to be creative I don’t really have an answer. It’s all I do and all I’ve ever done. Let me put it another way, I’ll never be your accountant. With photography I feel like it’s my life’s work. So, yeah, music is what I do and what I’m known for, but what does all this matter if I don’t document it? I kinda think of the photos on my hard drive as a time capsule, you know the kind you bury in the yard when you’re a kid? Well, I’d like to think that someone, somewhere in 400 years will find my photography hard drive, plug it in and go, “What the f*** is this and who is this guy?”

On a more personal level, I have a crew of guys and girls here in NYC that I shoot with. We all encourage each other, and are at about the same skill level, but we are constantly leapfrogging each other. I’ll take a killer shot, next week my buddy Kevin will, so then Doug outdoes that then I outdo him, then our friend Melissa will outdo us all and I’ll feel like I suck for a day. Then someone calls and says, “Hey, wanna go shoot?’”and it starts all over again. It rules. I love my friends.

Follow Acey Slade on Facebook and Instagram.

written by katphip on 2016-02-20 #people #places #music #lifestyle #location #lomoamigo #joan-jett-and-the-blackhearts #acey-slade