SEAN O ’ DAY

Tell us a bit about your journey with photography? When did you first start using the camera and how did you grow and find the things that you wanted to focus on as subjects in your photographs?

My journey into becoming a photographer was a long road. I was in one of those art curriculum classes in High School that I took for two years, I believe. We learned a lot of art related things but my main goal was to become a graphic designer. I told my teacher that before I even started the class yet she would always put a camera in my hand. I always told her “I don’t want to be a photographer, I want to be a graphic designer!”

Fast forward to College (Cleveland Institute of Art) where I majored in Graphic Design class and one of my required classes was Photography 101. A couple of years later I somehow convinced my mom to buy me my first camera which was a Canon XT. I never made this decision till I went and saw the band Thursday at the Grog Shop. I saw photographers all over the venue and told myself that I wanted to do that. The camera was old but it worked. I would shoot all around my area and eventually shoot the shows my cousins rap duo, Smoke Screen, would have. Time passed and noticed a photo of Vic Fuentes taken at our local House of Blues venue. I thought a photographer from Cleveland took it. Turns out it was Adam Elmakias! That photo inspired me to get off my butt and actually start doing music photography. I was told to contact a local band and ask if I could shoot one of their upcoming shows so that’s what I did with the band Reverse The Curse who had a album release show up at the Grog Shop. They said yes and gave me a free shirt as a thank you for taking photos of them! This was around August of 2013.

Were you ever formally trained? How did you go about finding the information you needed to become a photographer, including that of shooting shows?

Well, I mentioned that I did take Photography 101, but I didn’t learn anything [laughs]. This wasn’t the professors fault, I wasn’t ready for college when I went and never paid any attention. I never finished Cleveland Institute of Art so when I got my first camera I had to teach myself. I watched a lot of Youtube videos, looked at editing information on Flickr, and anything else that could teach me how to do better in photography, especially when it came to live shows. I even had to look up how to shoot big concerts. Doing this back in 2013/2014 there wasn’t a lot to look up when it came to music photography because the community wasn’t as crowded as it is now. So [I had to do] deep research when it came to how to shoot bigger shows other than club shows.

Being from Cleveland, OH, how have you found the city has affected your work as an artist as well as your work in the music scene?

I feel that the music scene here really picked up a lot since I started doing music photography. That or I just never noticed how busy Cleveland is with shows till I started actually doing bigger shows and paying attention to when these bands/artists were coming to town. It did feel a bit limited at first because it was hard to find a publication around here that wasn’t Alternative Press or Scene Magazine. It would have took a miracle for me to start off on photography and just land on AP Magazine. So I made my own publication, It was made on tumblr then I moved it to wix. It was short lived but it got me into a Chiodos show.

What was one of your proudest moments as a photographer?

This might be a tie between two moments. One was doing a photoshoot with the band Fever 333. I first met Jason Alan when he was in his previous band letlive. and fast forward years later I got to do a shoot with his band Fever 333? Incredible! My second proudest moment might be a bit controversial for most but being able to have a photo of mine on a Moose Blood shirt was a peak milestone.

While a lot of your work is focused on live music, what are some other things that you want to do with your photography?

I realize that I want my main goal to be a portrait photographer for bands/artists but not for magazines. I want to do it for the sake of art and hopefully increase that into doing said portraits for celebrities.

What and who are some of the influences that you have? Are any of them different now than they were when you first began your journey?

Music videos have been my influences since the beginning. Like last year I saw the video Turn by the band ROAM and have not gotten over how amazing the tones and aesthetic looked since then. My photographer influences, however, changes a lot. I have been extremely influenced by Jake Wangner, he does a lot of film portrait photography and it’s incredible. Like words can’t describe how incredible his work is. Max Fairclough is another. He’s based in Australia and his tones for any of his work looks so simple yet comforting. Doug Elliott is another one, he is based in the UK and mainly does work for Against the Current but the way he makes his photos look like they’re stills from a movie is something I could never recover from.

When you do more portrait work, how do you approach it? Do you find that you prepare for your shoots revolving around specific themes?

It started with me asking friends and I practiced direction and location from there. I’ve been learning that doing shoots later in the evening around golden, or blue, hour is key. Eventually my friends or models in general started asking me for shoots and it’s been an amazing ride. I recently compared my first portrait to my last and I was surprised at how far I’ve gone. I never know what the location looks like till we get there and I always have to go by where we’re at. Back to that Fever 333 shoot, I [had] done that shoot within a minute and it was in the back of the festival where everyone’s trailers were. All the photos turned out amazing thanks to them being super photogenic but also my direction being on point.

With COVID-19 affecting music, shows, and physically interacting with one another, how have you coped with the time? What do you find yourself doing?

Lockdown has made me realize that music photography is my only personality trait. So, I have been trying to find out who I am as a person. But I have found myself re-editing old pictures from as late as 2016 and noticed a big change in my editing technique which has been dope.

Is there any advice that you would give to someone that you wish that you had been given prior? What was one of the most ground-breaking things that you learned that potentially changed how you approach what you do?

Regardless if you’re the greatest photographer in your city, if you’re a person of color or a woman, your goal might be a reach higher than any white guy out there in the scene. Trust me when I say that it’s way faster for them to get where you want to be than it is for you and it really sucks but it just means that you have to work much harder than them. Because once you earned what you’ve been dreaming of doing, it wouldn’t be because of your color or gender, but because you are killer at what you do, and that’s gonna feel so much better.

Do you have any other final words that you feel are important to leave people with, both in personal regards as well as to those who are also pursuing the arts?

Black Lives Matter! Death to Tokenism! Also please be nice to others in whatever community you are trying to be in. That includes other artists, the people running the events, everyone! Even if they’re a dick to you, show them that you are better than that.