Artist Name: Dave Bullock aka Eecue
Artistic Medium: Photography
Publications: Wired, Los Angeles Times + more
Website: DaveBullock.com



6 Shots by Dave Bullock
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STATICKA: Being the modern-day renaissance man that you are, what is it about photography that has motivated you to excel since developing black and white film back in grade school?

DAVE BULLOCK: I’ve always loved shooting photos. I try and excel at everything I do, so being that photography is one of those things I do I always put 100% into it when I’m doing it. I love capturing images and showing them to the world. I also really enjoy photography because it requires less analytical thought than programming.

ST: So would you say that programming and photography are opposing dualities, or do they play along the same lines in some ways?

DB: I think they are different, but not polar opposites. Programming requires mostly left-brain thinking, although some creativity is definitely involved. Photography requires some technical thinking but it is mostly right-brained creativity.

ST: Do you ever find it difficult to transfer from one mode to the other?

DB: Not really, in fact switching to programming helps me photograph better and vice-versa. I find that doing one exclusively gets tedious and tiresome, but I enjoy doing both immensely.

ST: The HDR work you’ve been doing is really impressive. Seeing the actual prints at your Downtown Art Walk show was great as we usually just see photos on the web.

DB: Thanks! Yeah they look much better huge. I actually have 10 framed prints for sale. They look amazing. If you know anybody who wants one have them contact me. =]

ST: Do you see HDR and photography evolving into even further technological possibilities or will the basics always reign supreme?

DB: I see HDR as a logical progression for digital cameras. Digital sensors will continue to increase their dynamic range. We will soon have monitors capable of displaying true high dynamic range levels. So the taking multiple exposures things will pass but HDR is here to stay.

ST: Amen to that! Your new website shows us powerful HDR images of Fiji and San Francisco, along with the rest of your very formidable portfolio. Is there anywhere in the world that would be your Holy Grail of destinations to shoot?

DB: I would love to check explore and photograph Antarctica. Maybe someday I’ll get a gig at National Geographic and make that happen. I enjoy the outdoors and adventure.
Someday I would also like to go back to Japan, South Africa and Europe. Next year my wife and I are planning a trip to Japan so that should be fun.

ST: Traveling and shooting as a NetGeo photog, now that sounds like a decent life! You’ve already crawled around the LA Riverbed, snuck your way into a Nasa Facility (maybe a sliiiiight exaggeration there), walked along-side street protests and captured countless concerts and clubs…there must be at least one good anecdote that came out of those situations. Care to share?

DB: I think that being hassled at various places for taking photos is something that has inspired me to start something called the Hassle Project. I haven’t really posted about this too much, but the plan is to put together a show which contains photos I took where people hassled me and told my I couldn’t shoot there.
Shooting for Wired.com has given me access to places I never would have been able to shoot which is awesome. No good hassle stories there!

ST: Well now that you bring up Wired, let me hassle you with one last question. How is it to be shooting for such a disgustingly great site?

DB: I love shooting for Wired. It’s a blast, I get great access to awesome places. It keeps me busy doing photography at least once a week and the pay is nice to boot. I would love to get into the magazine at some point. So far I’ve shot about 50 stories for Wired.com, nothing yet for the magazine.

ST: The photographers there are obviously top-notch so you must feel you’ve reached some type of upper echelon in your craft.

DB: Well I feel like I’ve progressed. I don’t think I’m at my upper echelon yet. The magazine has very high standards, when I get into the mag then I’ll have reached a higher (but hopefully not my highest) echelon.

ST: How exactly did you land the gig?

DB: I pitched the photo editor and another editor on a few pieces that I had shot about a year and a half ago. They turned them down. When I was at Defcon they contacted me and asked if I could shoot the convention for them. I did and I’ve been shooting for them ever since. It’s been a little over a year now.

ST: Congratulations on that! Your editorial type of shooting combined with a keen technical know-how is definitely a good fit. I can’t see any reason why you shouldn’t be in the magazine one day. They’d be fools not to bring you on.

DB: Well I hope it works out eventually!

ST: That being said, I want to thank you for your time and wish you the best of luck on future endeavors. Hopefully our readers of Media Contender will get to know you a bit more and gain a higher appreciation for what you bring to the world of photography.

DB: Thanks!

Dave has been shooting digitally since the early ’90s and still finds time to play with film formats. A frequent contributor to blogdowntown and Wired, he has a great eye for that which is technology. There are two main photographic projects of focus- one involves high dynamic range images of Industrial Landscapes and the other centers on macro photography of the Living Desert. He currently lives with his wife in Downtown Los Angeles as a programmer, blogger and of course, photographer.

To contact Dave Bullock for assignment, visit his website.