Revisit: The Mike O’Meally Interview
This interview with Mike O'Meally by Chris Nieratko originally appeared in Monster Children issue #38, which was released in 2013.
Professionally speaking, legendary Australian photographer, Mike O’Meally, and I are sluts.
He’s fingered his shutter, and I my keyboard, for each and every skateboard magazine in The States at one point or another. He got his start at Slap while I began down the hall at Thrasher. We both moved south in 2000, he to Skateboarder and I to Big Brother. Both our runs ended in 2004 and he went further south to Transworld and I to The Skateboard Mag with a bit of moonlighting for Transworld and Skateboarder. How we never had a three-way and worked together until now is beyond me. Two sluts passing in the night, I suppose.
Through it all, the driving force behind our work has been the colorful characters that skateboarding has always attracted, more so than any sport/art/hobby/leisure activity/whatever you describe it as. Despite the recent watering down and mainstreaming of what we love, skateboarding always has and always will serve as a safe haven for society’s rebels and disenchanted, with a fuck you, fuck off, fuck it attitude. I believe that’s what keeps us from hanging up the high heels and low cut skirt and going straight; we’re always eager to meet the next great nut job.
Let’s me start at the beginning, at the top of the list. How did you start shooting photos?
I shot some photos of my friends like every skater kid, but I wasn’t very serious about it. When I started college that’s when I really got into it. I was a drawing/print-making/painting major and I took photography as an elective to make up some points, and that’s when I got into really studying photography.
What were you shooting? Did you go through an Ansel Adams phase?
Skateboarding, always skateboarding. I’d shoot some other bullshit for assignments but once I figured out how to use the camera I put all my time into shooting skateboarding,
Was it strictly trial and error? Or did you get some guidance?
It was definitely trial and error as far as me trying to figure out how the camera worked, but the influence definitely came from reading Transworld, Poweredge, Slap, Thrasher, any skate magazine I could get my hands on basically. The guidance came a little bit later, after six months or so. First off it was Andrew Currie who was the editor of Slam Magazine. Lance Dawes was super-cool in the beginning and Grant Brittain was great about me sending some slides and writing me some comments. Just by being an eager beaver and sending photos in the mail I got advice from some people that I really looked up to.
Does any one piece of advice stand out from those guys?
I remember Currie was pretty stern and said, ‘Sort your shit out! Move your flashes!’ It seemed harsh at the time but I’m glad he did that. It was good because it meant you don’t want to fuck around when someone is trying a gnarly trick. Grant Brittain was super-generous with his time and writing back handwritten letters. Lance Dawes, more than anyone, was super-encouraging, asking for me to send him more stuff and telling me what to try. We hit it off right away.
LEFT TO RIGHT: ED TEMPLETON, PALAIS DE TOKYO, PARIS. FRANCE 2002, JASON DILL, CANAL STREET NYC 2000.
“‘IT WAS DEFINITELY TRIAL AND ERROR AS FAR AS ME TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW THE CAMERA WORKED, BUT THE INFLUENCE DEFINITELY CAME FROM READING TRANSWORLD, POWEREDGE, SLAP, THRASHER, ANY SKATE MAGAZINE I COULD GET MY HANDS ON BASICALLY.’”
What was the first printed photo?
It was probably one of Wade Burkitt that ran stamp size or one of this really well-known Australian skater named Davo.
What do you think of those first two printed photos? Are they shit?
They are absolutely shit because I had a 50mm lens with a skate video fisheye taped on the front. I’m not embarrassed by them but those are my first skate photos. They’re not good. There’s something awesomely shit about them.
What was the trajectory of your career after those two shots?
I worked for Slam for a good six years but in that time I started sending photos to Transworld and Slap. It went pretty quickly from shooting just a couple photos for Slam here and there to having a cover of Alex Smith after six months of shooting. I was lucky that I had good skaters to shoot and I figured it out reasonably quickly. I got a proper camera and fisheye after a year. 1992 is when I started but 1993 was when I was finally rolling.
What’s a foreigner’s etiquette when breaking into American skate mags? For Americans it’s like high school, if you’re in with one clique you’re not allowed to be in with another clique.
Well I can tell you a firsthand experience with that. If you’re sending them from overseas I wouldn’t think it’s a problem because you’re just trying to throw a bunch of shit at the wall and hope something sticks. But when you’re in The States there’s definitely a different etiquette. My experience was that I was sending a few photos to Transworld and a few photos to Slap but I wasn’t beholden to either of them at the time. In 1997 I came over and went on the first Zero tour with Ellington, Copalman, Wade Burkitt, Aaron Harrison and Jamie Thomas. I shot that tour and gave the photos to Transworld and four days later I went to Europe with Ed Templeton, Donny Barley, Chris Senn on a Toy Machine trip for Slap. I was at Transworld on a Friday, spent the weekend in San Diego and coincidentally, that was the weekend that Danny Way jumped out of a helicopter for the first time. I go to Thrasher on Monday and I got marched into Fausto’s office by Dawes and Phelps is there. I thought it was pretty cool but it felt weird and I fucking got screamed at by Fausto, ‘What is all that shit we hear you’re going on a Transworld tour? If we give you film we don’t want to hear that you’re giving it to somebody else! We want to make sure you’re working for us!’ I was so blown away and honored to be shooting a trip for Slap that I would have never considered doing that, to me that would be poor etiquette to do that. So since back then I was instilled with that etiquette.
When did you get your first U.S. staff job?
It was working for Slap and Thrasher in New York when I met you for the first time in Asbury Park, NJ. I was very green.
And I was very skinny.
I think we both were.
Ah, the memories.
I probably had more hair too. I worked for them for two years and then in 2000 I started working for Skateboarder. When I took the job I flew to SF from LA for the day to go tell Fausto thanks for everything and that I got another offer. I was shitting myself even more than that first time. I didn’t know I was going to get yelled at that first day but this time I was sure I was going to get yelled at or headbutted; I’d heard stories about the NorCal mafia. So I go up there and he wasn’t there that day. I walk into Phelps’ office and before I got a word out of my mouth he says, ‘So you’re going to work for Skateboarder, huh?’ Somehow he already knew. He was fine with it. He said, ‘Good luck. It’s cool. Meza is cool.’ I worked for Skateboarder ‘til 2004. Grant Brittain, Dave Swift and all those guys had just left to start The Skateboard Mag and they left Skin high and dry with the magazine all to himself and no staff photographers, and Skin is a foreigner, I’m a foreigner, they said they could get me a green card. I remember sitting down to breakfast with Meza and telling him and I remember him not understanding and saying, ‘How could you? It’s so Transworld.’ He’s from SF and boys with Burnett and Phelps. So to go back to what you asked, it’s a fine line between having good etiquette and poor etiquette.
Do you feel like a dirty little girl having pranced around to all the magazines?
I was wondering when I was going to get asked that. There’s been times where I’ve questioned if that’s how it appears to people but no, I don’t feel that way. I feel more lucky that I’ve had the chance to experience the High Speed hardcore, the intelligence and wit of Meza and Skateboarder and that history and legacy of Transworld. I feel really lucky to have been able to dance at all those tables. But I definitely feel that I work for Transworld if I’m hanging out with Phelps. That’s a little weird. I fell like… like you do being from New Jersey when you’re hanging out with people form New York.
LEFT TO RIGHT: JERRY HSU WITH CHRIS HASLAM AND LOUIE BARLETTA, SAN JOSE CA 2007. AVE AND DILL, TEXAS, 2007.
I always feel superior in that situation.
Yeah, you probably don’t give a fuck. Well, I’m from a nation of criminals so I have an inferiority complex. And I’m Irish on top of that. But no, I don’t feel like a dirty little girl. There’s not a lot of people that can say they’ve gone from north down to south. I really got to see the real deal in all those situations.
Maybe another magazine will start up and you can work for them.
Hey, never say never, right?
Do you have a philosophy about photography?
I guess I do. It’s weird to put into words. What it comes down to is the people. The characters. People’s lives, their experiences, their stories.
One of my favorite stories you shot was when you shot the miners.
How that came about was I did a presentation at this design and photography conference called Semi Permanent in Sydney. There was a lady in the audience that worked for a design agency in Melbourne and she was pitching a brief to this mining company and she came up to me afterwards and asked me if I’d ever photographed mining or if I’d be interested. I said I hadn’t but I definitely would be interested. In late July of 2007 I flew back to Australia and went to two mines. One was in far north Queensland; it was an open cut mine with huge trucks and Aboriginal people. It was interesting because I’d never seen anything like that. I had to fly to the mine site in a four-seater airplane. I was watching Aboriginal guys drive trucks with 20-foot high tires on them and hearing they were making $85k starting salary a year because of the danger of it all. It was a real eye opener.
But then I went to another mine in Tasmania and that was an underground mine. I went down in a truck, a Toyota HiLux, for three and half hours and it was 50 degrees Celsius down there—that’s about 110, 115 degrees Fahrenheit. It was 75% humanity. It was sketchy. The first five or ten minutes I felt like someone was sitting on my chest. And the claustrophobia set in. You have to do a half-hour safety-training course and they tell you, ‘It’s ok if you freak out, but just try and let us know.’ The thing that did it for me was watching the big load trucks come back up the tunnel and there was only two feet space around the truck. And if the truck is coming it has right of way, so if you’re in a small truck, like we were, you have to pull into these turning bays similar to if you’re walking the subway tracks in New York and a train comes and you have to duck into the little cubby. That’s when I experienced real claustrophobia. There’s people working down there like it was no big deal and there I am about to have a breakdown. All my camera lenses were fogging up, it was dark, and it was scary. We were ten miles underground; I was frightened for sure. I had to have a serious conversation with myself. I even slapped myself in the face just so I could snap out of it. But once I got out of the truck and started shooting I was fine.
BEAUTIFUL LOSERS, CINCINNATI OH 2004
You and I love the characters in skateboarding so much, but do you think the people have changed in skateboarding? Have we seen the last great nut job?
That’s a good question. I guess we’ll have to stick around and find out but I hope not. I’m pretty sure some of those kids in the Chocolate video are pretty nutty. You have to be to put your body through that abuse. Those kids are characters for sure.
I think many people are so cautious and guarded with their words now and everything is so vanilla, but I remember growing up reading Grosso interviews and Jason Jesse interviews and falling in love with their character as much as their skating.
Yeah, people didn’t give a fuck then. But I hope we haven’t seen the last of their kind. I’m the same as you; those types of skaters were my favorite skaters growing up. Jason was my favorite and it’s been great getting to know the guy. Going out on a boat for him to shoot a hole in it for the Transworld Skate & Create was one of the most unbelievable experiences of my life. It was me, the filmer, Jason, Jordan the team manger and Steve Olson and we went seven miles off of Santa Cruz. He has a Glock and a Mossberg. The jokes between him and Steve Olson were classic. ‘I know this is kinda weird. I hope you let me come back with you. Don’t let me shoot myself. Don’t shoot me either!’ It was kind of funny but also kind of scary. The name of his boat was Hauling Assface and it’s at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Santa Cruz now. He didn’t even really give me a chance to get set up. He just got out in the dingy and was like, ‘ok,’ and just started blowing holes in it with the Mossberg.
Speaking of characters, is the Ricky Oyola story still a regular campfire tale back in Australia?
I’ve been gone for 15 years so I don’t know if it’s still told, but it is well known by most people. I don’t know what to say about that one other than I saw it happen from about ten feet away. He was playing pool with some locals, maybe they were anti-American, but he’s a cocksure person at the worst of times and pool in a bar is competitive wherever you go, and they were just fucking with him, calling him Dicky and he’d be like, ‘My name is Rick!’ And they’d be like, ‘Yeah, alright, Dicky.’ I walk in and he’s like, ‘You got my back? I’m about to do something, make sure you’re around.’ He disappeared and then I see him as the dude is bent down to take his shot and Ricky just put the business end of the pool cue into this dude’s cheek. He’s lucky he didn’t kill the guy; it was savage. A fight broke out, Ricky tried to leg it, French exit-style and gets stopped by the bouncers. He doesn’t have his passport on him and somehow I got called and we’ll just say the Irish-Catholic mafia helped him get out of jail. But he was in minimum security for a month and I think all in all he was locked up for six months. But Ricky, you shouldn’t have done it! I saw him back in Philly and he expressed no remorse, which I found quite shocking. But I wasn’t in the situation. He told me he felt threatened and I think he thought he was going to get jumped and that’s why he reacted the way he did.
LEFT TO RIGHT: ANTHONY MOSQUERO, EDDIE HEREDIA GYM, EAST LA, 2007. ZINC MINER, ROSEBERRY, TASMANIA, 2007.
You’re known to be a bit of a bruiser yourself.
I’m a creampuff, straight up. I’ve been hit in the face more times than I’ve hit other people in the face.
If not a bruiser, how would you describe yourself, Michael?
That’s a good question, Dr. Nieratko. I’m just an enthusiastic Australian. I get rough around the edges sometimes but I like adventure more than I like violence. Sometimes the two paths cross but that’s sailing out in the big seas.
Let’s talk about being rough around the edges. I heard you always have to drive on tours.
That’s not true anymore. I’ve learned to appreciate the shotgun. But there was probably a time when I liked driving. And I haven’t always been the best driver. I’ve had a few scrapes in my life. I’ve been a bit cavalier, that’s for sure, but I’m still alive here.
Tell me about the time you took over a restaurant and cooked for the entire Vans team because the food wasn’t coming fast enough?
Which time? There’s been quite a few. What about the time in Tasmania when I cooked marinated lamb chops for them on a makeshift barbeque in a blowing rainstorm with a carton of beer fashioned as the roof for the grill and everyone enjoyed it. That’s when Greg Hunt nicknamed me Gordon Ramsey. Yeah, I can be a bit of a fucker but I’ll tell you this, fatherhood is a humbling experience and I’m mellowing with age. But if somebody tries to grab some meat off my grill I’m going to smack their hand with the tongs, Chris. I don’t care who you are. It’s just courtesy.
You’re about to be 40 years old, Mike. What’s on the bucket list?
Oh, it’s a huge. A big bucket! A bucket full of prawns and a bucket full of beers! But just to keep going really. I want to keep traveling somehow and show my kid the world if I can. I was lucky in that my parents took me some places when I was a youngster and I hope to do the same for my son. I just want to maintain, have a job, get better at cooking, be nicer to people and keep finding adventures.
STEVE OSLON & JASON JESSE PISMO BEACH, CA 2012
