You've probably seen his photos on Flickr or around the blogosphere under the name "eecue". A. David Bullock is more than just a talented local photographer, he's also a Search & Rescue volunteer, a practicing blogger, and contributor for our pals over at blogging.la. This interview was originally meant to be part of our 20 Under 30 series this spring, but David was busy getting hitched to a fellow caver.
1. What inspires you as a photographer?
I don't think I've ever found anything I don't like to photograph. I enjoy shooting photos of flowers, people, buildings, factories, industrial landscapes and monkeys, preferably all at once. In photography I am inspired first and foremost by my mother, Rhoda Gordon Bullock, who is has a masters in fine arts and has been a photographer for most of her life. I have recently become enamored with HDR industrial photography. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range, and is a technique uses 3 separate exposures offset +/-2EV and combined to create one image with a very high dynamic range that can then be tone mapped in order to display on a computer monitor or for printing.
2. If you could quit programming today and make your living as a photographer, would you?
I really enjoy programming due to it's lack of subjectivity. I don't think I will ever quit programming cold turkey because I really love solving problems and making things work. Photography gives me great pleasure and I'm not sure if I would want to make it my full time profession, but as I've been programming for over 10 years, it may be time to change professions in the near future.
3. Tell us about Search & Rescue.
I first joined a SAR team in High School when I lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The team was an all volunteer team based out of St. John's College and it really made me feel good to donate my time to help others. When I moved to LA 10 years ago I obviously couldn't keep doing the SAR thing for Santa Fe and I had to quit the team. A few years ago, one of my good friends invited me to join the San Bernardino Sheriff Department's Cave Rescue Team , and I did. As there is only one real cave and even less cave rescues in San Bernardino County, we don't often get called on cave rescues, but luckily our team is very technical and we are certified in Winter Alpine, Technical Rope and Ground Rescue so we get called out about once a month on searches. The search and and rescue thing is a great way to get out from behind the computer and volunteer my time for a good cause.
4. Did you meet your wife in LA?
I actually met her in Twentynine Palms, at the founder of the Desert Dog Troglodytes Grotto's birthday party. She comes from a family of old school cavers, in fact she went caving in utero. I met her dad first at the party and then I met her after she was telling her dad how she was the youngest person at the party (she is only 1 year younger than me). She is now my wife, we got married on July 9th, 2006 at the New Otani Hotel in the rooftop garden. You can read more about it hereour website pendave.com.
5. What's your favorite LA spot for Drum'N'Bass?
The best spot in LA for drum'n'bass has always been the club known as Respect, which is currently located at the Larchmont, formerly the Martini Lounge, on Melrose. They've been holding it down strong for over 7 years now every Thursday night. I try and make it there every week to take photos.
6. What is/are your favorite book(s)/CD(s)/movie(s)/TV show(s) about LA?
Book: Cadillac Desert - This book totally rocks, if you want to learn about the crazy wild things LA's forefathers did in order to bring water out here you most certainly need to read this book.
CD: Guns-n-Roses : Welcome to the Jungle - When I was a kid growing up in northern california, I probably listened to this album a thousand times, never actually understanding how fucked up the topics they were covering were, now that I'm older and I listen to Mr. Brownstone I always get a chuckle at how naive a kid I was.
Movies: Bladerunner / Chinatown - I don't think I need to expand on why these movies rock.... if you haven't seen them you're missing out on life.
TV: The Shield - This has to be the best cop drama ever. I can't wait until next season, and I feel like that at the end of every season. I should mention that I don't actually have a TV / Cable connection so I only ever watch these at a friends house or via BitTorrent.
7. Describe your best LA dining experience.
The wife and I really love eating at LA Prime on the top level of the Bonnaventure. They have big mean bloody steaks cooked just right and their service in impeccable. Their wine list is quite expansive, although not especially inexpensive, not that the food is either. After dinner we like to head down the stairs to the rotating bar and have a few drinks before cabbing it home.
8. What is the "center" of LA to you?
The center of LA is Downtown. In the past decades it hasn't been the center of commerce nor living, but with the recent loft revival that is changing. I really love the energy downtown and the fact that I can walk to all kinds of cool places and ride my bike to even more. Once they build that Ralphs it will be the perfect place to live, well they also need to triple the services and residences for the folks living on skid row.
9. It's 9:30pm on a Thursday. Where are you, and where are you going?
If I've finished the IAAL-MAF bike ride, I'm having a Maker's Mark Manhattan with my wife, getting my camera gear together and preparing to go to Respect to hear some drum'n'bass.
10. Where do you want to be when the big one hits?
With my wife, so I can protect her.
all photos by eecue, of course
