look hugh's talking

... a catch up with L.A. based photographer Hugh Hamilton when he was in town recently - one sunny, post dust storm, Sydney afternoon.

AD: A few words about you, Hugh?

HH: I’ve been a photographer for twenty years. I trained at Studio Ben Ericcson in Edgecliff with guys like Grant Mathews and Paul Austin. In the beginning I shot a lot of theatre, Sydney Theatre Company, Belvoir St. And I was shooting portraiture for Vogue, Follow Me and mags like that. Mid nineties I wound up in advertising almost accidently. I shot campaigns for Volvo, Qantas, lots of CBA stuff. The theatre never left my blood so along the way I did a lot of work for Sydney Dance Company.

AD: You worked for many years in Sydney and now for quite a few in L.A. How do they compare? What are the big differences?

HH: Size! Los Angeles and America are GIGANTIC. I was in at Saatchi’s here in LA seeing Simon Mainwaring (another Aussie) and I walked past the art room, which held around three hundred portfolios for art directors to look at. I'm not kidding. I don't think you could find three hundred portfolios in Sydney. That was a few years ago and since then it does seem to have gone almost totally online. Much easier and cheaper for everyone!

AD: What brings you back to Sydney?

HH: I come once or twice a year, depending on the state of the business. I’d like to end up back here. Its nicer, the foods better. And people answer the phone when you call them.

AD: How is life in L.A.?

HH: A roller coaster, particularly in the current economy.

AD: Tell me about your recent shoots in L.A. People, locations, etc.

HH: See above. Los Angeles is a very big place. Lots of driving. Lots of flying. LAX is a horrible place to commute from and I seem to do it a lot. But that is a huge difference between the countries. In Sydney no one ever seemed to go anywhere much but here you really rack the frequent flyer points up.

AD: What would be your fondest memory to date of a shoot in L.A.? What have been the high points and low points?

HH: The low point was definitely the first year, when person after person would look at my book and say “I can see you know what you’re doing, but I have no idea who you are” It took me ages to see things the way they see them here. I was used to being a pretty good craftsman but I had never tried to inject my personality into my commercial work. Here they want that. They want to see total specialisation and a true expression of your deepest passions. High points? Shooting Gabriel Byrne for the movie Jindabyne in New York. He was just a lovely man who gave me as much time as I needed.

AD: What would be the balance of editorial V’s advertising jobs?

HH: Oh I’m an editorial photographer here! I think I will crack ads eventually. The book makes much more sense now, its much more an expression of my interests and personality than just my skills. I have bid on a few things which at least means they know who I am now! And I do a fair amount of just straight commercial work, direct to client. Good honest photography.

AD: How has the GFC affected advertising, editorial and photography in L.A.?

HH: Rates are getting hammered, as they are everywhere. And everyone is whinging about how slow it is. And the writers strike didn’t help. LA’s industry is the film industry. This town was suffering before the GFC. It just made it worse!

AD: What would you say most dominates your folio at the moment?

HH: Location portraiture, both celebrity and real people. I didn’t realise they were separate categories till I came here! I always thought people were just people.

AD: What inspires you for personal projects?

HH: Human beings. They are endlessly fascinating. And beyond strange.

AD: Who would you say are your greatest influences?

HH: Anything that takes my breath away! The guys that are out there in their own little world. Matt Mahurin, Javier Vallonhrat, Bill Brandt. I have no idea if you can see it in my work but I just love photographers who seem to have invented their own genre.

AD: Do you have a favourite shoot / shot?

HH: My ten minutes with Steve Martin. We didn’t exchange more than ten words but I wasn’t there to be his friend. I had ten minutes and its a great shot. I just totally wanted to be a fan and I couldn’t be. It was incredibly generous of him to be part of my project and I wasn't going to fuck it up by behaving like a starstruck puppy.

AD: What are your thoughts on social media sites, like flickr, etc.?

HH: Facebook and I are very close. Flickr I haven’t looked at in years. I finally started to realise I was happy with my own work now when I stopped looking at everyone else’s.

AD: How about your thoughts on stock photography and usage?

HH: Oh, we’re getting screwed, what else is there to say. Its just economics. Too many people with too many cameras and the cameras are too good now. That said, creativity and talent will always be needed but the immense flood of imagery that digital photography produced only shows you that the market actually doesn’t need that much creativity...it just wanted a picture to put at the top of the page and a buck on istock will get them that. I recently had an Australian agency offer me two thousand dollars to shoot a celebrity here for a national campaign back home. Two thousand inclusive of all costs! And they wanted 24 months outdoor, print, collateral and internet usage for that. After I picked myself up off the floor I found that they had found someone here to do it for fifteen hundred dollars! And you know the celeb is costing them a couple of hundred grand. Its just rude now, and because the cameras are cheap and the quality is amazing there are more and more people out there having a go. Thats their right, but oversupply means the price of what we do is coming down.
Its just economics.

AD: Your view on agents / producers?

HH: Worth every penny.

AD: Any thoughts on returning to Australia? Why?

HH: I have two daughters. I don’t want Hollywood teenagers...and Australia is wonderful. You can't imagine what they think is a beach in California - it just doesn't compare.

AD: Where to next? Have you got any interesting projects or exhibitions lined up?

HH: I’m still working on the Rosebud project with Gia Carides - hopefully it will be a book both here in the US and in Australia. My Australian agent loves the idea and is going gangbusters to set up the shoots down there when I next visit. If you’ve ever seen Citizen Kane you’ll know that rosebud was Kane’s childhood sled. And that's the idea. People with an essentially meaningless object that means everything to them - objects that they have dragged through their lives for no reason but
that their life would be emptier without it. Steve Martin’s was the magician’s hat he bought when he was eleven. Mine is a hairbrush that was a christening present...its been everywhere with me and still sits on my desk. I don’t have enough hair anymore for it to do any good!

AD: Anything else you’d like to share about ad land and photography?

HH: I think fifty per cent of what I’ve done in the last year has just been for the web.
So we better get used to it!

AD: Thanks Hugh.















All Images © Hugh Hamilton

Hugh Hamilton
http://www.hughhamiltonphotography.com
http://wipasnapa.com/hughhamilton/
USA (310) 633 3396