Photographs and Power Chords - The Creative Path of David Scott Bowles
===
[00:00:00]
David, I am really excited, my first guest for Lenses and Lyrics. so
let's,
let's, let's kick things off right away.
you are a photographer right now, right? but you still play music. You still play music
I do, I mean, I, I dabble a little bit, but not as much as I want. yeah. I, I am not playing. I'm
and what's it?
I'm
Yeah.
anymore. Like I'm not in bands anymore, but I'll still create music on the side, you know, just kind of for
Yeah.
And then, actually,
Mm-hmm.
Son's Musical Journey
---
now my son is actually getting into music, so I've been like, kind of
Nice.
kind of like, know, come up with band names and stuff like that. And, so that's,
Mm-hmm.
But right now, I mean, I wish I was in a band right now, but I don't know where I'd fit it into my schedule at all.
Right. Right. and what, what is your son, trying, what is he playing and trying to get into
A
a band? Playing.
he, plays guitar. He is self-taught. we bought
Okay.
him an acoustic when he was 11 and he.[00:01:00]
Mm-hmm.
really like fell into it. And then like, you know, a couple years go by, he came home and he, I, I'd seen him pick his guitar up and I'm like, oh my gosh. Like, do you're playing guitar?
He is like, yeah, some, some friends at school, like, we wanna start a band, so I wanna learn da, da da da. And I was like, oh cool. So, I told him, I was like, you know what, if, if you show me that you're really interested in, in playing, I will buy you an electric guitar for Christmas and. he learned a couple songs like within literally like maybe a matter of like six months, like learned a couple songs, was getting better. I told him, play for an hour every day. That's all you really need. we'll go from there. And now he, he's literally plays every day. he's gotten so good. So it's, it's pretty cool.
It's amazing. Nice.
David's Band History
---
so can you tell me about your history with music? Because I know, I know you were in at least one band. was there multiple? Tell gimme the, gimme the backstory behind this.
I actually started, in bands when I was 16. the first band I ever started was a, kinda like a metal core band, back in the day. And [00:02:00] that one was really cool 'cause obviously it was the first band. in a garage and, you know, getting all the, the, learning basically, I was pretty much learning with my friends.
We're all around the same age. and that band slowly started to take off in like within our local scene. we did a couple like mini tours, stuff like that, wrote some demos. and then once that band kind of fizzled out, some of the same members started another band called Before the Downfall. before the downfall was kind of the same, genre was just a little heavier and I guess like progressive, like faster. And then that band really took off. We went on a couple mini West Coast tours and did the whole thing, like we bought like this really terrible van and just like. for it. after that band fell apart, I didn't really do anything for a year. And then I joined, I joined into a band that was already kind of [00:03:00] doing their thing. this was kind of a weird dynamic because it was a, it was more of like a screamo band. So the. lead singer sung, but they wanted somebody who did, scream, like could scream. And that's pretty much what my background is as a vocalist. So I came in and he was singing and I was screaming, and as time went on, they kind of wanted to eliminate the singing part of it.
And you know, the guy that was singing left. And then I started taking over as a front man for that band. And that one, I would say, other than the last music project that I did was would've, would've been the most successful band that I was in, at the time in the genre. we did a couple tours. We played Warp Tour, which was really rad. locally in, in Ventura. So back in the day,
Mm-hmm.
used to have, a thing called like, well, I guess they're bringing it back this year, which is cool. But, they had
Right.
of the band. So you would like submit a song
Yeah.
get people to vote on it, and if you win, [00:04:00] they would bring you out to a local date of your choice. And we won the Ventura date and we played it and it was rad. we played another one. We played a, so there's a fest. I don't know if you're familiar, have you ever heard of a Cornerstone fest?
Yeah.
it's, it's on the
Mm-hmm.
so it's a big, we weren't a Christian band, but we were, we weren't obviously not like against anything as well, but we played this huge fest in, orange County called California Cornerstone.
And they were trying to basically bring Cornerstone to California. It was gonna be this annual thing and it was huge. and we got a time slot to play and it was what we thought was the worst time. there's actually some videos on YouTube, of us playing too, which is rad. But we thought it was like the worst time, time slot, 'cause it was last day of the fest. And under oath was the headliner. So we played after under oath, which was on main stage. [00:05:00] saving grace, I think, to our performance was our, our tents like stage was at the exit.
Mm-hmm.
people were coming out, like we're already, like the, the show had just end ended and we're like, okay, let's,
Yeah. Yeah,
milk it a little bit.
Let's see if
yeah.
out and we'll just, you know, like bring the
Yeah.
make some noise. within a matter of seconds, like our entire tent just filled up and we played in front of like hundreds of kids and that was pretty rad.
so you could, you could technically say that under oath opened for you.
guess we can.
that's, that's really awesome. yeah, I, I never had an opportunity to play, A festival of any sort. I almost died at a warp tour.
wow.
but
Since,
was, it was, so, so, when the warp tours that were in New Jersey, typically happened in Asbury Park, which is most well known for, like, where Bruce Springsteen and bouncing souls and so on would [00:06:00] play at the Stone Pony and things like that.
And,there was one where. blink 180 2 came out and
I
I wasn't ready for how much that crowd was gonna be.
Crazy.
The entire part of, typically the mosh pits are in the front, right? This was like the entire crowd became a mosh, one giant mosh pit, and I went down fast. I was not expecting it. so I was caught under everybody broken glasses, lost my shoe.
I was, I was beat up.
man.
that was rough.
is
So,
Yeah.
it was really scary.
Transition to Photography
---
so did you photograph bands as well while you were, while you were in the bands and touring, or did you photograph bands afterwards? Like, was that, any, any part of your transition towards photography?
I think yes and no. I never got to photograph bands. I would love to actually, now it's something that I'm like, man, I would really love to get back into that and like concert [00:07:00] photography. But when I was shooting, I would, I did a little bit of concert photography when I had my first camera. I bought my first camera much like right before my son was born.
So in, 2008 I got my first camera, and now I was still in bands at that time, so I did a couple like. Local shows and, you know, shot some friends bands and stuff, but it never really was something that I was super into. Mm-hmm.
I think what drew me more to photography was actually being on the other side of the lens, getting photographed. like when we would
Hmm.
Our photographer, we had a photographer that did most of our work. So when we'd hired him to do like our promo work, I was always so interested in the gear and the light up and like, how is he doing this? Like, oh,
Yeah.
And like just when then we, we would get the, the photos back, like how the edits came out and stuff. So that always
Yeah.
me, towards like photography and stuff.
Connecting with Clients
---
Would you say that, your time[00:08:00]
In
in bands
has influenced how
how you connect with people that you're photographing, whether it's a wedding or just a portrait or whatever. Do you think that
the way
the way that you interacted with people
during your
your time
playing
on stage, off stage, right. has,
Has has sort of bled into
how you
how you interact with people for your photography as well.
I would definitely say yes. I think there's like kind of two sides to that. So especially if
Mm-hmm.
shoot, so like for instance, I, I can't talk too much of this 'cause I just shot an NDA wedding there was a large, artists that walk the bride down the aisle. Like we just, we are easy to connect to because we are able, able to talk about music.
I told her a little bit about my background and stuff like that. There was also,
Right.
a concert photographer there. I can't remember his name, Neil something. Neil Patrickson or Peterson or something like that. But he was like one of the. [00:09:00] big pioneers in like concert photography. Back in the day. He shot like Alice Cooper and like all these big bands.
He has a book
Nice.
Cooper. so when I told him like my background, I was like, oh yeah, like I, I used to be in bands. He goes, now you're a photographer. Like, and he would say that the same thing. He is like, it's kind of that same path, right? Like. That creative journey.
yeah.
I mean,
Mm-hmm.
music to being a chef. I was a graphic designer for a little bit, and then from that to what I do now as a photographer. So, once,
Yeah,
find out that somebody has that background, it definitely makes it a lot easier to connect with them and talk to them and stuff like that.
for sure, for sure. Yeah, I, I've had one, so I don't do weddings that often. I take 'em when they're like extremely special, one of them.
I
That I took on was a Grammy winner, and I wasn't, still not allowed to like, share, share, share anything. but, it, it's, it, it is, it definitely makes the, when, when you connect with, [00:10:00] with your, with your clients in a, in a, in a way, whether it's music or something else, obviously that's gonna just make the whole day, the whole project, the whole session, the whole event, just so much.
more
More exciting, more special.
but
so that's, that's always a good thing. I, I
I
Event Speaking and Networking
---
, I was just in, I was just in in Washington and I was, speaking at an event
and there
there was
four
four and a half other speakers. One was sort of like an impromptu last minute, like, Hey, we can have this guy
about
about
this
this one print competition.
and one of the, one of the other speakers, the last speaker of the entire event.
was
Was Davis Freeman.
I dunno
I don't know if you know who that photographer is, but
had
he has photographed,
he's
he is one of the few people
who had
has photographed on that giant four foot by six foot Polaroid camera. and he's retired at this point.
He's almost 80. and now he just speaks at events and shares his story and things like that when people want, and it's really [00:11:00] interesting. and he's photographed Dave Matthews Band and he's photographed, Crosby from Crosby, Crosby, stills and Nash and, and so many others. And, after his class, he was complimenting my class and then I'm talking about his class.
It was really a nice connection to be able to,
connect with another photographer in person about.
Know
know, who is your favorite person of, I literally asked him,
Of all
of all the celebrities that you've ever photographed, who is your favorite? You know, and it's always interesting to see,
the perspective of like, if it's a politician, is it
because the
of the politics that the person was your favorite?
Or is it something unrelated to the politics and if it's a, you know, whatnot. So
really.
it was really interesting. And, he told me his least favorite and his, and his favorite. But, anyway, so Davis Friedman, definitely worth looking up his work. just beautiful, beautiful work, and, really, really nice guy.
so I am, curious if,
[00:12:00] so you're not performing anymore, so, if you were. To perform now that you've been behind the camera more, right? Probably, I'm, I'm assuming this more at, at this, at this stage, you've probably been behind the camera for more time than you were ever in front of the camera. Am I right to, to assume that or am I incorrect?
I, I would a hundred percent agree with that. I mean, I even know the hours I've used my camera and how much I've used my camera.
right. Yeah, yeah.
you know, just, you know, from weddings alone. I mean, I've shot in the last couple years, I've
Yeah.
a thousand weddings, so,
Yeah.
I like to, I mean, I definitely like to be in front of the camera a lot, or
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, take, getting my picture taken. Mm-hmm.
and that's like one thing I said I would love to get back into doing, shooting artists, like getting, even if it's
[00:13:00] Yeah.
local band, like just to practice like different techniques.
'cause the funny thing is even in wedding photography, I think that's why I enjoy. Shooting groomsmen so much because I can, I almost look at it like shooting a band. I set them up very
Mm-hmm.
I would shoot a
Yeah.
like pose them the same way. so I,
Yeah.
my head, I'm like, all right, its time to go do band photos.
Like
Right, right. Well, so, so let me ask you this.
Performing and Photography Insights
---
knowing what you know now about photography, if you were to go back, or let's say you were presented with an opportunity to be in a band again now, like right now, and you're about to go perform on stage, what would you do different? Would you do anything different than what you might have done in the past, whether it's knowing you're gonna be photographed?
while you're
While you're performing, would you position you and your band mates a different way
a
or a specific way
Now
now knowing what it's like as a photographer?
no, because you know what the funny thing is, is I was always constantly aware of [00:14:00] cameras when I performed. as
Hmm.
as everybody else, I mean, the, the thing is, is like when you play in a band, at least for me, this is how I, my wife was always, how would you do that? 'cause like, I've played in front of a lot of freaking people, so wife would be like, how do you get on the stage? And like, not like. Get nervous and I was like, you really don't see anything.
Like I just see the lights. So usually obviously you could see
Yeah.
'cause they're usually in the pit. They're right there in the front. So I kind of just look for them and they're almost like my, my comfort zone, right? So I could just like be like, I'm performing for this one camera or maybe this one camera right here. So yeah, I don't think I would change much because I was always kind of always aware that there was a camera on me.
Yeah. Yeah, that, that totally makes sense. Totally makes sense. yeah, I, I think I would.
depending on the venue,
I
I think in certain situations [00:15:00] I would ask for lighting to be a certain way.
because
knowing, yes,
light.
like I've got a crazy light going on behind me right now because I thought it'd be fun, right?
But. If I was on stage right and I know that I've got these crazy lights that are changing colors and they're spotlights and some are harsh, more harsh than others,
cetera.
we know as photographers
it's
it's gonna be much harder to work with right? To, to, to dial in
color
color, how you would want it
in the, in the
the, in the end photo.
Stage Lighting Preferences
---
so I think for me as a photographer, if I was to go back on stage, I would ask
where the
for the lighting to be. I'm
I'm okay with
okay with color, but keep it still right.
Instead
Instead of having craziness smoke machines, I, I still like the smoke machines.
smoke machines.
Local Venue Experience
---
Make it, there's a local venue out here where I shoot like sometimes, and the venue itself, I mean, it's, it's actually a brewery and they took half of the brewery and turned it into a little venue. but
Nice.
an incredible, [00:16:00] like
hazer, I think is what really makes their lighting like pop.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That it's, it's,
it's cool
it's cool when, when two types of venues combine. There's a, there's a brewery out here that,
now
now has bands come through and only play acoustic in their. In their brewery.
and they have a very small stage, which is probably why it's acoustic.
because it's
'cause it's not enough room for an entire band.
But,
But,
it's, it's always packed. Every single one. yeah, it's, it's, there's one coming up I really want to go, but unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to do it because I have a, I have a, a proposal to photograph the same day and I'm like.
That's tough.
I can't swing it.
Microphone Preferences
---
I can't swing it, but, so I have a microphone here.
Now, this is, for anybody who's listening, you'd have to watch the video on YouTube to see what I'm about to ask David. But
Somebody
who
at
had the mic while you were performing, I am curious,
would you
would you hold this mic? Were you a,
this
this type of person,
[00:17:00] A
a this type of person
or,
or this type of person?
yeah, I, I would, and that's an SM 58, which is what I used as well. It's a, technically it's a, it's a Pyle ripoff of the It is, it is the PD mic 58. So it's literally a
so funny.
Pyle brand ripoff of the sm. Yep.
but yeah, I,
So,
I was the cupper, so like, you know, I would have a number, number number two. No, no, not that one. The other one. Number
oh, you were this
yes, yes. Because.
Yeah, the full, full on. You got the whole thing.
because I mean, I, I, I was a screamer. So not only does that
Yeah.
'cause you have to keep it so close to your mouth. yeah, it was just that, damn, I used to break so many microphones too. I feel
Yeah,
I probably owed some venues, some money from the amount of microphones I've broken.
it's so good. It is so funny. my, my favorite mic that I ever used as a person who, because I also screamed for a band, was the, I wish I still had it, but it was the one that looks like the old [00:18:00] microphone.
Is that what you're talking about?
Yeah. Yeah. But it's still a brand new microphone, but it looks, I love that thing. Yeah.
of those, but they didn't sound good for me because there's actually, you have a very, they, they pick up better on lower frequencies and not higher frequencies. So I just,
Mm-hmm.
I think I still have mine literally somewhere in a drawer from when I played.
I, that's like the only piece of equipment
Nice,
I kept and a little mixer. nice. That's good stuff.
Music and Photography
---
are there any specific songs or albums that now what
old
old album, new albums, new old song, new song, whatever that inspires your photography? Like, do you put it on when you edit? Do you, if you're like in a, in a studio environment, not tech, not necessarily a wedding, but like do you put something on that inspires yourself?
How does
how does that play into your photography work?
know, I mean I definitely love to listen to music when I edit as background noise. If it's not a
Mm-hmm.
it's music. And my. My music taste now as a [00:19:00] 37-year-old adult is, is all over the place. but one artist, one artist that is constantly on my, which is funny 'cause I use Pandora and people are like, you, you use Pandora. But, that's always on my Pandora, or even, you know, maybe I'll throw it in like a YouTube mix is a band called My American Heart. They're an old
Okay.
emo band, that I think were honestly ahead of their time. Like I think if they were a band now, they would probably be huge. Mm-hmm.
an old emo band and really good guys and I always have that channel on, on Pandora and it always plays like a bunch of other music that I'm into, but like, just that whole, they have a album called Hiding Inside Horrible Weather, which is like just such a good album.
And I listen to that all the time.
Nice. Awesome, awesome.
I got one more question for you. So before I ask you your question, do you have a question for me?
about
music and photography and that [00:20:00] intersection,
Yeah.
Band History and Influences
---
I mean, I would love to know, what band were you screaming in?
fun story. so the band was called Sever the Stars, named after, a, a,
A
a song from Poison The Well. and we practiced our butts off. I
had
had our first show, which was with the band Penfold
Okay. And the
and the band, the assistant,
and
hold on.
This
' cause this is the kicker.
is the
This is the kicker right here. The band for Forstella Ford and the band Off Minor and the band A Days Refrain.
We played, we played on Halloween. I don't remember what year it was. but it was Halloween
a
a very popular.
not
Not quite like a Knight of Columbus. It was called the m and m Hall, but it was like a, a, just, it was like a Knight of Columbus, but it wasn't part of a
Mm-hmm.
of those type of things. it was $6 at the door and [00:21:00] vegan food was for sale.
And the reason why I know this was because.
someone in the
in a local group just found three flyers from that show, and she's mailing me one. and it's a, it's a sick flyer. But, anyway,
the
several of the stars, we played one show
at the end
the end of the show. We were actually talking with
the
the guy who owned the record label that Penfold and The Assistant were on,
and
and we were in just talking and then, or the band on the fight, we broke up.
So that was it. One show we played.
crazy. That's
Yeah,
my LA
but a, but a lot of, a lot of, a lot of sick stuff came out of that. Like there's a band called Bedlight for Blue Eyes that blew up at one point that
That
that came out of Sever the Stars.
you heard of,
Yeah,
or, Ente?
Yeah. They're from Jersey.
Jersey. So like I've, I went on
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
ago, actually, my, my friend's band went on tour with them and I went with them as just kind of like a merch guy and [00:22:00] stuff like that, but became really
Mm-hmm.
with like the guys from Rabi and Folly and all that stuff. So they did a West Coast tour. so every time I hear anybody for, that's like in the music scene from, from New Jersey, that's like, do you know Folly?
Yeah. Yeah. I saw Folly a lot. A lot. yeah. Yeah.
yeah. good stuff. I see I can go on.
For
For days about, about, about this kind of stuff. This is, I, I love talking about it.
Dream Photography Subjects
---
my, my last question for you is if you could photograph any musician, band, past or present,
who would
who would it be and why?
I would
I
okay man, there's two that I would love to photograph, but if
All right. I'll take two. I'll take two.
band that I'd photograph.
Okay. We'll do, we'll do, we'll do it like this. So the first band I would photograph would probably be Thursday. and the reason is, is Thursday's Thursday?
From Jersey.
Thursday, Thursdays. Well, I actually have a, I
Nice.
somewhere. It's covered up right now. Actually. I have their logo on my wrist right here.
You can't see it, but it's covered [00:23:00] up. they were probably one of the first bands that I really, really got into when I was getting into like Emo and Screamo. And it was showed, it was showed to me by one of my best friends who actually got me into photography. so they always have a special place in my heart. then band are already,
so the second band that I would photograph, or artists I should say, is Dallas Green from City and Color. he's always just been. Like, I dunno, I've just always loved his music and he's got such a unique style to him, so to do like a really nice moody portrait of him would be really rad.
Interested. Interesting. so is he, he's doing so I've listened to city in color, but is he's doing.
doing?
He's doing, solo stuff now.
he doesn't. I would just photograph him. Okay, got it. Got it.
Alright,
Alright,
cool.
That sounds good. about
I'm
What's,
gonna blow your mind. what,
well,
well, yeah, that's a, [00:24:00] that's an interesting one. First off, I'm gonna blow your mind about Thursday for a second. so. A lot of, a lot of iconic emo and punk and, you know, that kind of rock bands have come out of New Jersey a lot.
we like to produce really good musicians apparently. my older brother, who's I think three years older than me,
Four
four years older than four years older than me,
when
when he was in college. When he was in college, my brother's best friend
was
who was basically like my, my second older brother growing up.
Jeff was
was his, Jeff Brickley was his college roommate. And yeah, so I mean, I, I would go see Thursday play before they blew up so many times and just watch Jeff crying on stage, singing his heart out. and,
yeah,
it's,
he
he was definitely someone that inspired me to like
overperform
on stage because of how much he put into everything.
So, Yeah, huge respect to, to Jeff and Thursday. who would I photograph?
you[00:25:00]
You know, there's so many. but honestly, my man, Johnny Cash. if I could, if I could bring him back for a day, just spend a day walking around, hanging out
and
you
you know, just listen to what he has to say and just document. Not even like a.
not even
even a a, a styled session or anything. Just document Johnny Cash.
be
That's what I want for a day.
That'd be rad.
Yeah. So, one of my favorite
autobiographies is
is his book and, it's just incredible, you know, the amount of stuff that he went through and had to fight
and
and whatnot. It's just, he's a very inspiring guy.
And
so
so Johnny Cash, but,
Yeah, I have to look
Yeah.
Yeah.
So,
David, I'm going to include a link to your website of course. in the show notes. Is there any,
if there's any other,
you
you know, YouTube videos or any Pandora links or whatever you wanna share to your music that you've,
know,
you know, been a part of,
[00:26:00] Please share
share it with me.
I will include that in the show notes as well.
Yeah, I will do.
some YouTube stuff on the internet of, one of my bands, ship Shape and Bristol Fashion. There's, a, a video, we have one music video that we did. We have a live performance at Cornerstone. and I'm actually working on, on getting, I'm talking to, I've been talking to our basis a lot.
He has like. Tons of like, hi eight tapes from when we went on tour that I'm gonna try to, make a little video out of. And then, the last band, which we didn't even talk about, so the last music music that I did was a band called Party At Her Place. And it was kind of an an electro. Emo band similar to the lines of like, Breathe Carolina, it's called, scene
Mm-hmm.
so that one was probably my most successful band because we were actually published.
We, I was on Keeping Up With The Kardashians, I was on, bad Girls Club, all these e-net shows. So if you search that, you could find some, some interesting stuff on the internet for that. Awesome.
Awesome.
I
I appreciate you hanging out, [00:27:00] talking music and photography with me and, thanks also for being my first guest on Lenses and Lyrics.
I, I'm, it was a blast. It was fun. I love doing these. I love talking to you. You're amazing guy. So,
As are you. Cool,
Cool.
sweet. Thank you very much.
a good one.
