Brian Cade: I actually fell into photography by accident, both literally and figuratively . The end of my second year ( 1991) as a graphic arts major at Columbia college in Chicago, I suffered a shoulder injury that put me out of school for what was predicted the next 6 months, so not to succumb to boredom and to continue to be creative I bought my first 35mm film camera from a friend of mine, the rest just wrote itself over time with me exploring every possibility of my new found love.

 

So the who and what fall  into 2 parts as a photographer and artist, the latter part of that statement would be the great masters of the art world, they way they visualized each piece the way they used light, I would spend hours in my youth studying their work. as a photographer some of "who" that had an influence on me were my first mentors in Chicago like the late Ronald Anthony, Art Ketchum and Eugene Kimmons.

 

When I was getting more involved into photography, I studied the work of other Chicago photographers Mark Hauser and Stan Malinowski. Of course I had always loved the work of renowned photographers Richard Avedon, Mary Ellen Mark, Dorthea Lange, Annie Liebowtiz and Mark Seiliger to name a few, but the works of Jim Marshall, Robert Knight, Ross Halfin, Bob Gruen, Gene Kirkland and Neil Zlozower set the foundation in what I wanted to do in photography,  I wanted to freeze that moment of emotion and intensity of music, not the idea of who they are.

 

 

SplatterTribe: What was the first real camera you ever used and what do you use now?

 

Brian Cade: Back in the day when I shot film, I started with a used Pentax Z10, that was in 1991. That same year I got my first Nikon, a N8008s. Followed shortly with a F3 and a F4s, both with motordrives, all 35mm film type cameras, Now when it came to Medium format I got my first Hasselblad 501c in 1995, since I still shoot film on occasion I have a Rollieflex TLR, just fell in love with the 2 1/4 X 2 1/4 format. Currently I use a Nikon D200 with a motordrive with various lens.

 

 

SplatterTribe: Give us some idea's on the people or events that you have photographed in your career...

 

Brian Cade: With whom I have shot in my career, its more of an endless array of intense emotion. The genre does not matter to me one way or another. I get a surge from what the artist puts into their performance and each genre brings something new and unique. Such as my earlier work I have done of Mick Jones, Luther Allison, Wynonna Judd to Marilyn Manson, even Slayer, each carry with them a way they captivate their audience. I have shot more of the metal scene in the last 8 years or so, covering everything to Rockstar Mayhem Fest to Rock on the Range in Ohio. To me its never about the quantity of whom I shoot, but the quality of my work that matters, though I have a laundry list of artist I covered over the past 20 years. It still remains clear to me to tell my story in images that convey the intensity of the show. I am only as good as my last image.

 

 

SplatterTribe: OK, I have this issue I want your opinion on. Although, as Miss October 2010 Monique Dupree once commented to me on Facebook, Photoshop is indeed an Art in itself, I sometimes feel that natural photography (the natural photo for what it is) is getting lost in the shuffle of modern photo-editing software. Do you feel that way at all and if so, (or if not) do you feel that is a good thing, a bad thing or who cares kind of thing?

 

Brian Cade: I truly think Photoshop is a tool, just as a camera is a tool, we create the image not the camera, therefore Photoshop I don't see any difference than the tools and techniques we use in the darkroom such as dodging and burning, cross processing, solarization and the like. I do believe too that the "artsy" things you can do in Photoshop such as HDR and what some fashion magazines have done in manipulating an image is more an illustration of the original, so when you take an image outside the traditional darkroom steps, its a illustration thus can be called art from that point of view and its no longer a photograph. 

 

 

SplatterTribe: Define the following words as they pertain to you...

Brian Cade:

-Music

Expression and emotion.

-Entertainment

anything that takes us out of what we consider the norm.

-Art

Expression of one's interpretation on life.

-Life

Its what you make it to be, we are the captains of our own ships.

 

 

SplatterTribe: To the best of your knowledge, who was you named after?

 

Brian Cade: Nobody, I guess that is why I am unique..... >laughing<

 

 

SplatterTribe: What would you do, if you where standing in line at a gas station and the guy in front of you unknowingly dropped...

 

Brian Cade:

-A picture of you with a red X scribbled over it?

ask the attendant for a red marker a scribble a "O" and say "your turn" >laughing<

-A gun and a ransom note?

ask them if they work for the Government >laughing<

-A Brian Cade Photography business card? 

Strike up a conversation about the card while giving it back to them, all the while not saying who I was.

-your wallet?

write a quick note that says "I-O-U" slip it in the wallet and walk away >laughing<

-your keys?

Call shotgun >wink<

-the little old lady behind you's wallet?

This is actually interesting, back in 1998 when I had flown back to Chicago to shoot Faith Hill. A woman and her son had asked me on a escalator what train took them to Midway airport. I replied that as soon as she would bring her tot style hand bag to the front of her so the guy that was right behind her with his hand in her purse would not steal her wallet, I would tell her....That guy didn't get the wallet and was really pissed at me, that is  why I am happy that a monopod can be extended in times like these.  Besides she had stated too she was from NYC, so I thought she should have still been on guard.

-His ID and it said Mel Gibson and he looked really, really pissed off?

Drum up my best "baby talk" voice and say "who's a good boy, yeeeessss you are, you are a good boy...tickle, tickle" >laughing<

 

 

SplatterTribe: If you could add  or take away one law from the books, what would it be?

 

Brian Cade: I would take away the law in Florida that states "Sex with a porcupine is illegal" have not our brothers and sisters in Florida been through enough >laughing<

 

 

SplatterTribe: What comes to mind when you hear the word SplatterTribe?

 

Brian Cade: The scene where all these birds are smashing into a phone booth in Alfred Hitchcock's film "The Birds"

 

 

SplatterTribe: If you where asked to do a photo shoot for something called SplatterTribe, what would you assume the photo shoot would concern?

 

Brian Cade:  Alfred Hitchcock >laughing<

 

 

SplatterTribe: Finish the following sentences...
 

Leave me alone.

--I cannot stand...

Liars, thieves, cheaters and those that try to pump themselves up with their own form of reality. This pertains too those narcissistic photographers or other artist.

--There's nothing cooler than...

Being loved for who you are not what people perceive you to be.

--What in the...

world are they thinking when a venue allows camera phones and point and shoot cameras into the press pit, that one still bewilders me. I understand there are music fans,, but the majority of us are there on assignment and don't have the time to maneuver around them cause they get in the way so we can't get our shots.

--I wish I was..

"Oscar Meyer Weiner that is what I truly want to be" no, no wait how about "

--I should have listened when...

they say "the cup runeth over" that there would be a mess to clean up >wink<

--I just don't understand...

Quantum physics

--I always knew...

I would be some type of artist.

--I got no problem admitting...

I listen to all music, and my personal favorites are Classical, Jazz and Blues.

--All I need for a good day is...

God

--Why do people...

Think that when a photographer post an image its alright to take it.

--If I was President, I would...

Free Jimmy Hoffa from the White House basement or any government basement he might be imprisoned in, along with all the Umpa lumpas >laughing< however they had allowed a few of them to attend (Rockstar) Mayhem fest one year >wink<

 

 

SplatterTribe: I ask everyone I interview if they have a good, random question to ask the next person and well, this one comes from Death Metal Veteran Mike May of the band Abominant and his question is...

 

 -I sent a bottle of sparkling apple juice to your house. Did you get it?-

 

Brian Cade: As soon as I get the toxicology back from the lab to check the urine content, I will let you know >laughing<

 

 

SplatterTribe: Do you have a good, random question to ask the next person I interview?

 

Brian Cade: If you were the Boss and getting ready to fire a person that claimed to be a psychic, would you wait till the next day and say to them "why are you still here"?..

 

 

SplatterTribe: Do you have a question you would like to ask me?

 

Brian Cade: What got you into music journalism and what is your background in the music scene?

 

(Tribe Note: Well, this story originally begins deep in Old Mexico. My father lead a Mariachi band called El Los Los. I used to join them on stage as  Los Thievin' Gringo Boy. My shtick was that I was some random white kid in the crowd and I would jump onstage and act like I was trying to steal their hats. It was always funny and would get a loud crowd reaction. I remember how much everyone seemed to love the skit. Then  everything came to a halt one night when we where playing at El Concha de Tortuga and Fred, the guitarron player, got spooked when he saw a bunch of la policía before the show. While in a panic, he decided to hide his stash of "Zoom, Zoom" underneath his hat right before they took the stage. Needless to say, when I "snuck" up on stage to do my shtick, with one 'sneeky, slight of hand, I finally swiped one of those hats, Unfortunately it was Fred's...Our Mariachi career was over. Years later, I wrote about the experience in the Russian version of Rolling Stone magazine, called The Russian Rolling Stone Magazine and the rest is history!)

 

 

SplatterTribe: Do you believe...

 

Brian Cade:

--in ghosts? Nope

--in UFOs? I believe its self centered to think we are the only living beings in the universe.

--in conspiracy theories? When they stop "blackening" out things in files when the public is made aware of something. I WILL STOP BELIEVING.

--in Sasquatch? Is that a hybrid vegetable?

--in Zombies? Not since I seen "The Walking Dead" on A&E, those suckers could run a marathon, I thought zombies were slow.

--that the world will end in 2012? Really?! Those darn Mayans....such the jokesters ha ha ha

--in 2nd chances? Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.

--in miracles? oh yea, when did they stop happening

--in magic? nope.

--in Karma? I do believe what comes around goes around.

--that we landed on the moon? Hell yea, I watched it on TV.

--in reincarnation? I don't think so >rolling my eyes<

--that dreams mean something? Oh yes I believe that account for some things in our lives.

--in fate? I believe there are things meant to be and if you don't like the situation then you and only you can change it, were captains of our own ships.

--in world peace? Sorry to say I don't, there would always be some leader somewhere thinking they got the short end of the stick or feel the need to show there force of power to the world,

--everything happens for a reason? Some things are meant and not meant to be, move on.

--in déjà vu? is that some type of soup?

--in the butterfly effect? The what?! I believe behavior in most cases is a learned process and through this is the acceptance of that behavior as normal based on the individuals surroundings and condition, also in BF Skinner study on human behavior.

--You have a chance of winning the lottery? maybe if I played ALL the time, one day >wink<

 

 

SplatterTribe: What is "the dream" for a photographer like you?

 

Brian Cade: To meet the ones that have inspired me and shaped the photography world both in music and portrait works.

 

 

SplatterTribe: Ask yourself a question and answer it here...

 

Brian Cade: Are you going to eat that last slice of pie? YES!! keep your hands off of it! >laughing<

 

 

SplatterTribe: Songwriting Time! I write 2 lines to a song and then you write 2 more!

 

I could see the cold coming down

by the look in her eyes

 

Your Turn:

 

Brian Cade:

in that moment I knew

We'd say good bye

 

 

SplatterTribe: Any closing comments concerning anything you want said, known, printed or shown plus tell us what your plans are for the year...

 

--
Sincerely

Brian Cade
www.briancadephoto.com
www.facebook.com/briancade.photo