Photographer & Web Guy: Nuno Oliveira
Chase Hawk at Heath Pinter’s Trails – Lomo LC-A/Cant Remember film
Next in the interview series is the photographer and web guy Nuno Oliveira. Nuno works for Odyssey and is a contributor for Defgrip; Nuno does some great stuff at Odyssey, and all being well we will have some Deluxe BMX complete bikes out featuring Odyssey parts that Nuno has had a hand in – good work Nuno, thanks for your help with that! He is also a dab hand with a camera and namesake to a master of the art of dressage.
Bauer fine tuning Chase’s rig – Lomo LC-A/Kodak B&W
BIO:
Name: Nuno Oliveira
Hometown: Long Island, NY/Long Beach, CA.
Years shooting BMX photos: I started getting ‘serious’ with shooting anything just this year.
Where you can see my photos: Flickr / Defgrip sometimes.
Nikon or Canon: or? Minolta, Lomo LC-A.
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Jim Cielencki – Minolta XG-9/Sensia 400/Cross Processed
What are you doing today? What’s the plan? Well, I went to work, nothing too crazy. It’s a week before Interbike and switching gears between everything that pops up is at a maximum. Went on a seven mile bike ride, spoke with Stew Johnson on the phone and had a burrito.
Okay, what are some of the trails spots you’ve shot photos at? Mostly only Heath’s when we go out there, and a spot in Burbank. Like I said above, I’ve only started getting remotely serious with shooting photos just this year. I don’t own any flashes or anything, haha.
And are there any trail spots you would like to shoot photos at? Any place on the east coast, any place in the woods, any place in the fall, any place with nice square manicured jumps, any place with lines everywhere, any place with cool locals, any place where people are having a good time.
Keith Mulligan of Ride BMX magazine – Lomo LC-A/Kodak 400
Checking out your Flickr, you obviously do a lot of point-n-shoot, and the results are dialled. What cameras do you use? I alternate between a Minolta XG-9 which my dad gave me, and a Lomo LC-A. I also have a digi P&S for quickies. The LC-A is always fun to use, and the results are always interesting, even though I feel like I’m holding a delicate piece of equipment that might shit the bed at anytime.
Ideally… film, or digital? Film for sure. It’s way more exciting to wait and see the results, learn from mistakes and to get a better grasp of how cameras work. I still can’t wrap my head around how a camera captures an image out of thin air. It’s crazy. Oh, It’s fun to try different films as well.
Also – in this day and age, print or web? Both. The web is great for quick up to the minute info, and print is great for something to hold onto, and for archival purposes. Getting into a magazine is still a big deal to most people, and I’m stoked that our main three BMX magazines are all looking good. Besides, It just wouldn’t feel right taking my laptop with me to drop a deuce. The last thing I want is hot lap when I’m dropping a hot one.
Awesome kid probably called Mylen – Lomo LC-A/Fuji Pro 160 S
With working on Defgrip, what sort of imagery are you looking for? A little bit of everything. A riding shot is great, but that’s almost a simple go-to. It’s great to get cool portraits and lifestyle type pics of people. Anything that involves their environment or workspace is always interesting.
What’s your input to Defgrip, and how does the team work anyway? I’m one of the contributors. It’s pretty simple, we all just post what we find interesting which could involve anything. I talk to Harrison all the time and we are constantly bouncing ideas off each other and things like that. I think we have a pretty sweet niche with the site, and hope to keep it going for a while.
What’s your input at Odyssey as well – is that the ‘day job’ so to speak? Yep, Odyssey is the day job. Odyssey is a small company, so we are all involved. We all discuss everything and offer our input. We have some good people steering the ship, and everyone else just helps to reinforce what’s being done.
Jim Bauer – Lomo LC-A/Kodak 400
What’s your favourite trails photo of all time? WOW!! This is hard, and there’s so many. There’s lots of history to consider. Off the top of my head… I’m going to say the Ground Chuck one-handed flatty at Posh from a Standard Bykes two-page spread that said ‘Welcome to Standard Country’. That was pretty powerful to me. I hung that bitch on my wall. I think it was in Tread magazine. The line he was doing was gnarly enough to just flow through, let alone remove a limb and flatten the bike, haha!
What about dirt jumping contests – how do you see those? I’m into them. I think they should continue to make challenging jumps/courses so people who train on box jumps can’t just win easy by doing some crazy maneuver. A lot of the people riding dirt contests are great all around riders, so I’m not trying to diss anyone. There’s a lot to be said for smoothness, nose-diving in, and just making simple things look good though.
Finally, if you were going to, say Catty Woods or Bar End, for a photo shoot for one day with just three riders – who would you pick, and why? This will be fairly stock, but… Mike Aitken, Corey Bohan and Chris Doyle – I think they are all quintessential trail dudes, Smooth and waaaaaay stylish. I’m positive there’s others, but I would have to slave over this for about nine hours.
Cory Bohan at Red Bull Elevation - Lomo LC-A/Can’t remember film
See more of Nuno’s work over at:
http://www.odysseybmx.com/index.php
http://blog.defgrip.net/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nuno_oliveira
on 28/09/08