Interview David Waldman, a.k.a. Kid With Camera

If you’ve been to a punk, hardcore, or indie-rock show in this city in the past decade, there’s a good chance you’ve seen David Waldman without even realizing it. The Toronto-based photographer has been taking photos at concerts since 2001, long before everyone and their mothers had digital cameras. After being given the nickname “Kid With Camera,” he started a blog and zine with the same name to document the musicians and scene that he spent so much time photographing.

The first place to publish and pay for Waldman’s photos was Exclaim. From there, Waldman did an internship at Eye Weekly, where he was one of the magazine’s main photographers for about four years, shooting shows, editorials, and promo shots for his friends’ bands. For his latest exhibit, Celebrating The Spectacle of the Rock ‘N’ Roll Audience, Waldman selected almost 300 pictures from his past 10 years of attending concerts, featuring images of bands including Death From Above 1979, Fucked Up, Pixies, Rancid, and many, many more.

The A.V. Club recently sat down with the photographer at Oz Studios to discuss his battle scars, how concert photography has changed, and just who exactly gave him his (incredibly literal) nickname.

The A.V. Club: When you first started taking photos at Toronto concerts, not many people were doing that, and digital cameras were very basic. How has concert photography changed over the past 10 years?

David Waldman: In the early days, there were no photographers at shows. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I saw that there was a gap to fill, that people wanted documentation. I started just as a hobby, but really quickly people started asking me where they could see the photos. So I threw up a website and started doing a print zine. Today, I’ve definitely been to shows where the whole front row was just photographers. I can’t imagine how weird that would be as a band to know that people are there—probably a few professionals, probably 10 or 5 enthusiasts—but it’s hard to tell how much people are enjoying their music when they’re holding a camera. They don’t really see that response.

AVC: Did you find it easier to bring in a camera to a show when you were starting out?

DW: I actually got a lot more flack in the earlier days. At the beginning, any camera, especially cameras with any sort of LCD screen, the security guards just assumed it was a professional camera, even if it was a low-powered one. Then as time went on, I think the security guards were just so used to seeing digital cameras and promoters would just say, “Let them in; let them bring their cameras in.” It was actually much trickier in the first three or four years. I remember even venues like the Opera House either turning me away or making me lock up my camera in the early days, until it got to the point where either the promoters knew me or I had some sort of credibility. Whereas now, I think it’s just so accepted that everyone has a camera, there’s kind of no point to saying “No photos,” because if even one in 10 people are going to sneak in and get [a photo], it’s going to be online somewhere after the show.

AVC: And now it feels like at some shows you go to in Toronto, everyone is carrying a DSLR.

DW: I understand why. It really is fun to take photos, especially with digital, where you get to see your photo immediately. With film, you have to know what you’re doing, because you don’t get to guess and check. You have to do it and hope all the dials are in the proper place. Whereas now, you can shoot until you get a photo so there’s that instant satisfaction where it does turn into more of an activity; it’s almost like playing basketball or a sport in a sense. I found a lot more people are getting a lot more out of it for the personal experience, not necessarily contributing to anything, especially if they don’t upload to a photo sharing-type program.

AVC: Does this “everyone is a photographer” attitude ever discourage you from shooting shows?

DW: Around the end of 2010, I sort of decided to call it quits. I stopped taking photos, because you can’t have nearly as much fun when you’re holding an expensive piece of equipment. I think it’s human nature that everyone wants to be a photographer, because the experience that I had was loving the music, wanting to capture it, and feeling good because I knew that would help publicize the band that I liked. When I would go to shows, especially the earlier punk shows, there would be five or six bands playing. Instead of writing a negative review, I just wouldn’t photograph a band that I didn’t like. It was a way of staying positive and trying to use any sort of power I had through media to not really insult what I disliked.

AVC: Do you think the use of camera phones at shows has negatively affected the concertgoing experience?

DW: It’s most definitely starting to stifle or affect the way people behave at concerts. People are either trying to get into photos or making sure they are looking good if someone’s pointing the camera at them. It is taking away from the idea of self-expression, or people just dancing to have fun. Not necessarily at every show, of course, but you notice at some the act of taking the photo or being in the photo is almost more important than the original experience of seeing the band and having a really good time. But things change; I guess it’s just a different type of good time.

AVC: Have you ever been physically or verbally threatened by a band while taking their photo at a show?

DW: Not by a band. The closest thing was a few years ago at Rancho Relaxo during a Teenanger show. I was taking some photos of the crowd, and somebody in the front row dived across and tried to knock me out, screaming, “He said, ‘No photos!’” It didn’t amount to anything; I pretty much knew half the people around me, and they held him back and told him to cool down. Other than that, it’s always been a positive experience.

AVC: Have you ever seen any kids taken away in an ambulance?

DW: The only time I ever saw someone go away in a stretcher was at a show at the Tranzac with Bane, Comeback Kid, and Fucked Up. I think it was the Comeback Kid set where, at the end, a kid was found on his back, and they shut down the whole show to bring in a stretcher to take him out. And then the show continued.

AVC: Do you have any concert-related injuries?

DW: Once, at a Strike Anywhere show, a guy I know well enough from going to shows, he was onstage just as the band was opening. I don’t even know if they had hit their first chord when he dived off the front of the stage and kicked me in the forehead. But I had been waiting there for so long just to get a spot in the front row, I didn’t want to leave until the show actually started, so I waited three or four songs to get all my photos, blood dripping down my shirt. It didn’t hurt that much. Most of the types of injuries at shows aren’t really attacks, just the result of getting too many people in a small room moshing or getting an elbow to the gut.

AVC: You’ve photographed many bands before they became wildly popular or successful. Is there any one act in particular about which you remember saying to yourself, “These guys are going to be huge”?

DW: I think, at the time, especially if I’m a fan of the band—and [at] the vast majority of these shows, I am—there definitely is a different level of energy or excitement in the room. When you’re in a room with no security guards, or it isn’t set up as an established concert venue, there’s a feeling that you’ve created a bit of a society for that one night. So if it’s a rec centre, and you’ve got three or four bands playing, and everyone doing sound, moving around the room, they’re all friends with the band, or people will come to see the show and help move the drum kit or something. There’s such a better feeling of community when you love the band and feel like they’re about to break in the next month or so, whether they release a new album or get a good article. There’s even more excitement when you realize that might be the last time to see them in a smaller venue.

AVC: On your website, you have a list of every band you’ve photographed. How many concerts have you attended? Do any really stand out?

DW: The average number of shows that I attended per year went up and down, but over the past 10 years, around 800. In 2001, there was a killer show with Boysetsfire, Rise Against, Thursday, and The Movielife at The Kathedral. Getting to see Joe Strummer at the HMV store was pretty memorable, because he’s such an amazing musician. Leftover Crack at The Kathedral was definitely one of my first favorite sweatier, dirtier ska-punk shows. There was a different intensity and informal attitude towards the fans and the band; everything just kind of merged on the stage into one sweaty mess. Those were definitely the biggest three shows in the first year that got me hooked on shooting.

AVC: Who gave you the nickname “Kid With Camera”?

DW: It was one of the security guards at The Kathedral. He just keep calling “GBH,” because that’s when I used to have my hair in large spikes, and they were like a thrashcore band from somewhere in the U.K. One of the security guards at The Kathedral kept yelling that at me, and eventually when I told him I was doing a zine, he was like, “Hey, you’re kid with camera!” I don’t remember his name or seeing him afterwards, but that’s how it started. At the time it made sense, being the only photographer at many of those shows.

AVC: Now that this photography exhibit has almost wrapped up, what do you have planned next?

DW: After this, I should be having a small exhibit at an amazing coffee shop in Kensington Market, called Moonbeam [Coffee]. It’ll be a whole new concept. I don’t want to reveal anything just yet, but it’ll be very, very different. I’m also working on a series where I photograph artists at home or in their workspaces.