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Back
in the late seventies an American import hit the streets of
British kids and reinvented transport around urban cities forever.
Paul Bliss was swept up in the BMX craze like any other street
wise kid, the only difference is; he’s saw that it was
more than a fad and has thus documented what can only be seen
as a fully fledged lifestyle in it’s own right. We caught
up with Paul to hear it from the horses’ mouth and hear
about his other love Motorcross (MX)
Steal-Life.com - Which came first, your interest in freesport
or
photography?
Paul Bliss - About the same. I’ve always been as interested
in the way BMX looks, as I am about riding. Back then ('79/'80)
'freesport' didn’t exist.
SL - How long have you been shooting BMX
and Motorcross (MX) for?
PB – I entered a photo contest for one of the UK BMX magazines
when I was 16 and won a pair of Converse boots. My interest
in MX is more recent, probably shot my first race in '97.
SL - Is there a difference in shooting Motorcross
and BMX?
PB – They’ve become very different. I know most of
the BMX riders I photograph and we decide on spots to shoot
from and work it out. The contrast for me is that with MX I
shoot competitions, a concept that’s completely uncool
in the BMX world. I’ve always had a soft spot for competitive
sport, racing sports especially. I love the theatre of it. I
pace about looking for the Steve McQueen character in the thick
of it. If he's not there I can get completely bored, you may
as well put me on the sideline at a rugby match; it amounts
to the same thing. I’m completely anonymous in the world
of MX, I shoot at the large stadium races in Southern California
and treat it like a documentary project, fly on the wall.
SL - Who first inspired you?
PB - No single person, I just valued photography for the first
time when I saw pictures of BMX in magazines. BMX was in my
mind as a kid popping wheelies on my Raleigh. When I saw pictures
that made my dream real, I loved them. Almost immediately I
was picking between photographs deciding what I liked and didn't.
I was very young, ten I think.
Almost all the pictures at the time were shot out in the States.
I guess Bob Osborn was the first photographer that I started
to notice. Almost every picture I loved had his name on it.
We used to pretend like we were on MX bikes when we were kids.
It was like Bob Osborn understood that. Almost every picture
he shot referred some how to being an MXer. Whether he meant
it or not I don't know?
SL - Grip Dirtbike Magazine, that you founded,
has proved to be an influential magazine. How did it feel buying
it from the liquidator's for £1?
PB - It wasn't a good feeling. The publisher owed me a bunch
of cash and I still had to pay £1 for the privilege of
owning a name I came up with. Sounds like a bargain, but then
there is the administration fee...
SL - You're new to digital cameras, how do you think they'll
impact on your work in the future?
PB - New to digital cameras yes, but working with digital images
is not new to me. Almost everything I do is for magazines, so
scanning and tweaking digital photos is part of the course.
I’m looking forward to shooting digital. I hear all these
arguments - are you digi or film? I don't care. They are two
different styles. Whatever style is appropriate I use it.
Photography is obsessed with that, ‘Do you shoot landscape,
portrait, sport, fashion?’. A good photographer takes care
of them all. I love the American photography since Robert Frank
photographed The Americans in the 50's. A whole tradition of
documentary photography took a hold after that time which has
influenced every facet of contemporary photography since, from
sport to fashion.
SL - Do you think there will be a day when
you'll only use Digital?
PB – Who’s to say? I would certainly like to be able
to emulate some of the qualities of film from a digital file.
The problem right now is the workflow of digital media from
the camera to print. Very few people know what they are doing.
Right about now we are seeing so much poor quality print because
the professional repro house is being cut out of the loop to
save cash. The quality of a large number of magazines is no
better, possibly worse, than it was 20 years ago. There is something
wrong there.
SL - What do you think of Spike Jonze and his trajectory from
BMX Action to Hollywood big man?
PB - Fantastic. The world through a wide-angle lens, beautiful.
SL - Do you think the freesports audience
is underestimated?
PB - The freesports audience is a much more diverse crowd than
most people imagine. Not all of them are catered for, that's
for sure. The marketing people underestimate what they can do
with these sports. They miss so much when they don't understand
it. I get the feeling they will decide in a few
years, once they have bled it dry, that the 'freesports' thing
is over; when the reality is they have only just scratched the
surface.
SL - What do you dream of in the future?
PB - I still dream of pushbikes sliding on corners like motocrossers.
I try to forget it, but it won't go away. |
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