With seven books released to date, most recent being “keep your eyes open” which Features some of the best shots he has taken of the band Fugazi”. With a history of worldwide exhibitions including his show “idealist propaganda” opening on December of this year. He is also currently collaborating with well know graphic designer Sheppard Fairy.
In 1962 Friedman was born in North Carolina U.S.A. But with his father in the army he later moved to New Jersey where he spent most of his younger years. After his parents separated he was to spend most of his time in L.A. with his mother and the remainder in the New York area with his father. During school he was said to be an “introvert and sensitive, but also very loud and opinionated when he got around his shyness.” As he got older he would socialise with older kids due to his boredom of the area he lived in.
These kids included the original Z-boys who were the pioneers of skateboarding and had many photos running in magazines at the time. Friedman felt that the images were at a pretty low standard and that he could do a lot better. He studied photography in the spring of 1975 using only his instamatic as he could he not afford a more expensive 35mm SLR and that if he did own one he felt as if he may lose or break it. He didn’t like to stick to briefs as a result he didn’t receive the highest grade.In the autumn of 1976 the first photos he submitted were run on a full page subscription ad, these were images of Tony Alva, Stacey Perralta and Jay Adams riding in an emptied swimming pool on a skateboard for the first time.
He entered the world of music in 83 were he produced Suicidal Tendencies debut album he was their manager and was also running the cinematography and photography. In 84 he was met up with the Beastie Boys and shot some of their most well known photos. this also gave him a leg up to the world of hip hop that was emerging at the time.
His photography style seems to be very lo-fi with a lot of his photos being very grainy. This is probably due to point mentioned earlier about him choosing a cheap instamatic over an expensive SLR. He shoots a lot of portraits, action and live gig photos all of them giving a very strong feeling of the subjects.
His work played a major part in the world of skate and music photography, setting the bar for others. With exhibitions like his 1997 show running for over a year in worldwide. Plus with his latest show opening in December of this year he seems to still be making influential and highly respected work.Quotes, images and information from http://www.burningflags.com/, Wikipedia and Killcity.
