I came across Brooklyn-based photographer Seth Olenick after it seemed like every other comedian interview I was doing would send pictures that were taken by Seth, so I had to check him out. Luckily I did. His comedian portraits are truly amazing, and always spot on with the subject he’s shooting. I loved his style and approach, and then after learning a little bit more about him, realized he had a real love for comedy and music, which is a love Serial Optimist strongly shares. After spending three and a half years as a photo editor at Heeb Magazine, Seth decided to start chronicling, in portrait form, the big names and up-and-comers of the LA and NY comedy scenes. The project has taken him across the country and back almost a dozen times over the last four years, with the end goal of publishing a book of these comedic adventures in 2012. Seth’s photos have appeared in publications like Rolling Stone, Spin, The Wall Street Journal, Esquire, EW, Blender, Playboy and many more. Continue reading for a fun interview with the photographer, and to see some of his super fun, and super great work.
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Weird Al Yankovic
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SO: Hey Seth! Are you currently in LA or Brooklyn? What’s going on for you today?
Seth Olenick: I’m sitting in my apartment in Brooklyn, eating Manischewitz Chocolate Chip Macaroons. They have been so difficult to find the last couple years, so when I finally found them, I bought three containers. Now I’m making up for the last couple years by stuffing my face two at a time. It’s all for a good cause.
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Charlyne Yi
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SO: You attended NYU. Did you go specifically for photography? Did you know at that time that is what you wanted to do?
Seth: I originally wanted to do film at NYU, but not being in the film school made it hard to get into film classes. I was going out to punk rock shows and taking my camera with me to shoot the bands. So, I kind of fell into photography that way. Shooting bands live progressed to shooting them backstage, then portraits. It was just something very natural for me. I idolized Bob Gruen and Glen E. Friedman and B.J. Papas, so in a way I felt like I was following in their footsteps on a much smaller scale. I was doing two things I loved – listening to music and taking photos.
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Against Me
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SO: Your work pretty much summarizes what Serial Optimist is all about, in the sense that you shoot mostly comedians and musicians. How did that come about?
Seth: The comedy photos came from my days at Heeb Magazine where, as Photo Editor, I would always assign the comedian photo shoots to myself. David Cross, Todd Barry, Michael Showalter, Demetri Martin. They were all favorites of mine, so it was cool to work with them. When I left the magazine, I decided to challenge myself to do a long-term photo project. I wanted to pay homage to the last 20 years of comedy, the years that really shaped my comedic sensibilities and me. Naively, I set out to shoot 20-30 comedians and make a book out of it. Four years later, I have photographed over 200 people in the comedy world.
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David Wain
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SO: That’s amazing. I love that whole concept and that you followed it. I also love your Chelsea Peretti photo, because it captures her PERFECTLY. She would totally be depressed at her own birthday, in the comedic sense. How did you come up with that shot?
Seth: A lot of times it’s hard to tell who came up with an idea, or even the seed of an idea, but in this case it was all Chelsea. My contribution was the hat and the chocolate chip ice cream cake from Baskin-Robbins.
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Chelsea Peretti
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SO: Actually I could really go on and on about each photo. How much of the idea for each shoot stems from you, or from the person you’re shooting, or is it usually a combined effort?
Seth: When I set up the shoots I will usually ask the subject if they have any ideas for a shoot that they’ve always wanted to do. That’s how the shot of Chelsea came about. Sometimes I will have a specific idea in mind for that person. This was the case for Rob Riggle with the “knuckle sandwich”. For the most part, though, I like to include an improv element where we work off of one another’s ideas to come up with something. That’s the great thing about going to these people’s homes to do the shoots. I capture them in a place where they are (hopefully) comfortable and less inclined to feel threatened by my crazy ideas. Sometimes it’s the shoots where I have no plan at all that I feel are most successful.
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Donald Glover
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SO: When you’re shooting live music, what is the main goal you are trying to achieve with that? By that I mean what end result are you wanting with the photos you take from live shows?
Seth: Well, to be honest, I don’t really shoot music live anymore. I have a condition that some people suffer from called getting old and cranky. It just stopped being fun getting kicked in the head, punched in the face, and punctured in my lip by my tooth. It didn’t bother me back then, but now I’d rather stand off to the side and enjoy the music. Basically, I’m a pussy now.
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Matisyahu
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SO: Sadly, I totally understand what you mean! Do you (or did you) have a comedy book come out?
Seth: The hope is that this whole series of 200+ people will be attractive enough to publishers that they will come knocking on my door just to make it rain on me with $1,000 bills. One way or another these photos will get out to the public in print form, even if it means that they are on rolls of toilet paper sold at Spencer’s. That would be the most intimate way for me to connect with my audience, don’t you think?
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Elizabeth Banks
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SO: Most of my reading is done on the toilet, so I’m into it. Who was the first comedian you shot? Did you have a plan going in? I remember first interviewing comedians and being a little scared because they are all so whip smart, and I didn’t know if they would always be “on” so to speak. Did you have any nerves going in to it?
Seth: I’m pretty sure the first comic that I did an actual shoot with was Todd Barry. It was for the first Heeb 100, and he was coming to meet me at my office job to do the shoot. I had just bought my first digital camera, a 3.2MP Canon Powershot (very professional). We did some shots in the office between the tall filing cabinets, and then went to a bar that had a pool table to take some pool shots. Todd actually still has that pool shot on his website. When I got back to the office to load the photos on my computer, the card reader failed and erased the entire memory card. I asked if Todd could come back, but he was on his way to the airport. Luckily we had an amazing IT guy who had me reformat the card about 15 times, each time miraculously rescuing another few photos until they were all recovered. And that was how I became a professional.
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Garfunkel and Oates
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SO: One of the first phone interviews I did got totally wiped out because of a cheap recorder I was using. Panic attack! With your site not having been updated in three years, what have you been up to photography wise? Are you still mostly shooting comedians and musicians? What are some of the stuff you are most excited to feature in the relaunch of your site?
Seth: It has been a while since any new work of mine has been posted on my site. That’s really why I started my blog, Shits ‘N’ Giggles. I don’t feel like not having any new work on my site was detrimental to my ability to get work, but I did wish that I could update it more regularly. The new site gives me more control, so I plan on rotating the photos every few months or so. It’s a slightly new look too. I’m most excited about the ability to update the tearsheets more regularly too. It’s nice to let people know that I have had photos in print after 2007.
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Hannibal Buress
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Janeane Garofalo
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SO: What kind of shooting do you do for yourself? When it’s just you and your camera and some free time?
Seth: In my free time, I actually prefer to take photos with my iPhone. It’s with me at all times, and great for capturing those moments on the subway that you just can’t catch with a medium format camera. I’m always thinking of the next thing I’m going to do, and having the mobility that a phone affords makes it easy for me to explore places and things that I wouldn’t want to bring my camera to for fear of it breaking.
After all, if I had to buy a new camera, how would I be able to afford all of these macaroons?
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John Lutz
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SO: Truth. Thanks so much Seth, the new site looks great, now I’m off to find some of these macaroons I can’t stop thinking about!
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SO Note: Check out Seth’s blog Shits ‘N’ Giggles, and also make sure to check out his new website at setholenick.com. All photos are by Seth and cannot be reproduced.