Mike O’Meally Far From Home

July 09, 2008 @ 6:37 AM

We told you about this photo exhibition of Australian Mike O’Meally (staff photographer for Transworld mag) was having in New York City at Dactyl Gallery, a few days ago. He was kind enough to show us what the show was about, so we just chatted for a minute to learn about Mike’s views on photography in these times of digital filming.

When and how did you pick up a camera? Was it linked to skateboarding already?
I first picked up a camera when I was about 16, to shoot my friends skating on a trip to Melbourne, the photos were terrible, blurry - I had no idea what I was doing - but I didn’t really care - it was just for fun and to document our little trip. I first really got into it when I started college after high school, and again it was skate photos I wanted to take. By that stage I was really inspired by all the photos in US skate mags and I thought that it was something I wanted to do. Fortunately I was friend with some of the better skaters in Australia at the time, so it was a big help when it came to learning how to do it and having good tricks to shoot. When I got my first photo published, I was hooked!

Where did you grow up, describe it for people that wouldn’t know about Australia, and therefore about that area…
I grew up in Sydney, Australia in the suburbs not far from the main city centre. It’s a really beautiful city on the water. It has lots of stuff to skate and there are some good skateparks too, besides a little bit of security guards hassles. Sydney is pretty much a paradise, for skaters and to live in general. We are really lucky in Australia. People love the beach and going to the pub. Surfing is very popular and so is skateboarding, but not as much as surfing…

How did you evolve with your photography to a point where you thought, “I’m going to be doing this”?
Well, I guess after I started sending a lot of photos into Slam magazine in Australia, and started traveling