Interview : Emily Driskill

Photographer of Dudes tells us shit from shinola

By Mills-McCoin


The various weaknesses of the male gender are the subject of drama, comedy and satire. We are victims of our appetite for libation, sensation and appreciation; and we fancy ourselves to be a special breed, worthy of praise and archive. Basically, we think we’re some pretty cool motherfuckers... and Emily Driskill is doing nothing to curb our collective ego.
If you’re unfamiliar with local photographer Emily Driskill, she’s a fetching red-haired gal that can be found slingin’ drinks at Rudyard’s Pub or behind the counter at the Camera Co/op on Durham Drive. What she does at those establishments is a cover, and certainly not the subject of my interview.
Ms. Driskill travels around armed to the teeth with photography equipment and deeply adorable dimples that charm any man into posing for a quick pic. Whether she’s on the road with some strange rock band or simply skipping around the Montrose; Emily Driskill is almost guaranteed to have a camera in hand and a mission in mind. Thus, I sought out Emily for an interview and a discussion about her recently self-published book, brilliantly titled, Dudes.
What was it like, the process of publishing your book by yourself?

I found out about this website called Blurb.com through another photographer friend of mine who had made his portfolio through there. You download the software and it has all the page templates and everything. And you make a book and upload it to the site. You buy the copies at cost and you can also sell them for profit and get a check at the end of the month. So I thought that was easy.
I originally wanted to do it because I saw Rosa Guerrero‘s “Ditch Water” magazine. It’s just a xerox zine of local photography that she’s been doing at punk shows for years and years and years. I think I saw it at Sound Exchange. And I wanted to do something cool like that; but I like my photography so much that I decided to do it in a better quality format. I wanted to present it in the same respect that I give it.
My readers really love sports, so what’s a sporting event that you’d like to go back in time to photograph?

Which Olympics was the one where they had all of those hostages in the hotel...

I believe it was the 1972 Olympics in Munich.

Munich! That’s it. I want to go back and shoot Munich.
Why dudes? Or why Dudes?

I just love dudes. I feel a lot more comfortable around guys. It branches off from having a great relationship with my dad and my brother and just being able to be honest and not give a fuck. I don’t have to care about my hair when I’m around those people. I can laugh so hard that I fart, you know. And they just think it’s funny. They think it’s hilarious.
Yeah, it’s funny.
Please don’t put that in there.

Who are the local icons that always make for a good photograph?

My brother and my dad are kind of a given. There’s two pages in the book where my brother and my dad had both had surgeries, very major surgeries. My dad had open heart surgery, that was the reason why I moved back from New York. And then my little brother had something similar done. They both had their chests cut open. Same sort of surgery but different circumstances. There’s a page where my dad is laying in his hospital bed totally doped up on some awesome awesome pain meds I’m sure. But he’s smiling really big- and this was on a Polaroid. I was standing on the foot of his bed and he was just smiling the biggest smile that a person who’s just had open heart surgery could muster. Then on the other page is picture of my brother two days after his surgery. And he’s just in agonizing pain.
Soooo my dad and my brother. I will never stop talking about them.
What’s the best local band to shoot?

I took some good pictures of The Jon Benet... in Baytown of all places. It was a venue that used to be a florist shop and that show- my little brother’s band was playing a show also-
What was it called?
It was a wall covered in mirrors; I don’t know what it was called- it used to be a florist...
What’s next for Emily Driskill? Is it another book?

Yeah. I mean I could always make a second one. I thought about doing a Nude Dude book. But see, people know that I put out a dude book and some of them think there’s all these homoerotic connotations to it; but in reality there’s nothing really sexy about these pics. Except for *the conversation was interrupted by a text message*... OOoohh crap.
That’s obviously going in there too.
Somebody asked me if I wanted to make a babe book.
A babe book?

Yeah, girls. Because it’s the dude book, “and why don’t you follow it up with a girl book?” But uhh I don’t like females.

I’ll do the Babe book.