Hugh Holland: Locals Only

     Photographer Hugh Holland's series "Locals Only" is a very unique piece of history, especially in the world of skateboarding. It is unique not only because it documents the early years of skateboard culture, but also because of who Holland is as an artist.  

     Holland had no formal art education besides his job at a photo lab in Oklahoma in the 1960s. He never studied photography formally. This is certainly one of the reasons why my outlook on these images is changed. Holland's images are beautifully framed, beautifully lit, and full of bright, vivid colors. His lack of training really makes me think about what it means to have a "natural eye," to know what looks "good" and what does not. 

     The other reason this series is unique is because Hugh Holland was never a skateboarder. He was simply an admirer who decided to document this cultural phenomenon of the 1970s. What is significant about this is that today, skateboard photographers are almost always skateboarders. Either that, or they are very close friends with the skateboarders they photograph. Holland's images provide commentary not only on the skateboarders themselves, but on their relationship with their surrounding environment, specifically photographers. It is possible that he befriended some of the skateboarders he photographed, though he was more than 10 years their senior. Not to mention, he was photographing some of the world's  most famous skaters at the time: Stacey Peralta, Jay Adams, Joe Fong, and more. These guys were part of a scene of kids their age, in their late teens and early 20s. 

     What did Holland have to do to get into the scene, to get the trust of these kids? The series as a whole just makes me think of authority and power relations. Was not giving a shit who took pictures a part of the culture? Did they want Holland there? He followed them from pools to competitions for three years until, according to Holland, the sport began to commercialize in 1978. 

     Holland also asserts that he was more interested in the social context than he was in the actual phenomenon of skateboarding itself. Was this clear to his subjects? 

     Lastly, I wonder if Holland's age made it more difficult to really convey what he was seeing. He wasn't necessarily old at all. He was just older than his subjects, and the gap was about 10 years. Considering this point, if Holland was trying to capture the social context of the skateboarders, did his presence as an older man change the way kids acted when he was around, or when he picked up his camera and pointed his lens at something? 

     Nonetheless, this is a really cool series. Whether or not Hugh Holland was trying to capture the hairdos or the skateboards or the skaters' behavior, he definitely picked up on something with these images.