Cam Hay is providing the visual story to Aotearoa’s independent music scene
Think of any up-and-coming musician in Aotearoa, and there’s a good chance that Cam Hay has taken their photo. Named by ‘Happy Mag’ as one of New Zealand’s best contemporary photographers, Cam has gone from milking cows in Ashburton to touring the world with some of the brightest talent our country has on offer.
Like most photographers at the beginning of their careers, taking photos started as a hobby for Cam. Shortly after moving to Dunedin to study, he picked up a camera as something to do while exploring his new surroundings. “A lot of my mates were into surfing,” he tells me, over Zoom. “I wasn’t as talented as they were, so I took a camera along.” A few years later, some of those same mates started a promotions company that became known for organising popular gigs around the city. These gigs would become Cam’s first foray into music photography. “I took some blurry, shitty photos but I was determined, as a perfectionist, to do it better. So, I did my second [gig], then my third, and now I’ve done 120 of them and still trying to perfect it.”
Cam is naturally drawn to musicians. As he puts it, musicians have “very similar personalities to me in terms of doing something different and taking risks”. For Cam, forming a connection with his subjects is at the core of everything he does. “It’s all about relationships, that’s the goal. That’s why I like doing this, I guess.” A desire to make meaningful connections helps to ensure that his photos represent the artists as they are. “I only really want to work with people who I have a previous relationship with,” he says. “When I meet new [musicians], I want to build up a relationship first before I bring them in to take photos. I don’t want it to be just a photo, I want to be able to represent their personality.”
With this approach to photography, Cam is able to enter the world of his subjects, becoming a part of their story. Take his journey with dream pop band, Mild Orange, for example. Cam has been with them since the beginning, providing the visual story of their meteoric rise to success. Mild Orange formed in Dunedin in 2017, around the time that Cam was getting started as a music photographer. He shot their first gig, their first headline show, their first tour, and then went across to Europe with them. “It’s quite a special relationship I have with them,” he says. “They’re a really good group of boys doing good things.”
Mild Orange
Cam describes that tour as “month long dream”. He reflects on a moment where the surreal nature of what they were doing sunk in. “We were Liming around Paris underneath the Eiffel Tower. Mild Orange had just sold out their Paris show. There was just a funny vibe in the air like everything was going too well.” During that tour, they played 21 shows over 30 days across 12 countries. An outrageous feat of endurance. “It’s hard to piece it together,” he says, admitting that their determination to try all of the local beers meant that they were “slightly hungover every morning”.
Go for a scroll down his Instagram page, and you can almost feel the chemistry Cam has with his subjects. Despite the success he has had with the platform, the fleeting nature of an Instagram post is something that has never quite felt right for Cam. Of the hundred million photos that get uploaded to the app every day, almost all of them are forgotten instantly. “You put in all this effort, but once you upload the photo to Instagram, it’s gone,” he says. “You just don’t feel like you’re completing the process.” A discomfort with this reality, and a strong desire to have his art last years into the future is what drew Cam to print as a medium for his work. ‘Hello Zukeen’, the irreverent, indie arts and culture magazine of which Cam was a founding member was born out of this very feeling. “It’s addicting,” he says, about the print format. “There’s just something about it. You look how busy your phone is with all the photos, and imagine how gnarly all that stuff is going to be in twenty years.” For Cam, it’s about giving the photos the space they deserve, creating “something you can put on your table that your grandma, your little sister or anyone can flick through”.
Fast forward to 2020, and Cam was taking his biggest risk yet by moving to Auckland without a job. “I didn’t know how it was going to work,” he said. “I grew up on a farm in Ashburton. I never thought Auckland was the place to be.” But so far it seems, Cam had little reason to worry. The sheer size of Auckland means that there’s always something happening, and Cam’s portfolio does most of the talking for him. “The work has been flowing,” he says. One of the first things he did upon moving to Auckland, was set up a studio in his bedroom. Between the hours of 12pm and 4pm, when the natural light is at its best, Cam flips his bed up on its side, rolls out the white paper roll, and starts taking photos. “You know what it’s like when you’re in your bedroom; you can just do what you want. You’re not freaking out about other people.” Going from the volatile environment of a dimly lit venue packed with rowdy music fans, to a bright bedroom studio where you have full control of the frame has been quite a transition. For Cam, it’s all about making the artist feel comfortable. “They trust me, and I trust them. This whole scene is effortless and fun. It should never be scary for them to come in.”
There’s a Tuesday
If you were looking for proof that kindness attracts success, then you need look no further than Cam Hay. For a man who has photographed more gigs than you’ve had hot dinners, Cam has retained a remarkable amount of enthusiasm for what he does. “You gotta do it for the right reasons,” he says. “For anyone who wants to try this photography thing, it is hard. But if you’re a nice person and manifest it, then the good things will come. Try hard, work smart, and don’t be a dick.”