Photographer Julian Berman grew up as the quintessential early aughts Fairfax, California kid. He was obsessed with Supreme, steeped in skate culture, and never far from his crew. He wasn’t the most technical skater, but he was just as charged by the energy and chaos that made Fairfax Avenue—home of the first Supreme store in the West Coast—its own universe.
What started as flicking up friends and capturing the unfiltered spontaneity of their world eventually turned him into the visual conduit for a generational collective. And it was by virtue of being in the mix and apart of the crew that Berman’s lens became the window through which the world was introduced to Odd Future—the uncontainable creative collective led by Tyler, the Creator, and stacked with contemporary cultural icons like Earl Sweatshirt, Frank Ocean, The Internet’s Syd and Matt Martians, Na-Kel Smith, Travis "Taco" Bennett , and more.
Berman first met Tyler circa 2008 on Hypebeast message boards. Together, they would eventually render the first images of Golf Wang’s now signature pastel humor, photographed the portraiture for the Cherry Bomb album art, and made the images that unintentionally helped inaugurate Odd Future into the mainstream. Since then, Berman’s been "blessed/cursed with shooting lots of rappers before their prime” as he described it. He’s also photographed unimpeachable hip-hop vets, like Pharrell, and had his work published everywhere from science journals to the New York Times.
But when Berman was coming up, the possibility of fame and recognition was never in focus—to put it plainly, it was just never that deep. “I was friends with [Tyler] and we would just take pictures,” Berman said. “We would hang out in Fairfax, we would skate around.”
Odd Future and the energy it continues to generate post-mortem is representative of an early 2010s wave of groups like A$AP Mob, Pro Era, and BROCKHAMPTON. These collectives helped establish the appeal of the organically formed “creative collective” for a new generation. (A term that, today, feels overused—often either as code for institutionalizing your friend group or as an unneeded justification for simply wanting to pop off with the homies). The creative collective is not a novel concept started by Odd Future, nor is the want for a community-based come-up; it just has a different look in the age of panopticon social media and internet culture, where both no one and everyone feels famous, and any documented action could catalyze a mainstream breakthrough—for better or for worse. “[We were] just hanging out, shooting pictures of friends jumping off of stuff, eating food, or skateboarding,” Berman said. “It [wasn’t] anything premeditated; there was no strategy behind it. You never thought ‘oh, this could be marketable, this could be lucrative.’ You just did it because it was fun.”
For Berman, the group’s success was only the start. He’s since photographed names like LeBron James, Ye (formerly known as Kanye West), and Bad Bunny. But when he speaks to Complex about his career, it's not of glory, or legend, it's with palpable traces of excitement and the earnest reflection of a time many creatives fear has been lost forever: when we valued images beyond their social capita—and it felt like play, passion, and spontaneity could rule the world.
When asked if he felt another moment like Odd Future was possible in the cultural landscape of today, Berman met the question with hesitation: “I'm sure the actual collective and the idea of family and brotherhood will always be there,” Berman said. “But the idea of fame, notoriety, and virality—[now,] you undeniably have that idea that things could pop off at any second.”
We spoke to Berman about using message boards to teach himself photography, the heyday of Fairfax Avenue, his new obsession with Oakley, and what creative expression is when you know people are watching.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity
You got into photography through skateboarding, right?
Skateboarding and that whole culture was a big thing growing up in LA. I wasn't the best skateboarder, but I liked being there and being a part of it. I had always gotten skate magazines growing up, cutting out stuff, putting it on my wall. I liked the imagery and the collectibility of it.
Growing up, I was into computers, video games—I was very techy, so I don't come from art. I took a photography class because I like skateboard photography. And then from there, I quickly got into it, kind of learned fast, and just became obsessed.
This is peak message board culture—2007, 2008. I was on the Hypebeast message board—a photography message board called “SKATEPERCEPTION,” now defunct, that was really important to my upbringing. I was like, “oh, now there's a home for skateboard photography where I can learn and I can talk to peers about it.”
How did you end up in Odd Future and working with Tyler?
I met him on the Hypebeast message board. I grew up with him. I'm a Fairfax kid if you want to call it that. We would just go there and talk crap, and we would post our outfits and stuff like that. That was a big thing, posting [pictures] in the, “What did you wear Today?” thread.
I was friends with him and we would just take pictures. We would hang out in Fairfax, we would skate around. The music was buzzing then, but obviously not to the extent that it is now. And it was just lumped in our friend group and part of the Fairfax culture. As we progressed and he was picking up traction, we would shoot more and more. And then eventually opportunities arose. A magazine asked me, “Hey, can we use a picture of him?” Then another magazine is like, “Hey, can you take pictures of him?” Then [Tyler] was making clothes, lookbooks happened, and then an album cover. That kind of kick-started everything from me into becoming a professional photographer.
The energy of the late 2000s/early 2010s was so electric for collectives and groups of friends making art together. There wasn't just Odd Future, but also A$AP Mob, and then a bit later Pro Era, and BROCKHAMPTON.
Do you think that kind of energy is replicable today from what you see out there in contemporary culture?
I think it is, but I think there's just such a grander audience for all of it. And back then I feel like we had nothing to base it off of.
I think that nowadays a lot of things are kind of premeditated, especially with social media being so huge now…not that it doesn't feel as organic. But I don't know. It doesn't feel as niche. It's kind of hard to hear these little classic stories like this [anymore]. Everyone [seems to] know someone now. Back then, we were all just figuring it out.
I'm sure the actual collective and the idea of family and brotherhood will always be there, but I think the fact that now there are so many eyes on it, and the idea of fame, notoriety, and virality…you undeniably have that idea that things could pop off at any second. Back then, at least with us, I didn't feel like I was really capitalizing on anything because it was fun.
Cherry Bomb has had a series of different covers. There's the one that's an illustration, and there's the one of the guy who's peed his pants holding a cigarette. But there's also one that’s a headshot that you did of Tyler. Can you take me back to shooting that and what the experience was like for that? That album is regarded as a pivotal turning point for his discography.
I mean, us shooting was just so organic, just hitting each other up as friends, first and foremost. Like, “Hey, I want to take pictures today.” I don't even remember if I knew it was for an album or anything, but I remember we shot that just at their office, not even a photo studio in the office. It was just me and him, no assistance, no big crew. A lot of the things we did early on were just us. I don't even know if it's edited.
We just took some pictures, and then I saw it's laid out on a CD. That was cool. Everything we did felt very informal and very kind of off the cuff. He's crazy.
I feel like it seems like you prefer to move under the radar, even though you photograph a lot of high-profile talent, LeBron James, Pharrell, the list goes on.
You get anywhere from two to 10 minutes with someone. I've done photo shoots where there's only two pictures. It's like, you want photo number one or photo number two?
It earnestly just feels like you enjoying image making.
I definitely miss editorial assignments a lot, and I am having to reevaluate and figure things out lately. The downfall of print media has been bad for a lot of photographers. The whole landscape of everything has really shifted. A lot of people want photo and video combined. A lot of people want things for bigger brands, large-scale companies.
Early on in my career, in our sort of young photographer circuit, we shot a lot for the New York Times and tech, finance, and science magazines.They had young people working there as photo and art directors, and we would shoot these mundane subject matters, but give it a cool young person flare. That really got me super obsessed with photography because a lot of people chase shooting famous people —if we are being frank, that is what gets you more work, for sure—but I loved shooting a lawyer, a scientist, or a businessman. I would have them pose, slouched on a couch the same way I would have a rapper or an actor or musician, because to me it looks dope. They're like, “oh, this feels so weird.” I'm like, “trust me, you look tight.”
You're a huge Oakley fan, what was it like to shoot Inside The World Oakley for Complex Magazine’s second issue?
I just became an Oakley fanatic slightly before the pandemic. They have a message board that is active today, and it's a good one. A heap of knowledge is on there. You learn about the ideology and the ethos behind it, and you're like, “oh, this is actually kind of crazy.” The engineering and the storytelling, and then being a vintage nerd, you're like, “oh, the old ones from this certain timeframe are good,” and it's just a whole wormhole you can go down. It was amazing to shoot. They do everything in-house there. They make them, paint, do the molds. I I was super excited that they were down to have me there. I think we were supposed to be at Oakley for two hours, we were there for a full six to eight.
What do you think makes a successful photographer?
I feel like no one is obsessed with things anymore. That's what we need. We need more nerds. We need more research and knowledge.
The real answer, unfortunately, is who you know—knowing a famous person. But in terms of being successful, in being satisfied with your craft, just being a nerd, honestly.
There's so much out there that you can dive into and research and just become obsessed with. Have a wealth of knowledge. Be about it. Success is creating because you want to and then being satisfied with whatever stylistic choice you made.