Published by Leonardo Calcagno
Who are you :
David Drake. My father is American, my mother is Dutch. I was raised in a place called Poughkeepsie, NY in upstate New York. I don’t live there anymore. I’m married. I’m a dad.
Your current job :
Photographer, designer, and art director. I do a lot of work for record labels, and I’m increasingly becoming more involved in advertising work now too.
In which city are you located?
Norwich, UK is where I live… and I’m in London one or two days a week too,
A word to define what kind of worker you are :
Manic.
What tools are essential to your life (app, software, etc..)
Cameras, film, developing tanks, scanners, and photoshop.
What does your office space look like?
Its a bit of a mess, but I know where everything is. I share it with a couple of graphic designers and a guy who does live visuals. They are more organized than me.
What kind of music do you listen when you are working ?
All sorts really. At the moment, I’m listening to a lot of Swans, Dirty Beaches, Kendrick Lamar, and Rudimentary Peni. Also, I listen a lot of podcasts and audio books while working… currently lots of baseball podcasts as the season approaches, Bill Burr’s podcast, Paul Auster’s “New York Trilogy”, and Melvyn Bragg’s “In Our Time” on BBC 4.
Do you have a way to organize your day to maximize your work ?
Yea, I used Wunderlist. I categorize things in a matrix that helps me gauge importance and urgency… its an old style way of prioritizing. I try to stick with it, but its tough when some of my days are office days and others are on-location shoot days.
What tips would you give to improve productivity ?
Unfollow everybody on social media… or narrow it down to just family and close friends.
You’re better than your colleagues to :
I don’t have any colleagues… I work on projects by myself most of the time.
What is the best advice anyone has given you ?
Have an identity that isn’t wrapped up in your work… i.e. be a parent, be a partner, be a student, be a friend. What you are is more important than what you do.
What is your routine start and end of the day ?
Coffee and a walk to studio in the morning. Watching a show on Netflix and a [decaf] coffee before bed.
Aside from your computer and your phone, what gadget can you not you go without?
I don’t like gadgets to be honest, never have. I have cameras, and I literally couldn’t do without them because thats my job. Other than that… I prefer paper, pens, actual books, newspapers, and all things real. Gadgets lack character and are really boring for the most part.