Photo by Nick Harwood/RESPECT.

Before there even was a show, photographer Sagan Lockhart was a friend of it. “In the beginning stages of being friends with them, I didn’t even know what Odd Future was,” says Lockhart, reminiscing on the early days of skating with Tyler, the Creator and Taco on the now famous Fairfax Ave. Although you might not recognize his name, things have come pretty far from there; Lockhart’s small pop-up gallery with pictures of just Tyler and Earl this past Wednesday, had fans waiting 6 hours for a mere glimpse.

Not too bad for a 24-year-old. Especially considering if it weren’t for those now famous loiterers he might still be working retail, “…They would just hang out by [Diamond Supply],” he says of how he first met the two at work. Another friend—this guy picks ‘em right— happened to give him a Cannon A-1 prompting Lockhart to shoot anything and everything in site. Growing up in such close contact with Kent Teranishi, a Hustler photographer and Lockhar’ts godfather, he was hooked immediately, “…[I] just wanted to document everything I saw,” he says. “I didn’t think it would ever come to something like this.”

This, being selling Instagram shots for up to $20 a piece. Besides for his iPhone, Lockhart shoots almost exclusively on film just because he likes the way the prints look. His rise includes creating his own magazine, Fersher, a compilation of his and his friends art and photography that sold out all of its first copies. Plus, he contributed to the first Golf Wang book with plans to for his pictures to be included in the second.

The sequel, though, will most likely include more shots of Odd Future in the height of their fame, possibly away from Fairfax, where it all began. But before the boys got big hanging around with them was a bit of a risk. “It was a mix between hell and having a blast,” Lockhart says of first meeting Tyler and Taco at work. “They were shooting fireworks from inside the store into oncoming traffic,” he continues with a laugh. Those fireworks were just the first of many shots for Lockhart, now they just happen to be a bit safer.

PHOTO ARCHIVE:

They were recording crazy tracks in there. They went over the A$AP beat, the “Brand New Guy” shit. I think [the supposed beef is] more of the outside crew shit because A$AP and Tyler, they see each other all the time on Fairfax and there’s no bad blood. But I think people like to think that there’s some other shit going on, but as far as those two are concerned, there’s nothing. I think that’s why the track would be crazy because people think that there’s like beef, so they’ll be like, “Damn, they’re going over their shit?” But we see them all the time. I’ve been in the studio with A$AP. No bad blood as far as I know.

For me the best way to get pictures is everyday life shit. This is a pizza place right next to our OF store. I just walked next door to grab some pizza and he’s just chillin’ there. Like, alright, cool. And then it happened to come out.

[That’s] right next to the store. We just hang out there all day every day, so it’s just really easy to make them do whatever.

Tyler was shooting some stuff for CCS and we’re just hanging out at the park. I was able to get some photos out of that.

The post “Friends In High Places” – Photo Archive & Exclusive Interview w/ Odd Future’s Sagan Lockhart appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.