Meet Josh Klassman | Photographer, Artist, Writer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Josh Klassman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Josh, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Risk is everything. If it wasn’t for me taking a risk I wouldn’t have ever gone as far as I have when it comes to photography and art, as well as my job as a stage manager. I’ve always thrown causation to the wind and it’s worked out well, I choose my battles wisely and navigate well in the photography art world as well as the live music production world. I’ve been shooting photos since I was a little kid but started shooting consistently since I was 14, and I’ve been stage managing since I was 26, I’m 54 soon to be 55 in two months. So I have a lot of years under my belt when it comes to experiencing and again navigating through these different aspects of my life. If you don’t take that risk in life you’ll hate yourself for it and it’ll eat you up thinking about the “What if”, I don’t like the “What if” I’d rather just go for it and see what happens. Like I said so far it’s worked out pretty ok for me over the years.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m a photographer, artist, and a writer. I have many old photos of me and my friends scene in Venice during the 1980’z and 1990’z. They sat in a chest for years. People knew I had them, but only my close friends knew that. Then they took on a whole new meaning as the years went on, they are now seen as historical and then they got more noticed as the years went on and as I put them on social media. I have many new photos of Venice and other places, I’ve never stopped shooting photos and still shoot on my original camera that I’ve had since 1984 when I wuz 14, it’s a Nikon FM2 and a 28mm Vivitar lens, I like to shoot on Kodak Tri-x 400 film, super grainy, I like grain. I come from the school of Gonzo Journalism and was a participant in all I took photos of, it was me documenting my world. I have photos from other places at that time, Hawaii, OC, other parts of LA, but the vast majority of my photos are shot in Venice aka home, I still live here. The art portion would be the collabs that I do with my friend Jayme “VISION” Burtis, it’s my photos mixed with his art, and then he’ll have me add some writing and or the sketch art I do to the collab, we’ve been making these since May 2020. I’ve been friends with Jayme since we were 16 and we grew up hanging out at the Venice Break Water and are old school VBWL, we grew up surfing the Venice Break Water, skating the Pavilion (RIP), and causing havoc in our home town as young people tend to do. As for my writing again it’s written as I experienced it or witnessed it, Gonzo Journalism style. I have a day job (figure of speech) as a stage manager working live concerts and events, I don’t talk about it much, it’s work and how I pay the bills. I will say that I do appreciate all of those that support my photography, art, and writing, in my work world, there are a lot of haters in that industry, so it’s always really cool when people I work with support my photography, art, and writing, it always shocks me when they do, but a good shock. I hope one day that my photography, art, and writing, will pay the bills on a consistent level the way my stage managing does.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I have done this many times for friends who come to visit. I immediately take them to the Venice Break Water, then the Venice Skate Park, then walk the boardwalk, then show them different murals around town, then lunch at Hoagies. After all that I show them old photos I have to show them how different it all looked back in the day compared to present day

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
This will be photography and art related only because there are so many people to thank in the overall big picture it would be endless. I definitely want to thank Jayme “VISION” Burtis and Ric “RxCx” Clayton, both for their friendship and their advice to me about art, their support is priceless and I cherish it to the fullest. Gus Zermeno Jr aka GZ.JR for his friendship and incorporating my old photos as well as photos of me in his art, as well as my other friend NEVER for the same reasons. Dibi Fletcher, Herbie Fletcher, Roger Gastman, and Sofie Howard, for giving the best advice when it comes to navigating the photography art world especially business wise. Estevan Oriol for his support, advice, and friendship. Eddie Donaldson for his support, andvice, and friendship. Charles Adler for his friendship, support and for letting Jayme and I work with him when it comes to our collab art. RISK for supporting me and a lot of my friends not only with friendship but in the art world and taking us along for the ride. Ithaka Pappas for his friendship, support, and taking an iconic photo of my friends and I with Easy E (RIP) in 1989. EKLIPSE and the Seventh Letter Crew for all their friendship and support. Nick “TAME” Bradley for his friendship and support. Jen’s Lucking for his friendship and support. Sam Whitney for his friendship and making me the best prints ever! Matt Wessen for his friendship, advice, and support. Andre Butzer for his friendship to Jayme and to TAME and I long distance, and his support, and advice to Jayme who has passed it along to TAME and I. Kieran Hawe for his friendship and support. Christian Fletcher and Greyson Fletcher for their friendship and inspiration. DASH for his friendship and support. Bill Dunleavy and the Super Chief Gallery for their friendship, advice, and support. Frank Orozco for his friendship and support, and for always including me in his show 2 Live and Die in LA. Eric “Tuma” Britton for his friendship, support, and for referring me to you guys. Cargo, Suitcase Joe, and Joel Bull Hendrix, for their friendship and support. Craig CR Stecyk III and Susan Melanie Berry for their friendship, advice, support. My girlfriend Charlene for her love and support and for being the person who lit the fuse for what became me and Jayme’s collab art. Mom for her love and support especially for my photography over the years and for getting me my first camera. Pasquale Rotella for his friendship and his support of my photography and me and Jayme’s collab art. Larry Shapiro my old high school photography teacher at Venice High, he helped me see how to make art with a camera whether or not it was documenting or doing time exposures etc etc etc, he saw it all as art and all as telling a story, he made a life long impression on me and many others. Chris “Spanto” Printup (RIP) who believed in me and my photography more than anyone else, for the love and friendship he gave, for the support he gave to me and many other friends.

Thank you to Bleek from CBS for his support & friendship, & for including VISION & I in his shows that he curates. Thank you to Patrick Iaconis for his advice, friendship, & support. Thank you to Huey Pritchard for his advice, friendship, laughter, and support over the decades. Thank you to Dougo for his friendship, support, & advice. Thank you to Jeff Shelp & Steve Shelp for their friendship, support, & advice, & their brother Jack for opening the door for future VBWL taking Larry’s class at Venice High back in the day.

Website: jbk.photos

Instagram: @jbk_photos

Facebook: Josh Bagel Klassman

Image Credits
All photos were taken by me accept for the profile photo of me that was shot by Frank a Orozco. The BxR mural the art was done by NEVER AND GZ.JR (Gus), with help from LA NICE, and Anna Printup. Jayme “VISION” Burtis did the art in our collab pieces that my photos are in