Links
- owenleavey.com
- instagram.com/owenleavey
- momdadband.bandcamp.com
- instagram.com/momdadband
- linktr.ee/momdadband
Interview Details
Date: Tuesday August 18th 2026
Location: Winooski
Length: 1:00:08
Episode Number: 73
Show Notes Link: vermonttalks.com/owen-leavey-photographer-momdad/
Short Link: vermonttalks.com/73
Transcript
Becca: What’s new, 802? I’m Becca Hammond, and you’re listening to Vermont Talks. Vermont talks may include graphic or explicit content. Listener discretion is advised. Welcome to Vermont Talks. It is the 73rd episode. It is the 18th of August in 2026 on a Tuesday. And I’m here today with Owen Levy. Owen was voted the best art photographer in Vermont in 2025 and again nominated in 2026. Owen is also the front person of Mom Dad, all caps no space, who recently released their first album, Mother Father.
No space in that one either. Mom Dad was also nominated as one of the best bands in Vermont for the Seven Daisies Awards, which any local knows is a very big deal. Congrats, Owen, on all of that. And I’m super excited to talk to you today.
Owen: I’m pumped. I’ve been listening to this for a while, so I’m excited to talk with you. You have such beautiful artwork.
Becca: I want to just start with that. Your photography is okay. It’s moving, it’s fluid, it’s colorful, it’s just incredibly beautiful. I am not shocked that you won a seven daisies for that. I would love to talk about all of the things you do though. So we’re gonna start at the beginning. Where are you from originally?
Owen: Um originally from New York outside the city. Um, but then when I was like seven, I moved to Stowe. So I grew up in Vermont mostly. I call myself a Vermonter because I’ve earned that right. And um, and now I live up in St. Albans. Oh, cool. Which I kind of love. Yeah, I love St. Albans. It’s really cute.
Becca: That’s amazing. I love that you’ve been here as long as you have. Yeah. You play keyboard slash piano and you sing, and you are extremely talented at both of those things. Stop that. Obviously, you are an amazing photographer. So when did you pick up these hobbies in your life?
Owen: Well, um, the funny thing is that almost all of the things that I do constantly now. Um I never got any formal training in. So uh I picked up piano in high school um when I just was doing that like annoying high school theater kid thing where you play like three chords on the piano and you learn like um that one Adele song, and uh uh I think it’s I think it’s someone like you is the one that everybody knows. But um, but no, so I I I just started playing piano in high school. I’ve been singing since like fifth grade just because I like it. Um but then on the photography side of things, I uh started photography in high school, but I hated it.
Um I did not like it at all. Um as an official class. Yeah, like as a class.
Um, like it interested me, and that’s why I took the class. Um, and my dad was the one that was like, oh, you have such a good eye for photography. He’s not a photographer at all, but he was like, you have a good eye for it, you need to keep doing it. So he bought me like a little canon rebel for graduation. Um, but in high school I hated photography. So that was sort of where it all I mean, it all just started as just me being interested in things, like creative outlets. Um then it grew from there, truly, just very organically.
Becca: In terms of the music, did you were you an official bands when you were a kid?
Owen: No. So I uh had very little to know um performance uh performance exposure outside of doing theater until like later in high school. My best friend’s dad is a singer-songwriter in Stowe, Jeff Nicholson, and he used to host little like music parties in his backyard. Um, and I would like play a song or two at those.
And that was the most experience I had. And then uh I started moving away from guitar and into piano, and I would attend more of these backyard parties where there were so few keyboard players, and so everybody would be like, oh, come sit in on this song with us. And you learn very quickly when somebody gives you little to no information about the song you’re about to play and just asks you to play the piano.
Um they’re all just like kind old men that are good at music. Um and so that was where I kind of got into performing, and then I tried to uh when it comes to like band music scene. Um, and then I tried to put like a project together a couple different times. Um, but it never really stuck. It never really grew.
Becca: It’s so hard. I think it’s incredible when anyone in their early 20s or a teenager manages to make a band and play out and have it not sound insane.
Owen: No, correct. No, and when when uh the first the closest thing that we I we ever got was um me and my now bassist Amon, which is really cute because he’s been playing with me for years. I love that boy. Um, and his friend Shane on guitar. Um, Shane now lives in New York. Uh, but the trio of us had played a couple gigs. You know, we played like drink and despacito when it was around and like like little little tiny things here and there. Um, but that was the closest we ever got to like band. Yeah. Was it under the same name? It was not.
Becca: It was um you don’t have to say if you don’t want to.
Owen: No, I don’t know. I don’t, I don’t think we had a name. You know, I don’t like I think it was like Owen and Owen, like oh like single name like a Del Madonna, Owen, like with Sean and or Shane and Eamon, you know, like um, I don’t think it was ever I don’t think it ever had a name until mom dad.
Becca: Totally fair. Uh I am not surprised when you said you did theater. Yeah. That that tracks when you say, oh, I wasn’t formally trained in music or photography.
Owen: That’s the only thing I am formally trained in. So I went to school, I went to a conservatory in Manhattan for musical theater uh after I graduated high school. Um, so I do have some formal vocal training, but that’s more on the theater side of things, which is so different from um like singing in a band. Uh but I did learn a ton. Um, and a lot of my stage charisma comes from theater.
Becca: So that’s what I was gonna say. It’s so well put together in terms of a performance. Thank you. And like clearly, clearly you knew what you were doing, or you have some magical gift because it’s it’s almost like you’ve arranged everything. The mom-dad shows that I’ve gone to, like you clearly have talked these things through with the band. Also, the band is so incredible. They’re so good. Watching each of you solo, it’s one of those moments where like, wow, these guys actually know what they’re doing.
Owen: And like, and like we we have to try to solo. Like, I like I try to incorporate that long, like the longer version of that song with solos, um, as many gigs as possible because you uh you don’t often get to like, I don’t know, I just want to show, I want to show everybody in the band off because they’re so good. Every single member is so talented and I’m so in enamored by their their work. Um, that I was like any opportunity I can have to feature each one, and not just in solo sections, but like in songs. I want people to have moments where they shine above everything else. The cello intro. Oh my gosh, the cello every all the time.
Becca: Love it. All the time. I don’t want to just gush about mom dad the whole time because No, that’s fine.
Owen: We totally can. I love that. I love them.
Becca: But I can also interestingly see your aesthetic and your approach to just presentation and your artwork as well. It’s and you you have such good taste.
Owen: Thank you. Stop. Thank you. Um, no, I just I I learned um very early on. I don’t really remember how or when, but I learned very early on that it is the equ it is the uh aesthetic equivalent of fake it till you make it, right? Like um having having uh a good website where people can go and see your portfolio or having an Instagram present that presence that like not even by each post, but like when you’re just looking at an Instagram page, it’s gotta look fun and cool and enticing, you know. Right.
And like those are the things that make the difference. Like um we have the I have my it’s a Roland RD88. It’s a it’s like a fairly normal stage keyboard. It’s nothing fancy. Um but I built this like wooden cover that goes over the keyboard that now um a lot of people have grown to really like. Um, but it was because I was a little bit self-conscious about not having a fancy, fancy keyboard. And I was like, well, what can I do?
That’s gonna cost me next to nothing. Uh and uh and it makes all the difference now because people see it and they’re like, oh, that’s cool. I wonder what kind of keyboard that is. Like that’s fancy. Right. So it’s it’s those little things here and there that just like make a huge difference on how you’re just perceived in general in the world. Like if you look super professional, people are gonna be like, oh, that band’s real deal. You know?
Becca: Right. Right. It’s really interesting to think about that from like, oh, if you’re an aspiring artist. Sure, yeah. The confidence. Oh, 100%. You have the that stage presence is wild.
That first time I saw you play, because everyone’s talking about mom dad up sure. Sure, sure. Okay, cool. I get to experience this. And I was kind of shocked because most bands uh you can feel their anxiety on stage. You can feel them rushing, you can feel their nerves.
It’s a very hard thing to walk on the stage and own it in a way where everyone turns to you and is like, you are clearly here to make a statement right now. And what advice do you give people? Do you do you fake the confidence or do you actually have that comfort in your well?
Owen: So I personally am lucky to have that, like I wouldn’t say level of confidence, but that level of comfort. I’ve never been afraid of uh performing. However, however, I and I’m not just saying this to be modest, but it makes so much of a difference when you surround yourself on stage with people that are not only skilled, but people that you like and people that you trust. Because it’s like when we go up on stage, and and I I I have thankfully very much heard that this comes across. But when we go on stage, we’re having fun with each other.
Like we’re we’re like my highlight personally of playing with mom dad is the playing. Like I just like the group. Yeah, like we could have, you know, we could have a huge crowd, we could have no crowd. Um and even at rehearsals, I just I love playing with everybody in that group.
Every individual is so talented, and um it does feel like we’re like missing a piece if someone’s not able to make it to the gig or whatever. And like um, but that’s my advice. My advice is to trust find people you trust.
Don’t just blindly trust people, but find people that you trust, find people that you like, and find people that trust and respect you too, right? Like this whole group. I I mean, I’ve been so lucky that they’ve just like welcomed all of my weird creative um thoughts, and they’ve just like taken them, made them their own, um, and threw them right back into the pot for contribution. And it’s just it’s cool. So that that’s like that’s my thing is that like sure, pretend that you have the confidence. And that’s so easy to do online, like on social media and stuff. You can like post something as if you are the the best. Um so that’s a lot easier. Um but you really do have to, you have to surround yourself with people that make you feel comfortable.
Becca: That’s great advice. Yeah. That’s like super solid advice.
Owen: It’s I and it’s and I’ve lived by that my whole life. That I I’ve I learned there’s always gonna be somebody that is better than you at something, and you should become friends with them and learn from them. Like, you know, like it’s uh so yeah.
Becca: Yeah, great advice because that’s it. You guys have such like it feels like just like you said, you feel like you’re comfortable with each other, like you’re having fun. I love your little shout-outs to each other. Not even when you’re introducing the bandmates, but even just like randomly in the songs are moments, you like look at each other and you can just tell your enjoyment.
Owen: There’s there’s one moment, and if you ever come see us live, or if you have seen us live, there’s one moment in one of our songs, JoJo, where we do these like these hits where there’s silence in between. And if the band, if we all hit at the same time and we do it well, I usually shout in exclamation. I’m like, hey. Uh, and if we don’t hit, you won’t hear me shout.
It’s been a long time since I haven’t shouted. But like everybody in the band almost like looks to it. They’re like, did we do it? We did it. Because you shouted, hey. So it’s really funny.
Becca: How long did it take you to get from we are officially a band, we’ve got all our members, to finishing mother father.
Owen: Well, and it’s funny because I I had someone recently asked me how long it took me to write the album. And I’ll loop back around with the question in a second because it makes sense.
And I was like, that is an impossible question to answer because, right? Because like some of these songs I’ve been I’ve been tinkering with for six, seven years now. And some of these songs I wrote a month before we recorded, you know, and like and so much of it was changed by the group, as as you know, like having other musicians work on music together. It’s like it changes everything.
Um, and for us in the best way. Um, but we uh started rehearsing about a month or two before our first gig, which was August 9th of 2024. Um oh wait, no, August 9th of 2025, so a year ago. Really? Yeah, we’re brand new.
Wow. Um, I know, and and we our first gig was in New Hampshire at one of the backyard music festivals that I like to play. And um, and then as soon as we had done that, and we then came and played uh Radio Bane was our first gig in Vermont that we were pumped about, and like once I had played a few gigs with this group, and once we had realized that like we really liked each other, this was the group that was gonna stay, we’re not gonna change and stuff. I started the the process of like how are we going to record something that we can send to venues that we can send to touring bands that we can send to other people just to like get more gigs. Um and when I started talking with uh Steven Yardley, who ended up producing our album, we sort of just decided that if we were gonna record anything, we may as well just do the the whole thing. Um so we got together um eight and a half of our best songs. Um eight and a half of our only songs, and I say the half because there was one song that even to the day we recorded it, we weren’t really 100% sure.
Ended up being a banger. Um, but uh so we started that in the winter. Um recording took a while just because uh the studio setup was not set up for isolated drums and stuff. So we had to like kind of do everything by itself. Um so that took a while. Um, and then mixing and producing it, we kind of sat on it for a while just because um everybody was so busy at the time. Yeah.
Um when it came to mixing and releasing. And then when we got the the message from Radio Bean that was like, hey, we’d love to host your um album release show. We need to schedule a date. That was when we picked our release date. And uh so I would say about a year because our first gig was August 9th, and then our album release was August 8th the next year.
Becca: You actually are one day.
Owen: No, and that was that was one of the there were a lot of reasons why we picked that date. It was a Saturday, it was almost a year. Um, it’s also my birthday, but that’s just a Leo thing to do. Awesome.
But uh, it was the best way to spend my birthday. But um, yeah, so about a year. Um and do I wish that we had been playing these songs for three or four years before we recorded them. Of course, because you learn things about the songs when you play them live. Um, but I’m super happy with how the album came out.
Becca: Oh, I’m sure I’m so impressed that you guys did this this fast. Because it sounds so well composed. Like, truly, some of those bass lines, I’m just like, oh, this is wicked.
Owen: Aamon Lynch, I could talk, we could have done this whole interview about how much I love that boy. He he is he’s so talented. And it wasn’t until I was starting to get some of the final mixes back from our producer that I was like, oh my god. Like he’s doing he’s doing magic on some of these songs. And I didn’t even because like you, it’s so hard to like pick out the bass lines sometimes um until you’re paying attention for it. Otherwise, like, and he does this thing where it’s like you don’t notice how magic it is until you’re paying attention to it. Otherwise, it blends, which is so crazy.
Becca: Yeah, his rhythm is I every time I’ve seen him, I’m like, man, this guy’s got wicked rhythm, and he’s so solid at it, and it’s smooth.
Owen: No, it’s so smooth. And and I I uh one of our our most one of our most popular songs, one of our singles, Write Me Rachel, and I wrote that song for him. Um, I wrote the bass lick for him, and uh it was one of those things where it’s like I looked at him and I was like, here’s the thing. and he And he was like, okay, and he just like played it almost immediately. And meanwhile, like, shout out to Jackie.
Shout out to Jackie from Leatherbound Books, he’s our bass sub. And she still can’t figure out how Eamon plays that, like, especially as easily as he does. Um he’s just he’s he’s gifted. He’s a very gifted musician. I’m so lucky to have him. Yeah. Yeah.
Becca: Magic band. I that I am so impressed that you guys got nominated for a seven days. Yeah, I am less than a year.
Owen: No, I think can’t because well, we all know that the seven days is like a little bit of a, I mean, it’s it’s a popularity contest, but um, but that still doesn’t mean like, but we are not nearly as popular as a lot of local bands that didn’t get nominated. Um And I think I’ll say this. I was flattered in the same way that we’re flattered by a lot of the people who come to our shows. Um, because right off the bat, we have had at least a handful of people, and in Burlington, a handful is a lot in this case, but at least a handful of people that like come to almost every show. You know, they’re just dedicated. Um, they knew our songs, you know, before the album was released, and like so those are the same types of people that are gonna go out of their way to like add your name in for a vote for a contest. Um so the the small strong following we have is is the best. They’re so mighty and so sweet. Yeah. Love it. I know I get all no,
Becca: I got all choked up about local music and the scene.
Owen: No, it’s it’s and and right now, it’s like we’re at such a peak right now. We’re at such a beautiful place right now because it’s like it’s it’s you’re hard pressed to find a band in Burlington that doesn’t support other bands. And you know, it’s like because the ones that don’t are ostracized so quickly.
If you’re not nice and friendly to everybody, nobody wants to book you. Um, and I’m so happy that we’re at that sort of place in Burlington where it’s like most of the excitement when you’re gonna play a gig is the other bands you’re getting to play with. Yeah. You know, you’re just like pumped about the lineup. You’re like, okay, cool, wherever we play, whatever, I don’t care who whatever night it is, but like we get to play with all of these people, and it’s so cool.
Becca: I agree. The the groups of people who actually come out to shows are often other musicians. Yes, and they’re so.
Owen: And that’s the best crowd. Yep, love it.
Becca: This is a silly question this way in the game. What genre do you define mom dad as?
Owen: Okay, so I’ve had a lot of conversations with a lot of people about this. Um, and I’ll preface it by saying one of our goals as a band. Um, mostly my goal for the band, but they all agree, is to cover a huge swath of genres.
Um, but do it all sort of with the lens or the filter that is whatever mom dad is. Um and I think the glue that binds those is the writing and also um the musicians themselves. Um because everybody’s so talented, right? Like Sarah Archellis, she comes from a classical background. She has no experience playing in bands. Um this is her first band ever. I’m blown away by her.
Uh, but like, so she’s sort of this like fresh blank page, and she’s down to play whatever, try different things, be weird, be kooky about it. Um, Amon, we’ve already talked about him, he’s gifted. You know, Matthew, our drummer, he comes from a jazz background, but then also has a punk band, you know, like so it like, and then our guitarist Sean, also fascinating story. This is the first band that he’s played electric guitar for. He’s usually a drummer and he has played acoustic guitar in other with other bands.
Interesting. So yeah, so like he’s finding his style within Mom Dad as well. And like I don’t have enough formal training to be glued to any specific style, which is kind of nice. Um so yeah, so so to answer your question, it when a venue asks, I sell them pop funk.
I love that. But but I mean, because obviously there’s so much pop influence. Like we are very pop influenced um because we really like the catchy stuff. We really like the song structures that like for the most part are traditional. Um but then there’s a I say funk because I like you know,
Becca: like some of those days live and some of those bass lines, and you know, it’s like, and I have always been a huge fan of scary pockets.
Owen: Um but there’s definitely jazz influence. There’s definitely I’m I’m working on a like a grunge rock song right now, which is crazy that I never thought I would write something like that. Um and I I should probably be ashamed to even call it grunge rock because it’s probably far from it.
Becca: Grunge with the cello is gonna be.
Owen: She has a she has a distortion pedal for it. It’s it’s it’s nasty. I love it. Um that is amazing.
Becca: This makes me feel better because I was like, this band is so eclectic, and they’re that’s you can feel the jazz moments. Sure, sure, sure, sure. There’s all these like it’s not soul music, but soul full music. I’m like, wow, this is so like emotional. I feel things.
Owen: Yeah, well, I mean, and the soul, the soul comes a lot from I listen to a lot of soul music. And I I listen to like a lot of really soulful stuff. Um, and so like I I that’s where I get a lot of my vocal influence from.
Becca: Um wicked vocals, too. I have to say that for the audience. No, thank you. Oh, this band.
Owen: No, but you’re not the first person that has struggled with genre for us. Me and Fisher and Andriana from Andrea and the Bananas and Fisher from uh Fisher in the Flood and We’re Here to Kill. is you’re familiar with Um the three of us sat around one lunch one day trying to describe each other’s genres and it was a fascinating conversation.
Becca: But genre is incredibly confusing. I find it to be that’s one of those things. You try and explain your band to somebody, you’ve got to come up with a genre term.
Owen: In one of our bios, I write like quote quote, like call it whatever you want. We call it mom dad. Um, because that’s well because the other thing is the other thing, and I think I think I think the pop makes it all accessible, right? Because you have like a jazzy song, but the fact that there’s a lot of pop influence, it makes it feel like music that like feels welcoming to listen to, and you’re like, oh, I could get down with this, even if it’s not necessarily your genre.
Becca: Yeah, oh it’s it’s kind of iconic for that. It sticks in your head so much. Write me, Rachel was so stuck in my head for like a month. I kept thinking about that song. Like I just kept going back to it. Well, thank you. I’m flying. How is why is it so catchy? I don’t know. I don’t know either. It is.
Owen: I I couldn’t tell you if you wanted that, if you wanted that advice, couldn’t give you the answer.
Becca: It’s it’s some magic sauce. Sure, repetition, I guess. I don’t know. But maybe that’s it. Simplicity repetition. Is there a favorite song that you have on the album?
Owen: Um, yes, and I know it’s a song that you probably want to talk about, anyways. Um it’s called something uh something like you. Um, and it is the song that is about my kitties, it’s about my kitty cats. Um, I’ve got two cats, mama and baby. They’re biological mother and daughter. They’re everything to me.
I know. It they’re they’re perfect. They’re like they they’ve they don’t bite, they want to be on everybody’s lap. They’re like the best kitties ever.
Um when I adopted them, it was like in the heat of COVID. And I would play, and I had also just moved into like a house that was isolated, so like I could be as loud as I wanted to, and they never seemed to mind loud music or the piano or whatever, and they would just sit there and fall asleep to the vibrations of it. Um, and so I was like, I gotta write a song about these kitty cats.
And I that was a song that I think I wrote in like a day because I was just like infatuated with these girls. And then huge shout out again to Steve Yardley. He who produced the album years ago. I brought that song to him when we workshopped it.
And there’s like a lot of little nuances here and there that were a product of my working with that him on that song. Um, and then on the album, you can hear mama who is my kitty. At the very end of the song, I we did a recording of her purring because I was like, it needs to be in there. Yeah, we my cats need to be um eternalized in the song. Um so sweet. I love them.
Becca: It’s funny because the first time I heard it, I don’t think I think you said after you played it. Sure. That it was about your cat.
Owen: Yeah. Well, well, so so originally, originally it was disguised. Okay, so uh there’s um there’s uh a song by Ingrid Michelson uh that is about her mother passing away of cancer, but she disguised it as a love song and because she didn’t want the song to be like that. And so um, so I was like, okay, I’m gonna write a song about my cats, but I’m gonna disguise it as a love song. And so that’s the thing is that like when you really listen to it, you’re like, oh, I guess that is some weird things that you would say about like a romantic partner, but the whole the whole feel of it feels like this like beautiful like love, and it is a love. It’s just like the love for my kitty cats.
Becca: Um it feels like a love ballad. I think you have a lot of keyboard motion going on in that.
Owen: Yeah, that is, and and that’s also one of the most stripped back songs on the album. There’s like very little um effect or or or kind of weird mixing or layering on top of it. It’s really just the instruments and the singing. Um because it is a very pure song. It’s so powerful. They’re very loved, they’re very well loved kitties.
Becca: So good. That’s it. I think of I when I heard it, I thought about my cats. And then every now and then when I’m like loving up my cat, I think about yourself.
Owen: Good. No one writes love songs for cats. No one writes songs. Love songs for cats and and we need more of those because those those girls have gotten me through a lot of stuff.
Becca: They’re there for you. They’re musically supportive.
Owen: No 100%. And it like ended up being this like epic, like YouTube-esque ballad. um And I was so happy with that. But we like playing it. We we usually end the show on it. um Just because it’s a nice one to go out on.
Becca: So happy that this album exists now. I have a good listen to it, which I’m embarrassed to admit. Oh no, that’s fine. That’s it. I love your live work so much. And your I’ve got to say, your live sets, you guys are so rock solid that there wasn’t a huge amount of difference between the first one and the second one. Yeah. Which consistency is king.
Owen: Well, and and on our drummer said it best, because I had I had I had just sent the album out, like pretty much in its entirety complete to the band to listen to finally. And I got this text from Matthew. Sorry, Matthew for outing you, but he was like, we sound better live. And he was like, but it’s a damn good album. And I was like, I really liked that because I love the concept that you love a band’s music, and then you go to see them, and it is more, and it is special. Um, and there is reason to go see that band live over just listening to their music. Um because then you can sing along, but there are also these moments where you know we amp it up a little bit or we do something different, and then it’s just engaging and fun.
Becca: And uh yeah, the life of a show, that energy feed off. Yeah. Well, that’s that’s it. You can’t capture stage pressure. No, no in an album. You never can.
Owen: Even a live album, you can’t. You can come close. Yeah, you can come close depending on the band, depending on the crowd and depending on the engineer. But it’s tough and could probably cost a lot of money. Yes, definitely.
Becca: Do you send people to bandcamp for the album?
Owen: I I do and I don’t. Um, and this is something that I think a lot of local musicians struggle with that um band bandcamp is obviously the ideal. Like it’s amazing, right? Like the artists get funded funds, people can buy things straight there, they can interact, like it’s a good platform.
That’s actually where we sell our merch. Um, but then at the same time, you have uh it’s so hard, but like you have to deal with those evils out there, like the big streaming services. And so, like, we are on Spotify, and we are on Apple Music, and we are on all of the all of the ones that are don’t really treat artists very well. Um But it’s but it’s a matter of accessibility. Um because uh some people that’s just not I mean yeah, I would say we like to say go listen wherever you listen to music. Yeah, fair.
Becca: Um you don’t do you have a dedicated website for the band?
Owen: We have um no, I mean our we have our Instagram that has our link tree, and that has everything. So like and all of them combined, like whatever you’re looking for, you can usually just find it in our link tree, whether it’s our um electronic press kit or our Instagram or our place where you can buy the vinyl or whatever.
Becca: Your press kit is good too. Did you look at it? Yeah, I think yes, I did. I read your like bio that you got that what just what you said earlier about do it professionally, put your best foot forward, make
Owen: it just takes a little bit of elbow grease. It really does, and and I will say elbow grease, but it also takes time, which I know not a lot of people have that luxury.
I don’t have that luxury, but I’m a a wack-a-doo, and I will do way too much all the time. Um, and then it also does take access to technology, um, which I know is also really limited. Um and it also takes skill sets. Um I have I have a background in obviously in in digital media. Um, so I understand how to navigate a lot of these um website softwares, all of these things. Um But the other thing is that I I have and will continue to offer this kind of stuff to other people who need it. You know, it’s like like as much as uh as much as we do all this stuff for ourselves, I try to help out other artists as much as possible, if slash when they need it. Um I love making aesthetic posters for shows.
And there was one time we were playing, I think it was Radio Bean, and I sent the poster to um Jackie, Leatherbound Books, who was also in the bill, and she texted me back, she was like, You made this. She was like, Did you use AI? And I was like, no, I made it all from scratch. And she was like, damn, I love it. And I was like, sick. So like I love doing that kind of stuff, but sorry, I could ramble for forever.
Becca: Oh, that’s what no, that’s wonderful. Uh I have I could go on a whole rant about this too, because I love I love doing stuff.
Owen: Yeah, no, I know because you’re you’re also I know I know we’re interviewing me, but like you’re a visual artist, and like your work is really sick. Oh, thank you. And it’s really cool. I’ve looked at your stuff.
Becca: Um no. No, I know, no, no, oh no. you’re talking about you You’re a multimedia artist, anyways.
Owen: Um well, to to round it out, because we’re I wanted to bring it back to your your photography so powerful.
Owen: Thank you. For if for those of folks who haven’t seen any of my photography or will not go look at it, um, I do a lot of creative studio portraiture.
That’s what I call it. Um I really like as much as I love natural light, um, I love artificial light. Um I love art or I love light that you can use as a tool in the medium, um, the same as you would a smudger in charcoal or whatever. You know, it’s like it’s just another way to paint. Um, and so I like painting with light, but uh I also am not interested in photographing anything that’s not people.
Becca: Yeah, yeah, right. You always have a huge thing.
Owen: Yeah, like it’s hard. I love working with people, and um I’m really, really grateful actually that, and I and I hope to be an example to a lot of people that um photography is by no means my full-time job. Um, and yet it is not only super fulfilling, it has been lucrative and also has been has opened a lot of doors and a lot of opportunities for me. Um, but I don’t resent it because I don’t rely on it financially.
Um and that’s like right, because like financial reliance breeds resentment. Um, and uh, and I never ever want to resent photography because I love it so much. Um I like colors, I love shapes. Um one of my personal missions is to kind of highlight uh gender diversity, racial diversity, um, age diversity, but all of it. I, you know, it’s like I want every different body shape, size, color, gender under the sun, if possible. Um because it’s so often that only the skinny white cis people that are beautiful, uh conventionally beautiful, are the subjects of photography, and that’s such a shame because there’s so many incredible models that do not fit that brief. And sure, if you look at my Instagram, there are a lot of hot cis white people. Um, but those are because those are the people that want to do photo shoots, and so I do them with them. Um and then I I go out of my way often to find the the more um physically diverse folks.
Becca: But it okay, so Owen Levy.com. Yes. Spelled out. How did you find all of these people? Were these did these people reach out to you directly? Or did you just happen to say, you know what? We show you.
Owen: Well, so I have a rule of thumb that I won’t uh unless you pay me, I won’t do a shoot with someone I don’t enjoy working with. Um it doesn’t matter your skill, it doesn’t matter your following. Um if I don’t find you interesting, or if I don’t think that we’ll work well together, won’t shoot.
So um it is a huge mixed bag, right? Like, shout out to um Katniss, Katniss Everqueer, um, drag burlesque performer in the area. She uh has been a long-term muse for me. Um she inspires a lot of shoots.
And so it’s a mixed bag. Usually I either get an idea for a shoot and then I try to find a person that would fit, or I see a person and I’m like, oh, that makes me want to do this, which is often what happens with Katniss. Um, and then the third type, which you’ve brought up is like people reaching out to me and being like, hey, I’ve got this weird idea. And I’m like, let’s hear it.
And if it and if it intrigues me in the slightest, odds are we’ll do it. Um I just like I like to go big, I like to go visually striking. I don’t do a ton of editing.
It’s almost all in camera stuff. Oh, really? Yeah, that’s that’s that’s one of the things that I’m actually like if I had to not be humble slash be proud about something, it’s that. Like, sure, I’ve done some editing, and obviously I do like color and light adjustments. Right. But aside from that, I don’t, I barely know how to use Photoshop. Um it’s so much more fun for me to have everything almost in the shot, like the minute I have it. Um this is really impressive.
Becca: If any of anyone’s seen O’s work, there’s a lot going on. And so like when they say art photographer, they’re not joking about the art part of this.
Owen: Well, no, and and like the the that one shoot that kind of we kind of mentioned earlier. There’s a shoot that was my friend, her name is Yasmin, and she’s beautiful.
She’s another one of my muses, but uh it’s based on the album by Ray, uh, This Music May Contain Hope. And so it’s like we brought in AstroTurf and we brought in red curtains, and I made a giant cloud out of like batting and spray paint and shit, and we bought this like big thick rope, and like so all of it was real there in person, which like also just helps dictate and inform the shots themselves. Because like when you’re shooting on like a green screen or whatever, and like you’re adding all of that stuff in post, that’s some people’s like forte, that’s some people’s cup of tea, but for me it’s not at all.
Um, I love being I like the building and I like the making. Um and then sometimes I’ll have an idea for a shoot, and it will just be as vague as shipping. Like, because I did this shoot with Katniss recently where I was just like, I want to do like shipping materials, and she was like, okay, whatever. And it ended up being like one of my photographer friends, Derek Marcy, it’s like one of his favorite shots I’ve ever taken. And it’s just like her, and she’s like wrapped in bubble wrap, and there’s like packing peanuts and cardboard, and it’s like, and I think she’s wearing big fragile stickers as pasties.
Nice. Or she’s like covering her breath. Like it’s but all in all, it was just like such a random idea that ended up just being such a beautiful shoot. Um, and those are some of my favorites for sure.
Becca: So cool. So interesting. And you you take all these shots in Winooski, is that right?
Owen: Pretty much. I mean, um, there’s a handful, I will say, I because I went to school in New York, I have a lot of um community there. And there are some incredible photo studios that you can rent in the city um for pretty reasonable price. And so I would say probably three or four times a year, I’ll do go down to the city and I’ll do five or six shoots like in one weekend and like just like do a bunch of cool stuff with models. And like those are usually the shoots where like the model has like a bigger following or whatever, and we’re you know, mutuals on Instagram, and like it’s a little bit more um what’s the word, transactional, but like in a way that is supporting everybody, you know.
Um, and in a way that like everybody’s having fun, and we’re getting excited about it. Um, some of my favorite shoots have come out of that. But yeah, a lot of my work is right here in Vermont. Um, I had this project. Oh, you’ll love this because Vermont talked. Uh, I had this project, if you scroll back a little while back, um, where I was going out to places in Vermont that were like visually striking, and I was bringing a model and usually like my studio lighting equipment and like a mini generator and everything, and we would go out on site and do a shoot in nature in Vermont, but lit like it would be in a studio.
Um, and my favorite one out of all of those was uh the model was sitting, it was Moss Glen Falls, I think, in like the Stowe Morrisville area, and we lugged all of the equipment out and like you know, almost lost stuff in the river and all of that, and like to set up this gorgeous shot where the models like sitting in the middle of the waterfall, but like you don’t see stuff like that all the time because like where do you see a waterfall with like studio lighting? Right because like who’s dumb enough to do that? Me, I’m done. I like like we had to like we were wedging, we were wedging the stands with big rocks so that the wind from the waterfall wouldn’t blow them away. It was stuff like that. It’s like who is dumb enough to do that? It’s me. And and and the art that comes out of it is some of my favorite art.
Becca: So that sounds incredibly cool. Yeah, the lighting control is everything in photography.
Owen: Exactly. And like when you can when you can go out into a place where people are so used to seeing natural light, and you can just change the entire perspective on something because you have full control over the light in this situation. Because we did this also like at dusk. So like we were lugging all this waterfall shit around at like 8 p.m.
and it was dark, and my model was an absolute trooper because it was freezing cold water, even though it was summer, it’s still cold, and like um yeah, that’s like I I love playing with light. I really do. It’s like my favorite thing in the world.
Becca: I’m honestly impressed that I haven’t seen like album covers that you have taken photos of because it has that kind of aesthetic. It’s it’s got that stage presence in the photography.
Owen: I have I’ve had a couple people, uh I’ve done uh at least band promo photos for a couple bands in the area. Um I’ve done, if you’ve seen a lot of like the eye traps promo photos, portraits of them, I’ve did those, and I also did some of Leatherman books recently. But uh I have a couple of artists, especially now that mom dad has been on the scene. I’ve had a couple artists reach out to me saying, like, for my next project I want, you know, I’m gonna reach out or whatever. Um, but there are also so many incredible photographers in the area that do that kind of work really well.
Luke Autry being one of them. His his album photo work is so beautiful. And I’ve been trying to promote Derek Marcy every which way I can because that kid is so talented, he’s one of my best friends now.
Becca: Um what’s his name on the Derek?
Owen: Marcy Photo. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I don’t think I’ve heard his name before. Oh, he is wonderful. He, if you’ve seen live performance shots of mom dad, he probably took them. Oh, cool. Okay.
Yeah. So, like, if if anybody wants to find Derek Marcy, I mean, we’ll try to include his his handle. But um, you can just go to our Instagram. We’ve tagged him in like everything. Um, but it is funny because the first photo that I’ve taken that has ever been used as an album cover is our album cover.
Oh, really? It’s a photo I took. So leaning into like how I like practical stuff, like you very easily, somebody who knew their way around Photoshop probably could have made our album cover completely in Photoshop, but all of that is real. Like the water droplets are like resin droplets that I made and cured, and like all of the different stuff.
The only thing that’s edited on there is the title and mom dad. Um, otherwise, all those photos, like I took. So it was like it was nice to have that in my back pocket. Yeah, very nice. That’s so cool.
Becca: I find because I’m not a photographer. I love her. I love the clicking. I love point and click. I’m not an editor by any means. Photography is such an interesting field of work where you can find such interesting little niches, yeah, and not go outside of it at all.
If you don’t want to, you don’t need to. I think a lot of people kind of, as soon as they hear photographer, they’re like, wedding photographer. Yeah. That’s just what they think.
Owen: You know, 100%. Um, and and it took me years to figure out what my photography looked like, you know? Uh like I I have portraits from 20, I think as far back as like 2017, 2018. Um and they are, I like laugh at them now, you know.
Um, not because they’re bad, but because I was like, who was I pretending to be with these photos? Um and I found that the more, yeah, uh I found my style more when I just leaned more into what I liked and what was interesting to me. Um, and working with people that I liked, and not letting anything inhibit the uh um execution of wild ideas, right? Like if you have a wild idea, just fucking oh I’m sorry if I can’t. Oh, you’re good. If I have a wild idea, just go for it.
I can’t believe this first time it goes this time. Uh you just go for it. Um, do the best you can.
And if you don’t achieve whatever goal that is, it’s literally the stupid saying about shoe for the moon and land among the stars, that whole thing. Um because truly, like half of I would say solidly half of the shoots that I have posted, shared, used professionally, have not looked how I anticipated they would. Um because my style is so in the moment, as opposed to a lot of photographers who, if they’re doing creative studio portraiture, they have something so specific in mind.
Um, and they’ll do basically anything they can to achieve that exact vision. And I respect that so much, but I don’t have that uh that ability in my brain to do that. Um I’m way more interested in finding the weird, the weird shit that happens on the day of
Becca: right in the moment, that natural thing. Yeah, I I can see where coming because it’s portraiture, yeah, but it’s so creative. I’ve I think a lot of photographers, myself included. If I’m taking a picture of you, yeah, I feel less creative license. Sure. So it’s an interesting mindset to get into of using someone within that scope.
Owen: Yeah, well, and and I just recently I got a text from another photographer I know that was asking me about posing. Um, and I do very little posing. I can’t, I I don’t like to pose models. Um because I think that just loses any sense of authenticity. Um, and I mean, like there are styles in which you want those poses, you want that um like in a good way in authentic look.
It’s like it’s art. Um but for me, I you can ask almost anybody that I’ve shot with that I usually I start with, I’m like, just do whatever. If I see something I like, I’ll be like, oh, do more of that. Um but yeah, it is it is interesting. It and and it is a it is a fine art in and of itself trying to figure out how to pick up a camera in between you and someone else and not have anything change, right? Because when we’re sitting here talking, it’s one thing. The minute I pick up a camera in between us, the whole dynamic changes. Yes. Um, and navigating that has been one of the craziest uh like journeys and lessons I’ve learned in photography. 100%.
Becca: Yeah, sometimes you probably aren’t expecting it to suddenly jar because you know these people.
Owen: Yeah, no, and it’s I mean, it’s true, and I and I I do a lot of like headshot sessions because I love those. Um, and it is true. I’m I often tell people, I’m like in your brain, try to break down what changes between when we’re chatting and then when I take a picture of you, because there should be no difference.
You know what I’m saying? Like you should just chat with me as if the camera’s not there. Um again, shout out to Luke Gautry, he’s really good at taking pictures of people and having them just sort of play along and do whatever.
Speaker 3: Um, I I don’t know if it’s his demeanor or if it’s his charisma or whatever it is, total strangers, and they’re like, Yeah, sure. Hi, and then they’ll take it’s crazy, but
Becca: there’s definitely something to that, even any recording device. Yeah, video and photography photography is very it’s hard, right? It’s hard to get in front of a camera. Yes, uncomfortable. Even coming on the podcast, I have gotten in the habit of starting the recording very early. Yeah. And then we’ll just get into it naturally because I used to have that moment. Yeah. Where they’d watch me hit the record button and then go, and then they freeze up.
Owen: And then the other thing that happens is that when you go listen back, you’re like, oh God, I hate the way I sound when I’m talking.
Becca: They get very stiff.
Owen: Yeah, yes, yes. And and and that’s just that is just a byproduct of how messed up our society is and how we are trained to hate the way we look and hate the way that we sound. Um, and it’s so crazy.
It’s so crazy. Uh this is absolutely a a little tiny story worth telling that like a photographer that I really love. She put out a TED talk called Why You Look Bad in all of your photos or whatever. Um, and one of the things that she does is that she has everybody take a selfie how they would normally take a selfie, like smiling, take it at the right angle and everything. And then she had them all put their phones at their stomach and to look down over their phone and take a selfie. And she she was like, look at these two pictures. What changed between these two pictures? Nothing. Nothing changed except for the way that you’re seeing yourself.
And I I I love, I love that concept, and I love that, you know, it’s just that like my goal is to help people feel more beautiful when they look at themselves in photos. Um, because I don’t I don’t think it should be traumatic. I don’t think it should be scary. Um, but it often is for people, and I think that’s super super unfortunate.
Becca: Agree. 100% agree. What you said about it being society as well. Oh, 100%. We’re all trying. I always think it’s funny the uh amount of people who I can’t sing. I can’t sing. You can sing. Who told you you couldn’t sing? People say that.
Owen: You can sing, you may not know how. But you can.
Becca: And people who can carry a tune will so quickly say that, unless they’re someone willing to go out and play as a musician and call themselves a musician. They can’t sing. Who told you that? Believe in yourself. No, and also and also
Speaker 3: like look at all the people who you sing better than that are mega famous.
Owen: Madonna Can’t sing. I mean, she can sing. Sorry.
Speaker 3: She can sing, and she can actually probably sing pretty well. But like, I bet you there’s uh 10 people in this town that can sing significantly more beautifully than Madonna.
Owen: Um, and they’re they are people that maybe have never sung in front of anybody ever in their lives. So I agree with you. 100%. 100%.
Becca: I like it. I like it a lot. I love your approach to photography. Thank you. We are pretty far in. I think we’re is there anything that we should cover that we haven’t talked about yet before we start rattling off event details and or links.
Owen: Um I don’t I don’t think so. Other than I will say that there is a woman, her name is Hilary Duby. She’s a photographer. Um she’s the reason why I’m at the point where I am today, right?
Um, for a myriad of reasons. But the number one was that one day I took a chance and I emailed her directly. I asked if I could be a second photographer on some weddings that she does. Um, I was like, I’m really, I think I’m at the point where I could do this. You know, I just sent that email out, and she like she took me in and she welcomed me and she taught me. And so it it’s sort of this thing that like goes both ways that I just like I want everybody to a not be afraid to reach out to people to learn or to share what you know what your worth is. Um, but then also that I personally, I can’t say this for a lot of like a ton of other artists, but like I personally and 100% will find time to like sit down for coffee with somebody who wants to know more about something, whether it’s music related, photography related, whatever it is. Um and I just hope that other people do that for others too, right?
Because you never know. Like I sent this one email now, and now she’s this woman is like one of the most important people in my photography journey. Um, and a dear friend. So just uh I just I want to like soapbox any time I can about just like putting yourself out there in a way that’s safe, obviously. You know, don’t just go emailing random strangers, like uh have a plan. Uh but know your worth, get out there, and then also help anybody else that wants help or needs help. I want to soapbox that. Beautiful. Yeah, thank you. Beautiful.
Becca: Love it. Owen Levy.com. Yeah. Push that. We’re also gonna mention both your Instagram accounts, which is also conveniently Owen Levy. Once again, O W E N L E A V E Y. Yeah. I think I spelled it before, but you think way yeah yeah and mom dad band is the slug for both bandcamp and Instagram. Yeah. Nice marketing technique. Thank you. Keep them same saying.
Owen: We managed to get mom dad band for Instagram, and I was like, we’ll keep it. Forever. Yeah. 100%. Awesome. No selling it.
Becca: And you also have the link tree. Link tree. Link link T R. Linktr.ee Slash. rock.bat. Yeah. Which is a little confusing. But all of this will also be linked on the show notes page, along with some of your photography as well as links to the band. Newly released album, which I’m so excited about. And that’s gonna be at Vermont Talks.com forward slash 73 for this one. And I think we’re gonna call it. Amazing. Thank you so much for us. Really fun, really fun conversation. And thank you all for listening, everybody.
Speaker 3: Thanks so much for listening to the end of the show. Subscribe to Vermont Talks on your favorite podcasting platform. You can find me on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, all over the web. Contact Becca at Vermonttalks.com if you’d like to be interviewed or if you know someone who should be. Thanks so much to Jason Baker for creating the show music. The views and opinions expressed by the guests are those of the individuals and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Vermont Talks. Any content or statements provided by our guests are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, anyone or anything.
And that’s what was new in the 802. Have a great day!