Interview: Adam Bouska on the NoH8 Campaign's Origins and Future

Partners in love and human rights: Jeff Parshley
and Adam Bouska in their own NoH8 photo.

With the third anniversary of the NoH8 Campaign having been celebrated last week, it’s clear that photographer Adam Bouska has created something that transcends a mere trend and instead has brought the world something that speaks volumes by a series of simple, yet iconic images. But how did the NoH8 Campaign get its start and where does it go from here? AfterElton.com grabbed some time recently with the busy Bouska to talk about how his life has changed, his new passion project, the sexy Six Packs/Nine Lives2012 Calendar and why Jane Lynch is one of his favorite subjects to work with.

AE: The NOH8 Campaign has been such a big part of everybody’s lives for the last few years. Silly question, but did you ever foresee it to grow to what it has?
AB: Not at all. Originally it was just something amongst me, my partner (Jeff Parshley) and a few friends, and it was just to speak out. But later we saw people kind of using this as a tool to speak out on their social networks and more people wanting to get involved. And we saw the kind of success it could create in the mainstream. It never was intended to be this big organization. But now that we’ve had that first wind I guess it kind of inspired us to really do as much as we can with it.

AE: And it’s never been only a ‘gay thing’ because we saw a lot of straight people involved early on. Was that a surprise for you?
AB: I was definitely surprised by that, but I think that’s always been part of the core message of the NoH8 Campaign… the fact that the majority can vote on the rights of a minority shows the problems with the system. Essentially, if one group’s rights are at risk everyone’s rights are at risk so we all have to take a stand for that and against that. We’re all going to have to be advocates for the cause. So it’s always surprising to us to see different faces of people wanting to do photos. I feel like it’s definitely important to show it’s not just LGBT. It’s not a Republican or Democratic issue. It’s not a state issue. There are so many different reasons to get behind something like this.

AE: How has the campaign changed your life, because it’s definitely not a 9-to-5 job, right?
AB: There’s no set hours that’s for sure. It has become an all-the-time-24/7 thing. It’s definitely changed my life for the better. I feel like it’s given me something to work on that I love [and] it’s for a good cause as well. So if I could do anything else I wouldn’t be doing anything else, because I feel like this is it for me. I think we’ve been making such great progress. We’ve been seeing such great response, and we’re just truly beginning with where we can go with it. So it’s very exciting. It’s changed my life.

100% of the proceeds of the calendar go to help spay and neuter initiatives.

AE: Do you have time to just do your regular photography anymore? Or is pretty much all your time focused on NoH8?
AB: It’s become a balancing act, that’s for sure. I try to do a balance or an equal amount of both as much as I can, but the NoH8 Campaign has definitely taken priority just because of the issues at hand.

This is something that’s important to me and my partner. We do that as much as we can, but when there is downtime or when there is an opportunity I try to still photograph. I just did Jane Lynch’s book cover [Happy Endings] and then, of course, the cat calendar is a big project. And in between that there are just different head shots and some magazine stuff. I did the album cover for David Hasselhoff’s daughters for their group, Bella Vida. It’s definitely a variety of projects. It’s not just cat calendars, and it’s not just NoH8.

AE: Your work always produces such great images. What is the key to getting a subject to be comfortable with you so you do get those good photos out of them?
AB: It is a lot of work making them comfortable. Getting to know the person, and I feel like it’s taking all the formalities out of the photo shoot. I think it is for me. Being in front of the camera or being in that environment I feel like I could never relax. I feel like it’s a matter of taking out the formalities of it. Having fun with it and just focusing on that common goal [and] being able to relate with that person and, yeah, it’s about making them feel comfortable.