David Lawrence
David horizontal on a trash can 8-30
So David, how are you?
Pretty good. A little tired. But good overall. My heart's beating a little fast. I don't know why. Never happened after a run.
Okay, well that's a little concerning.
Yeah, it feels a little better now. But it felt questionable when we were standing in line at Buttermilk. So we'll see, you know? Hopefully I'm alive after this.
I mean, if not, at least - hopefully, you're going to have a cool story written about you.
I'm going to remember it forever.
So where are you from?
Amazing. I'm from Orlando, Florida. I was born at Lake Lucerne Hospital, which doesn't exist anymore. It's something else now.
Have you heard of Lake Lucerne? Well there used to be a hospital next to it, like in the 90s.
So I was born right in downtown.
Have you been here forever?
Minus three years. I moved to Seattle. Lived in Seattle for three years and then got sucked back into Orlando. And I've been here ever since.
What made you go to Seattle?
It was always my favorite place growing up. Everyone on my mom's side of the family was from there, and I would visit a lot. Then I randomly met these guys, I was like 18 at the time. They were part of a local church there. They all just lived in a big house together in Seattle.
And as I'm saying this, I'm like, this sounds like a cult. Was it a cult? I don't know. But yeah, just ended up becoming friends with them one of the times that I was visiting and talked about moving. And then my friend Wyatt was like, you should move out here. And I was like, I would really like that. So I graduated high school and just moved out there with my friends for three years
Well, that's awesome. What made you come back?
Well, I met this guy named Jeff, who was a pastor at the time, but before that, he was a musician in a punk band.
And he started a nonprofit called Artist Reformation. They were a Christian-centered non-profit that worked in the community, creating art. Their goal is kind of just ministering to people through community art projects.
I started working with them as an urban missionary, basically. Traditionally, when you are a missionary, you have to raise your own salary. So it made sense to come back to Florida to do that because Orlando was kind of my home base and we thought I would know more people here.
And then I realized that I didn't like being a missionary or asking people for money about six months in. Then I quit and just stayed here. So yeah, I never went anywhere else.
Do you miss Seattle ever?
Yeah, definitely. I did a lot more when I was younger, but I definitely miss Seattle. I would like to live there one day. Or at least just spend part of the year there/
That would be super nice to go back and forth.
I want to live a bunch of places. I'd like to live in Paris..Switzerland. But I don't know. Seattle would be cool. I'd like to live in New York for a little while.
So were you running that whole time in Seattle?
Yeah, so when I was 18, I was pretty overweight, and I wanted to lose weight.
I don't even know what gave me the motivation or made me realize that I could, I guess. But I stopped eating meat and started running every day. I think I lost 50 pounds or something.
And then when I moved to Seattle, I would just run sporadically. But it was never anything consistent. It was always just a couple miles here, a couple miles there. Didn't really get consistent with running until, I don't know, maybe 25 maybe. And then it's just been a gradual progression since then.
Damn that’s killer. So you started as wanting to lose weight and then just kind of became more. When did you do your first ultra?
In July of last year. Near Ontario. It's called Tally in the Valley and it’s a four mile loop, a little over four miles and you can do six hours, 12 hours, or 24 hours.
And I did 12 hours, so I did 50 miles in 12 hours. So it was pretty nuts.
Wow just last year. I love hearing when people pick it up later on. I feel like it's normal to see people ran competitively or they were coaching and then obviously they continued that progression. So it's interesting to see people who picked it up later and made something of it. In a good way.
Yeah it’s crazy to me too. Like do you know who Rich Roll is? He's a podcaster. He's almost 60. But he was a lawyer until he was 40 and just wasn’t taking care of himself.
And then one day was just like I'm going to change everything and started doing triathlons and ultra marathons. Literally became a professional ultra athlete in his mid-40s after never doing anything like that.
Stranger we recruited for a picture 8-30
So what made you start Run The Weekend?
You know, to be honest, I'm a big music fan and I just saw Travis Barker and Diplo doing their own running festivals and I was like that's sick. I would love to do my own festival or something. And yeah, I mean I just toyed around with the idea and then one of my friends Mark, who has a company called Backbone Media. They were doing the photos at the event. He approached me about doing a media day just for runners because we were both thinking, we feel like everyone is an influencer or something and everyone that runs or just does anything like that wants cool photos of themselves.
And I was like that sounds cool but I want to do a whole festival.And then I just kept adding things because I wanted it to be a festival.
But yeah originally I would credit Diplo and Travis Barker because I saw them doing it and I was like that's pretty cool. I want to do something like that and just have fun.
And I just thought that was really rad, especially because it motivated so many people to go out and run who had literally never ran ever. That’s a big thing for me. I think that people sell themselves short a lot of the time and don't think that they can do things when in all reality, most of us can run and move our bodies to some capacity.
It might be difficult, but I think we're all more capable than we give ourselves credit for. So I don't know. I thought that was really cool
100% Like you said, I feel like there is no one in Orlando who's done anything like that yet so it brought out a new vibe and opportunity for people.
And I think that, God, I feel like there's a new run club every other week. I feel like the events that do pop up, they're not, good or bad or like not to give credit to the people who are working hard to do these things, but it's very isolated.
Agreed. It's like, okay, this is by this club and this group. No one intends for this, but lets be for real, every group has the set of people that tend to come. And here it's like, okay here’s this big festival of running, not done by any group in particular, just some guy that wants to bring everyone together sometimes.
Yeah, I think that was kind of my goal I didn't really want to start another run club. Not that I'm against that, just like there's a million of them.
Most of my life and even in my career as an artist I’ve just been trying to highlight other people and the things that they're doing. I think that was my goal even with the festival. Just trying to invite as many different walks of life and then bringing them together in ways that they wouldn't normally meet.
I don't think that we need more run clubs or groups like that. Maybe in some settings, but there's a million of them. They all can get kind of isolated. And I think if we can get out of our bubbles with anything and push ourselves, that’s always really good.
Agreed. Even the relay at the end, I thought it was interesting that it was a matter of luck, and not just who’s the most athletic. It brought everyone together cause everyone felt like they had a chance. The reality is not everyone can win a standard race. But everyone can have a chance at good luck.
How did you come up with the events for it?
Well, out of pocket, the big one, it's a partnership with On, On Running Shoes. And they do events literally all over the United States. I think they're mainly out of St. Pete, but they'd done stuff literally all over the place. And Mark, who I started everything with, was friends with them and suggested it.
Beyond that, they're all just random ideas that I had. I was like, what if we had a whole entire day of group runs and they were all different groups who normally run on different days of the week at different parts of the city. Like, what if they all just ran back to back?
And then the mid-afternoon heater, I like challenges and I like pushing people. And so I figured, what's the most difficult thing that I could get others to do? Probably run at the heat of the day. And then I was like, what would make it worse? Make people drink shots of hot sauce halfway through.
Like that doesn't sound fun, but it's a good like exercise to just push yourself and get uncomfortable. So yeah, I came up with an idea to do a basically three mile race at the hottest point of the day.
It's meant to be horrible, but it's also kind of funny. And it brings people together! Everyone just had fun. Even though it was difficult.
But everyone completed it right?
Yup
And that pushes you mentally, as far as what you think you can do. It's like, oh, I ran at 3 p.m in a Florida summer and drank hot sauce. I can do anything. I didn’t go to that one. I remember I was already kind of busy, but I was like, hey, Brandon, I'm not coming at three in the afternoon to go drink hot sauce. So congrats to all of y’all for being stronger than me.
Haha I think a lot of people felt that way. But yeah, honestly, I think like a lot of my life, most things just start as random ideas. We're doing another one in October, and it's just called Meatloaf Friday.
Literally, I was talking with some of my friends that own a barbecue place and they have a pretty big parking lot. And I asked, what can we do? And he was like, we serve meatloaf’s….
And I was like, fuck it, let's do a meatloaf run. And so we're literally doing a festival all centered around meatloaf and running. Do they have anything to do with each other? Not really, but it was just a funny idea that popped into my head. And I think just continuing to just lean into all the random ideas that pop into my brain for the most part is where all this stuff comes from.
Would you say that's where most of your creative process stems from?
Yeah, definitely.
Because I know you're a very good photographer and we'll get to that. But would you say that's how it all is? Just I had this random idea and I went to the drawing board?
Yeah, usually. Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. Okay. What's another random idea you had?
So work was really slow at the beginning of this year.
I just had a relationship end of three years. And I was just kind of, in the dumps, as anyone would be. And yeah, I just didn't feel like I was getting much work. I didn't feel like there was really much happening. And so I decided to make posters of my face and hang them all over.
I've seen them!! “The have you seen this guy” paper with your phone number!!
Yes! And it was kind of awkward because I know for sure people hit up my ex and asked if I was ok which was not my intention in the slightest. One of our mutual friends said that three or four people hit her up and asked if I was okay. And then I was just like... He's, he's not, but he's fine. Yeah, like, he's definitely not okay, but he's up to something.
So, all that to say, I got this random idea to just hang up wanted posters of myself everywhere. And that didn't get good reactions at first.Some people thought that was humorous, but, then there’s people reaching out to my ex girlfriend wondering if im doing ok.
So I changed it to “wanted for too much fun” and just hung hundreds of these everywhere. And then the curator at the Orlando Museum of Art saw them and she came to an art show that I had and was like, why don't you hang some up in the museum?
And I was just like, what do you mean? I'm not just going to come and put a sign of myself in the museum.
And she was like… why not?
And so basically... Why not? We worked together to hang 20 different photographic signs all around the Orlando Museum of Art as an exhibit called Easter Eggs for people to secretly stumble upon. That was just another random idea. The museum wasn't even the original idea, but just hanging up posters of myself that linked to my Instagram just kind of to try and promote myself and my business in a new way. But I feel like I've just perpetually done that my whole entire life.
Whether it's hanging posters of myself up around the city or starting a running festival. Yeah, it's kind of just been my whole existence. Just feeding into your random shit.
Did you feel overall you got the reaction that you wanted from the posters?
I didn't know what to expect. I thought they were funny. But I don’t know because I don’t know that I expected anything. LMost of the time I just have a random idea and I don't really ever know where it will go.
Are you okay with it going wherever it goes?
Oh yeah. Because I think more times than others, it usually leads to something cool, or at least, I can say I did something. It’s not always a success either. I've definitely done hundreds of things that no one's paid any attention to. Or that I've just done as a one-off thing and then never looked at again. But yeah, I feel like I'm pretty happy as long as I just get to continue just making stuff.
I mean, I thought those posters were hilarious and definitely were noteworthy. And I hope you got work from them or feel like you accomplished something in the aftermath.
I mean I got a museum exhibit out of it.
And they're still there.
Yeah, some of them are still there. Like, they just left them. Stuff like that is insane. I just laugh a lot. Sometimes I just reflect on the things that I've done, even, the festival. It's not always with a grand plan. It's just like, does this seem interesting? Will others think it's interesting? One of my friends in particular, he's one of my best friends, but I feel like he's always telling me, how something won't work. I think that's a reflection of a lot of people. And I don't think people are trying to be mean. Especially when you know someone, they just have your best intentions in mind and want to protect you.
How do you overcome that? Like, do you ever experience those thoughts of, like.. where is this going? At least for myself, I'm like, oh, this would never work. And I just end up in this loop.
I mean, I don't know that I get over it. I think that I feel pretty sad and kind of lost most of the time.
But I also know that as cheesy as it can sound, I'm destined for something great in life. I know that, I'm supposed to be pursuing art and creativity, kind of no matter what.
And so, regardless of how I'm always feeling. I just know that I'm supposed to be pursuing things. So I think I just actively make the choice to do it. But it's not easy.
I feel I get pretty bummed out regularly and life feels uncertain. I've lost a lot of things, like doing art. I opened and closed a studio and got like $20,000 or $30,000 in debt because I couldn't keep it open. Even my old house. my girlfriend at the time and I broke up and I couldn't continue to afford living there and just had to move out. And so, I don't know, especially even in the last two years, there's just been so many huge uncertainties.
Especially when I've done ridiculous things, spent dozens of hours hanging posters of myself around the city or doing a festival. Even during Run The Weekend it was literally two weeks after I had to move out of my apartment. But like all these things are things that I've chosen for myself.
I could go and get a regular job or whatever. All the time I think I'm faced with things that feel difficult. And it's just like continuing to go and just knowing what you're supposed to be doing.
Like, you're doing these interviews. May not make sense to others why you do. And you may have taken some time off from doing it. But you know, it's something that you're supposed to do. So you just do it regardless of the circumstance.
And I think that's kind of the same thing for me. It's just like, this is what I'm going to do, no matter what. You're meant to be running, you're meant to be doing all the things. Yeah. You're meant to. And nothing can get in the way of that as much as it tries. Yeah, I think that can be really scary. I don't think everyone can do that.
What's your main driver? Is it wanting to be happy? Is it your faith?
I think just knowing what's possible. It's silly, but like seeing things with Diplo or Travis Barker being like, they did a running festival, why can't I?
I think that it's a very naive idea in a lot of ways to just be like, oh yeah, I'm going to do the same thing that some multi-million platinum artist is going to do when you're not on that level at all. But I think, I see people doing things that I want to do, and I'm always just like, well, why couldn't I do that? It's the same thing with being in a museum or selling art. I don't know. Lately, it's been getting out of debt.
I've seen other people do that and be successful from their art. So it might be difficult, but if others can do that, why not me?
I don't think it's naive. I think it's just dreaming big and thinking big, and it'll always take you further than thinking small.
Yeah, but I don't think most people are... I don't want to say delusional enough to believe that something can work, but kind of. And that's not any shade on anyone. I just don't think most people are thinking about unrealistic things all the time and then wanting to actually do them.
I don't know where that comes from other than I just see things in the world and know it's possible. I see people doing ultra marathons or being super successful off their art or whatever it is. And so I'm just like, I can do it. But I don't think most people are doing that. And I don't know where that comes from on a grand scheme. It's almost just a shot in the dark or throwing things at a dartboard because it's like some people have the drive to pursue things, others don't.
And I just don't know where that really comes from. I don't know if that makes sense.
No, that makes sense. Its complicated. I don't think there's one answer to that. I think that some people have the drive and they go for it. Some people are lazy, scared or just plain out unsure. Some people just don't and they're content living life. I dont know. Everyone’s so different
Regarding doing your art full-time, have you been doing photography full-time forever?
I started photography in 2013 just kind of for fun. And it's wild. It's another world. We're all in our own little bubbles. Actually, I started in 2010 just taking photos for fun. My cousin gave me a film camera for no reason. Just said I thought you would like this.
In 2013 I photographed a wedding for the first time. One of my friends got engaged, and I did their engagement photos just for fun. And then they were like, do you want to do our wedding? We can pay you $500. And I was like, that's a shit ton of money.
Now that’s nothing to you. $500 for you to show up maybe
Yeah, but at 20, I was working at Jimmy John's, that's how much I'd make in two weeks if I was lucky. And so. Also, 13 years ago was a very different economy. Though sometimes I'll gladly show up for $500 for things. But it depends what it is. But yeah, so in 2013
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I feel like we should highlight... I don't know if you will include this, but I feel like we should highlight that we're at a bakery and there's a Ferrari car show happening literally next to us.
There's a gentleman with a silver chain on with a shirt that says Car Rich. And yeah, they all have Ferraris in the parking lot. And it's just, it's a whole other world. And we're just literally just sitting there watching it.
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And that blew my mind because I had never gotten paid $500 to literally anything. And then I just kind of kept doing it. Other friends asked me to photograph their wedding and then other friends asked me to photograph their wedding. And I just did that for years, just kind of photographing anything that I could. I think in 2017 I went full-time at photography and then I ran out of money, got another job. And then in 2019, I quit my job, literally right before the pandemic. And that was pretty insane. Because all my work disappeared. But it worked out.
What do you enjoy doing the most? I feel like you're a portrait guy, no?
Yeah, I think I definitely enjoy photographing people the most. I've photographed everything imaginable. Like, I've done boudoir photography, I've photographed weddings, I've done product photography, done street photography, taken a lot of cell phone photos.
I've been working on a project this past year called Real Time, and it's all cell phone photography, just like documenting the kind of life as I come across it in Orlando. That's been really fun because you don't have to edit anything.
You just pull out your phone and just click and then it's done. Well, that's really what most people are doing So, but yeah, primarily I focus on portraits, but I kind of photograph anything.
Today I'm photographing an engagement. I edit part-time for another photographer, five to ten hours a week. She's a family photographer, and I just edit a bunch of her photos. Yeah.
Do you do a lot of photos related to running or that side of things?
Yeah, not a ton. The first time that I really did that was at Run the Weekend.
And I took pictures for most of the weekend. It's really never been my thing. I mostly just like stale portraits of people. But like, the stuff that I shot at Run The Weekend of people moving was really cool. Like, it turned out really well. But yeah, I just don't have a huge drive to do that for whatever reason. Like I wouldn’t go out of my way to do it.
See thats wild cause that’s what I really enjoy. I never really got into it until I started doing run club pics. Just getting this really high energy moment and feeling it frozen. Like, if I could do some sort of creative sports gig full time I'd be happy. I'd be set. But we'll get there.
Right. There’s also just so many different ways that you can make a living doing photography and art.
Literally, my income comes from 10 different things half the time.
Do you prefer that?
I sometimes wish things were a little more constant, but it's nice being able to be resourceful for sure.
I have a Patreon, and that's cool. That gives me a little bit of money every month. I do these Polaroid pop-ups where I set up studios in random places, and people can get film Polaroid photos.
Sometimes I'll sell work digitally as like NFTs. I'll photograph events and then do like engagements. Like, it's literally all over the place. So it's nice to kind of be able to do anything in a lot of ways.
But, yeah, I'd say I enjoy being resourceful more so than I enjoy doing a million things. Because that can be kind of stressful sometimes.
I mean, the stuff you do is awesome. And people always want good photos of themselves. Like, it makes people really happy to leave a space and get a good photo of them. Everyone at the festival truly was so excited to see that you did that for them.
I'm always really surprised. It can sound a little naive but when people will tell me after or message me on Instagram and are like, hey thanks for doing that. That meant a lot… Maybe I don't realize that because I just feel like I'm being myself or just doing something that I would do naturally. But I know that people really enjoy it. When people are able to see themselves, I think that's really impactful.
But yeah, I don't really always think about it a lot until people tell me, and then I'm kind of surprised.
You shouldn't be surprised, but I get it. I think it's more so just like we really don't get to see ourselves and if we do its on random iPhone photos. So to see yourself in good lighting and have a nice photo and be like, damn, I look cool. That's awesome, you know? You get to make people feel really good about themselves
Are you training for something right now?
Sort of. I'm just training for the long distance of life.. I don't know why that felt like such a funny statement. Yeah, but... There's another local character. I also am a character, which is why I'm saying it.
Another local character named Frank The Tank. Definitely a character who is doing the 48 hours. Yeah, 4x4x48, which is 48 hours of running 4 miles every four hours. And you do it for 48 hours straight. So a group of us are all doing that at the end of September.
So I'm kind of training for that, but also just trying to stay in decent shape because eventually when I'm more caught up from the financial hole that I got myself into, I want to start doing more long distance running in other places.
You can do them in Florida, but even locally, they can still be hundreds of dollars. Like if I'm going to pay hundreds of dollars, I'm at least going to go somewhere. So yeah trying to keep up for when I'm more financially caught up and can afford to just yeet $1,000 into the atmosphere to go run somewhere.
Like we were talking earlier, races are expensive. Some aren't, but even the New York Marathon, which you're doing is like $300 just to participate. Like that's not including showing up and flying there and getting a hotel.
Stuff's expensive. So I think I'm just training for the long run, no pun intended, of all these things. I mean I think ultimately that's what matters.
It is what matters. There doesn’t always have to be an immediate race or time in mind.
What are your goals for the next year? With anything?
To get out of debt, that's a big one. To just hustle with that. Literally just take any and all photo jobs. Not to like sell myself short or anything. I'm trying to just hustle and not be consumed by all the financial L's that I have taken and gotten myself into this past year. But beyond that, I don't know. I want to get more in shape. I'm going to keep going to the gym. I want to stretch more. I want to travel. Just have fun. Like really just enjoy life. I think life is overall pretty good.
What's something we wouldn't know about you? Now I'm just asking you random shit. Rapid fire let’s go.
This is horrible. My girlfriend has the same last name as me. And this is a good one. And her dad has the same name as me. Her father is David Lawrence, which is absolutely mind-boggling. I wouldn't be able to.
Horrible and awkward in so many ways. That's probably great. I would say that not a lot of people know that. It's pretty horrible, but also amazing. I make jokes about it every single day.
When I was using apps and I was single, would just swipe left on anyone whose name was Lisa. No offense, mom. But yeah, my girlfriend's father has the same name as me.
Amazing
Favorite race you've run.
Probably the Tally in the Valley, which was the first Ultra Run marathon that I did in Ontario. That was pretty sick.
It was a very low entry fee. I think it was $150. And they had food the whole entire time. Like a bunch of people volunteered to make meals. And so it was buffet style, like you'd run through it.
So you would just grab a sandwich or grab a cookie or grab whatever you needed. And they had electrolytes and big coolers. And people just set up little camps around so you could go and grab your stuff and change or whatever else you needed to do.
And I don't know, that was really cool. Like I liked that a lot and the weather was just really nice. The Seattle Marathon was really cool because for part of it, I don't know if this is every race, but they shut down the main highway. It’s really cool because you can look out and see the mountains that you normally would just drive by at a really fast pace at. I don't feel like there's any other way that you could experience that.
Favorite shoe to run in.
Karhus. They’re from Finland
I've literally never heard of them.
They have a little polar bear icon. I've messaged them so many times telling them that I want to work with them on Instagram. They never respond. Karhu, if you're listening, sponsor my running festival.
But yeah, I don't know. Their shoes are really comfortable. I've ran both ultra marathons in them. I've ran most everything in them.
Least favorite shoe. Something you could burn something right now.
Yknow there's just several shoes that are a solid, I feel like a three or four inches tall.
And I don't really understand. Like, the sole of the shoe is multiple inches. And I think people are just asking to roll an ankle or hurt themselves. Okay, so hate to any shoes that make you three or four inches taller.
YI think that's like literally insane. But I don't think there's like a huge shoe that I hate. I kind of hate when a shoe becomes like really popular and everyone's like, this is the best shoe.
Because a few months from now, something else is going to be the best.
Yeah. You got to go get fitted at least once. I don't understand how people just be buying random shoes off Amazon. I understand everyone doesn’t have as terrible feet as I do but like c’mon.
Favorite Prerun snack?
I like just peanut butter and jelly, even though I don't have it a lot.
Any fun plans for you today?
I'm going to shower. Because we ran very far earlier. And then I'm probably going to eat more food.
And then I'm going to edit photos for my editing job. And then I'm going to get ready to photograph an engagement this evening. And then if I make it far enough, my girlfriend and I are supposed to go to DBA, which is a cocktail bar.
But that'll be at 10 o'clock tonight. And that feels like light years from now.
Any other closing thoughts you'd like the world to know?
Live, laugh, love. And just be kind to yourself. Yeah, just live a little.
Go wild. Don't be scared. Hell yeah!
David is an Orlando, Florida based photographer and founder of Run the Weekend Project.
iamdavidlawrence.com/