Hoes n Bros

Further work with my point and shoot. Capturing people wired, drunk, dancing or hitting the blunt. I don't want to lie about what I am photographing for it is real.

Festival life

Experimenting with medium format- Lomo 120

I was getting a bit bored of the point and shoot camera and therefore decided to use my medium format Lomo 120 camera. The results are rather unpredictable due to the cheap plastic structure of the camera, however, due to it having a variety of coloured flashes I was able to produce a variety of images.  

Here I have summed up a night in general... Lust, disillusioned mindsets, the breaking of a face due to narcotics...  

More work from this week- Setting

This week I aimed my focus at the venues which allow these nights to be possible. Varying from the crowded nature of south nightclub, to a live performance by Jazz group BADBADNOTGOOD, to an illegal rave and the warehouse project, I will use these photographs to act as a form of contextual emphasis when presenting my work.

Heads, facial expressions and African clothing

Here is another weekly instalment of photographs I have shot over the weekend.
I decided to enter the same mindset as everyone else within the club.

Once again I have simply approached, engaged and photographed whoever has caught my attention. There are no other reasons as to why I have photographed the way I have other than the fact that I was out having fun with my camera.

A break dancing man and other encounters.

This week I attended yet another night of magical music at South nightclub. Once again I made sure to capture every moment that caught my attention...Here are the results.

Artist- Library research- The camera at war

Although it may appear that this book does not have any relevance to this project, it has inspired me to appreciate and acknowledge all aspects of the night; I must continue to be brave and embrace every moment the night may throw at me. 'The camera at war' is a book I stumbled upon one day at the library. It was overwhelming powerful with every photography acting as a negative outlook towards war. What fascinates me the most is how each of the photographers almost had no ethic when it came to shooting a photograph. It's as if they knew this would one day be used to show the true evil and malicious nature of mankind. I'm not implying that I want my photographs to act as a reminder with regards to how we live our lives, but instead would like my photographs to act as a representation of our youths culture; something that when we're older we can look back on and realise how chaotic we truly were.

A new approach- Project 13's secret session.

In response to my previous posts with regards to what I will actually be photographing for this documentary project, I attended a 'secret sessions' event thrown by Project 13. This consisted of hours of dubstep orientated music within a secret location somewhere in Manchester. Being Project 13's photographer I was allowed to do literally whatever I want, and due to everyone there being extremely friendly and energetic I was allowed to go wild with regards to what I wanted to shoot.

 I decided to work with my point and shoot canon sureshot as it meant I could capture the moment instantly rather than having to worry about using the correct shutter speed and aperture.

Varying from the dj's to those who occupied the room I feel as if this photo session was a success . I wasn't shy to take a photograph regardless of who it was...it paid off.

Presentation- Book style consideration.

Taking into consideration the amount of photographs I intend to shoot for this project, the only logical form of presentation with regards to the exemplification of my work is through a book. However, this does leave me questioning what kind of book I would like to use...
Initially a hard back professional book would look present my photographs well...
On the other hand, I feel like the style of the book should represent and reinforce the style of my photographs.
At this moment in time I believe I will pursue a zine styled book; after all, the entire project is shot on either expired or cheap film and takes place in rather grungy locations. On top of this I want my zine to be available to those who are in it or are aware of it. Therefore a zine styled book will be a cheap and affordable way to mass produce the final outcome of this unit of work.

Corinne Day - Diary

Within one of my Tuesday morning documentary group sessions, when explaining my work to Gavvin I was presented with Corinne Day's book titled 'Diary'. Page after page I was transfixed with how graphic and in your face each photograph was. Scenes showing couples injecting one another, people crying etc... I was literally shocked at how such graphic events could be supported by such a simple use of text. For example 'Tara crying at home..." We receive no information why she's crying, we can only make assumptions which instantly is making you engage with each and every photograph. You know it is an important part of that persons life, whether this is good or bad.

I want my photographs to have a similar approach to Corinne Day's. I don't want to glamorise the use of narcotics on a night out, however since it is such a large part of our youths I believe I would be failing myself if I did not include it within this unit of work.

Artist Research- Larry Clark's books.

'The perfect childhood'

'Tulsa'

Larry Clark is a documentary photographer who I have only recently discovered.... His work is very similar to the photographs of Jim Goldberg purely due to the fact that you can tell he has been extremely involved with each book he has produced. You can immediately tell that he is part of whatever group he has chosen to photograph; he's mentally and emotionally synced with his subjects state of mind. I admire how his photographs range from being candid to controlled pose as it means you are seeing each of his characters from a different perspective.

As a lover of the point and shoot camera, I can appreciate Clark's spur of the moment thinking; in my opinion he has achieved Bresson's 'the decisive moment'. After all, it's almost as if he is a ghost when capturing his subjects mid conversation or whatever activity they are doing. 

I believe that through becoming part of whatever you a photographing, your photographs will instantly become far less predictable and instead far more realistic and truthful. I am not implying that I am going to start doing drugs every time I photograph as I want a happy and healthy future. However, I do believe that it's important for me to physically be part of the night; engaging with who or whatever I encounter...this is where I must stop observing and instead start interacting with those who stand out.