Narrative and Photography - Evaluation

Dance To My Beat

Narratives are all around us every day, from what we see on the TV and in movies to our lives unfolding in front of us. Every person we come across has a history and a future after such a moment. When it is presented by a photographer it is purely from their perspective and as such has to be done with a level of integrity and honesty to be credible.

Media agencies manipulation of images, favorable angles and very secular views of a subject matter can shape a narrative in both positive and negative ends. These are rife in our world, so much so we barely question them anymore. Simply take information with caution and try as best we can to make an informed decision if it seems legitimate to us from our own perspective.  That’s the heavy end we are bombarded with every day. It will always have its place but really it is of little interest to me.

I am a people watcher and have always been fascinated by culture and habit. When we were given the narrative assignment I was genuinely excited to be able to explore looking a lot deeper than I have ever done before. It’s been quite a journey through the revision, looking into some truly remarkable photographers and artists work. I feel inspired by their work in a way I haven’t before so far at CCAD.

Initial discussions seemed to be heading towards the thinking that it had to be dark and mysterious if it was going to be interesting. I never really bought into that, there is enough of that elsewhere to get bogged down with without us adding to it. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciated James Nachtwey (for his commitment to try and make change) and Nan Goldin’s gritty kitchen sink coverage of life during the aids outbreak.  Both are exceptional looks into their lives. They are just so far removed from mine I wanted something that touched me personally and positively.

For both parts I chose the setting of House music events in the north east. It’s something ive been involved with many years so felt I would be able to connect with the environment. Aiming to show it in a positive way with interesting candid shots you wouldn't associate with traditional event photography.

My Narrative is called “Dance To My Beat”, named after a famous house music accapella. The lyrics seemed best to fit as text during the presentation. It’s a positive look into the nights out of ordinary people who just want to escape from the mundane every day and dance with each other to loud music. The drugs and alcohol probably help for energy levels and to loosen inhibitions. Unlike BUZZ CLUB I wasn’t really trying to focus on this and it’s more of an undertone represented by cans of Redstripe and Bottles of Budwieser beer.

I split my efforts across two different venues in Teesside to experiment as much as possible with techniques.

 The low light and often smoke filled rooms dictated using mostly off camera flash with usually a wide aperture. This can be difficult to then focus with such a shallow depth of field. As a result of this I had to take a relatively high amount of shots (1800) in order to achieve the shots I wanted. All the images were shot in RAW and then processed through Lightroom with no manipulation in Photoshop.