Tom Hunter - Life on the road - Le Crowbar

Gotta be honest here and say I was going to omit Tom from my research for this assignment as I felt others covered the same ground, Until i saw this piece he wrote in the Guardian. Covering a subject I find interesting at a time I remember quite well but from totally different perspective geographically. Travelling rave,dance,parties,festival,clubbing and whatever else you might want to call it and its change over the years into a less free spirited affair.

So this is a look at how it was after the laws first changed and the travelling ravers were first forced  to move on. The images don't appear to be staged in any way taking us to the other end of the spectrum of narrative. Images as a set to compliment each other,stopping short of using words with them,although they do have working titles usually as reference to location rather than content.

Being a part of the group would have given a much more candid view than that offered to an outsider say coming for a few hours or days to capture the feel of the lifestyle. The subjects don't appear inhibited or even mostly aware of Toms presence as he documents every day scenes along their travels.

He clearly has a relationship with those in the images and even an affection to some,his photographic style is take images in a complimentary way rather than as Martin Parr would in a similar environment.  He isn't looking to catch them in quirky light of their surroundings. He is one of them so to do so would ultimately mean betraying your self.

"In 1995 Tom Hunter set off from a squatted street in Hackney with a group of friends in an old double decker bus, loaded with muesli, Sosmix, baby-foot table and a sound system. Fuelled by selling egg butties, veggie burgers and beer, their journey took them through folk festivals in France, teknivals in Czech Republic, hippie gatherings in Austria and beach parties in Spain. Le Crowbar Café became an oasis for a nomadic party community hungry for all night food and a break from the hardcore techno." - le-crowbar

"…and with just a flyer from Steve Bedlam, stating “Hostomice, It’s Out There… The Tekno Travellers’ Holiday Destination Of The Year” as directions, we head off to Europe."