Interests and Inspirations

I have been researching different photographers to gain an understanding of other styles and to see if I can take inspiration within my own work. I will briefly go through a few photographers that I am interested in. I want to look at their styles within their photographs so I have kept the information simple. 

Adam Friedman documented the people within the club scene whilst living in London and New York capturing the Acid Jazz party goers. Adam Friedmans images caught my attention because of the text that has been added onto the photograph, not to mention the beautiful lighting. In all his pictures a bit of text has been added, it baffled me to say the least because at first I thought perhaps there were descriptions of the people in the images but then some of them did not make sense, so from what I have seen, I am thinking that they are the names of the clubs that the people are in. This to me is a very interesting aspect that adds mystery to his photography. 

Adam Friedman's photography has inspired me to think about using added text in my own work, I could use quotes from peoples story's about why they go to free parties and festivals and include them on the image or within the video/book (I am hoping to create a book with many of my images that I have collected). 

The above images by Adam Friedman are some of the ones which I liked the most, they were all taken in the 90s at different clubs.

Gavin Watson firstly started out his photography by capturing his brother, who was named Neville and his friends and they were all in a category at the time considered as 'skinheads'. Gavin Watson then went on to capture the rave scenes along with other genres of music including punk. 

His work on his brother and his mates is all very stunning. The images taken are portraits and they are mostly in black and white. 

 

Although I do feel like they are beautiful portraits, the style of work I am interested in most when it comes to Gavin Watsons work are the images he has captured of the lasers in clubs. It made me feel very nostalgic seeing the lasers and it reminded me of being out and dancing with my friends. I feel that they say a lot about a venue and they to me describe elements of being at a rave, they remind me of the nights I have had. 

 I took inspiration from Gavin Watsons laser images and I have experimented with taking shots of my own, I had an amazing time and I am more than pleased with some of the results. I feel that they produce a strange effect, they relate the subject of my choice and they are visually pleasing to the eye. Below are some examples of my own work where I have taken inspirations from Gavin Watsons imagery and combined it within my own practice. 

To me they are almost abstract which is what I like the most, it is fascinating how the beams of light change your perception of things within the image. It takes a bit more time to comprehend what is actually going on in the photograph then you notice things afterwards that you did not when first looking at it. 

Adrian Frisk spent his time documenting the rave and protest scene in the 90s, travelling across Europe with sound systems and capturing the reclaim the streets protests. Like Matthew Smith he documents the rave scene from a protest point of view and like Seana Gavin he spent his time travelling across Europe with a sound system. I am very interested in photographers who travel and that have captured the protests against the criminal justice bill, I have been researching and finding photographers with this style for around two years now and I have only now come to find Adrian Frisk. 

The above images were taken at the 1994 Criminal Justice Bill March in London. I love how dark and bold these images are the contrast appears high but to me it makes the image more striking. I especially find the last one visually interesting as you cannot make out many faces, they have almost tuned to silhouettes but then in clear detail a sign says 'Kill The Bill'. This image very much portrays the senes from a march and it is easily identified as an image from the criminal justice protest.

The image above is was taken by Adrian Frisk and it is titled; A young child looking miserable in the mud, Glastonbury, 1997. This image made me think about the stories that my mum told me she said that she first took me to Glastonbury when I was one years old, so I would have actually been in this festival at the same time this image was taken. It was nice to see this image, it made me reminisce and think about the wonderful stories my mum told me and it reminded me of how muddy Glastonbury always used to get, I can remember losing my wellies in the mud! 

Images and information sourced: https://museumofyouthculture.com/museum-collections/