'The Herd'.
This series deals with the concept of an audience at an event with music becoming one unified body, not only in a formalist sense, but as a seemingly random collection of people unified by one event: sound, a measurable form of energy. Live music is a powerful force to me, and every concert experience I've had has a sort of ritualistic quality like an ancient tribal practice; there is something primal about dancing, contemporary dance music even has the same bpm as tribal music from varying cultures and time periods. The release of endorphins and the adrenaline, the crowd swarming as one mass all build up to what I would loosely consider a mob mentality. 'The Herd' is in short about allowing oneself to be enveloped into a group and become a small portion of the face that is the 'crowd'.
I really like these, however I don't think the last few front-shot photos really speak "mob mentality". Maybe because their faces are shown full on to the viewer, but also maybe because when you see a face and it's specific attributes,it loses anonymity and loses the "crowd" aspect. The photos a the top that are shot from further away I think have a better impact because hardly any of the faces can be seen, and the entire photograph looks like it's moving, which is fantastic!
ReplyDeletei think anyone who has been the member of a concert crowd can identify with that feeling.
ReplyDeletei particularly like the second image from the top. seeing such a crisp sliver of a person's face - i think it'd be interesting to see more images like this, and make comparisons between the way different people at the same concert look. that's something that's so interesting to me about these concert "herd mentality" situations - we are all very different people, with lives that may or may not be connected, yet we are all momentarily united under the love of music.
Great idea for a project and series! I shared your kickstarter page and backed your project. Go get some awesome shots and have great experiences in NYC. :D
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