Aloft Hotels

The opening at Aloft was an absolute monster one. It put into stark contrast the crowd that I’m used to shooting, with the crowd that generally frequents these events. For me, it was a great exercise in pushing my own comfort zone as a photographer.

Often times, it’s hard to find the balance between an intrusive photographer, and one that mingles with the crowd and makes people around him comfortable. For me, I always strive to be the latter, but when that’s not possible it’s imperative I do what I was hired to do…my job.

At Aloft, what began as a very high pressure night, fizzled out into decadent mayhem, which was an absolute pleasure to shoot and be a part of. Most of my night involved jumping around from one part of the hotel to another, making sure I did justice to the excellent vibe that had been snowballing as the night progressed.

When I finally stumbled my way out at sunrise, I remember feeling overcome with adrenaline.

Here’s some highlights from the night -

Wild City Record Store Day

It was 6 am. I was in the taxi on my way back from one of the wildest parties I've ever covered.  I knew I had a shoot the next day (today), but the adrenaline kept me going through the night. Bad decision after bad decision, before I eventually got home at 6:30 and crashed on the floor (I didn't have a bed). 

I woke up at noon feeling like absolute shit. I was in that state when you're not sure if you're still drunk or if you're hungover. I was neither considering I hadn't had a drink the night before. My brain was just telling me that I was absolutely destroyed and that I needed sleep. 

Instead, I jumped in the shower to wash off the smells from the night before. A quick brew of coffee, and I was on my way to Shahpur Jat - Sleepy Owl - the location of today's shoot. 

I was shooting Wild City's annual Record Store Day celebration. Record Store Day has been around for a while now, but it was my first experience with it. 

What I got was it's an easy celebration of vinyl culture - appreciating the old with the new - each dj and musician bringing something unique during their short sets. 

I knew it was going to be a very chill shoot; lots of familiar faces around, and I had to just capture people have a good time. Nothing new for me really. 

A close friend of mine happened to be in the area as well, so I brought him along with me. The afternoon turned out to be a very pleasant one; people coming in and out helping themselves to the free beer, coffee and cocktails courtesy of Bira and Sleepy Owl. In between, cigarettes were being lit and passed around outside. We were treated to some wonderful records, old and new music. 

I left the place feeling completely drained of all energy, but still refreshed from an afternoon of discovering new sounds. Check out the pictures below - 

Spotlight #13 - Emily Rose

This week's spotlight is a return to something musical. I met Emily via Instagram a few months ago. 

Her pictures are a mix of creative editing and documenting, which is what caught my eye in the first place. It was around the time I had started working with Boxout and was looking through many different music and event photographers' profiles for inspiration. 

Emily was kind enough to respond to my request of being on here. Here's her picture, which was one of the first ones that I found riveting. Read below to see what she has to say about it. 

"I've been doing event photography for about a year now. It started when I was in my third year at university when I found myself with a camera and without a job, so I thought I'd try my hand at taking some photos in the student-y venues and I've never looked back.

This photo was taken at an event organised by a student art collective (They're called YaM you can check them out here: https://www.yamavfc.com/) and it fully encapsulates the vibe of the types of independently organised events I've been fortunate enough to photograph. 

Every detail is important here; the industrious nature of the equipment, the centrality of the headphones under the spotlight but also of the phone and the laptop - this is a young, creative scene. The lamp is also important, I actually own that same lamp and I think a lot of other students do as it's from a cheap and popular homeware store. I just love the idea that maybe this lamp was a last minute decision, that one of the organisers suddenly realised they might need extra lighting on the decks so grabbed their desk lamp which, on any other night, would illuminate their studies, but this time as the photo depicts it's been given an extra-special job."

Follow Emily here - https://www.instagram.com/emilyroseeventphotography/