I chose to explore the rave culture and its connection to religion and spiritualism as my Innovator project. This was a very personal journey for me. In my paper, I shared a quote about the high school kids who ate lunch by themselves and stumbled on the rave culture. I walked in those very same shoes. I too felt that I finally belonged somewhere when I experienced my first rave. My goal with this project was to learn more about the rave culture that I am so passionate about and better understand its spiritual side. I also wanted to pursue my newfound love of photography and use this project as a way to share my story through pictures.
In embarking on this journey to learn more about the rave culture, not only did I conduct research using traditional sources like web sites and books, but it also gave me an opportunity to interact with the producers and performers at these events in a new and exciting way. One of the key takeaways that I gained from my research was that the DJs take their work very seriously. For many DJs that I photographed, it is not only a job, but also a way of life. It was through the Innovator project that I was able to spend quality time interacting with the DJs at local events. For example, I spent over an hour with Megaladon at an event. He talked to me not only about DJing, but gave me ideas for how I could pursue my passion for photography and combine that with the growing mainstream EDM industry. The relationship between my research of the rave culture and its spiritual connections are best displayed through the visual aspects of my Innovator project. I captured the emotions of PLUR in my photos of DJs and event goers on my EDM Exposed web site.
The Innovator project opened doors for me in the way I collaborated with artists, booking managers, event hosts, DJs and venue security. I attended five events and worked directly with the following DJs - Megaladon, Dack Janiels, Ben Nicky, Darren Styles, and J-Phelpz. I collaborated with the event hosts and booking managers to gain permission to photograph the events. I had to secure photo passes for on stage and backstage access. I worked with local companies including Immortal Events, ESM, Plur Alliance, Imagine Unity, Flatline, Kandilove, and EPR. Each has a slightly different way of working with people who want to photograph events, so I learned to be more adaptable in the way I work with people.
The collaboration I experienced through my Innovator project opened up many new doors for me. I was able to make new connections and was invited to work at bigger events after the producers saw my photography work. In the past few months I have gained residency at five new companies and am working on a sixth. This means that I can attend events for free, take photos of event goers, and carry a photo pass for backstage and onstage access to DJs.
Working with these event companies has improved my communication abilities. I felt I had to be more professional in the way I interacted with the event hosts and DJs. I learned how to email event producers and request backstage photo passes. I shared my work via Facebook 48 hours after each event, and then incorporated the new images in my Innovator project through the web site. I selected one photo from a Darren Styles event that received such great feedback on social media that I am going to turn into a poster for my project, and enter it in the Spring Photographers Forum photo contest. The work I published for this project has had a ripple effect. New companies are now interested in my work, and one DJ has requested that I shoot his promo headshots. I think this project has really helped me achieve a stepping stone in my future career.
This project challenged my 21st C. web design skills the most. Thanks to this project I now have the confidence to do my own web site coding. It was a challenge in the beginning and the idea of HTML code scared me a little but I am starting my own web sites now. I purchased my own hosting server with Mr. Flo’s help and bought my own domain where I plan to showcase all of my event related photography work. The area where I least improved is in my audio production skills. After several failed attempts at mixing my own music, I decided that my work was not up to my standards and removed it from my project. I used music on my web site and I plan to add a photo poster instead, showcasing work that I am proud of. I will leave music mixing to the professional DJs that I work with.
If I could do this project over again, I would have incorporated a video aspect to show an overall montage of all the events I photographed in one video. I think a video would have helped demonstrate how spiritual these events can be, and how PLUR runs through an audience. I also would have also made an AfterEffects video with a music equalizer to some of my DJ’s favorite songs or mixes.
I believe that this Innovator project has opened new doors for me. I will use the learning experiences I gained to build more relationships in the EDM industry. In fact, I just found out that a group of USC graduates started an EDM event production company called Production Club. They were profiled on the USC Thornton music school web site, and USC now offers a music history class in EDM that offers a field trip to their studios, which I hope to take. I also might apply for an internship there, showcasing some of the work I have done for my Innovator project as part of my application.
I have innovated in my own education this semester by incorporating my photography and design into the music production world. I spent hours watching YouTube videos to teach myself new coding to make my web site look better. I also did quite a bit of research on how to maximize people’s emotions in nightlife photography to grasp the overall feeling of the event and capture the emotion but just an image. I learned how to shoot lasers and LED lights in mid beam to show a happy party vibe vs a dark warehouse.
Overall, I feel that my Innovator project experiences was really valuable. It is definitely the best Freestyle project that I’ve produced, and it showcases something that I am interested in pursuing as part of my career. I believe that it really directed me toward the path of what I want to pursue in college. Just like the feeling I had when I first came to Freestyle or attended my first rave, when I visited USC Roski I said to myself “Whoa, I belong here!'” I believe Freestyle has given me the tools I need to be successful in the next chapter of my journey.
