Black sky
Category: Photography
Photos: Way Out West day 2
The second (or third if you count thursday) and last day of the Way Out West festival was great in terms of fundraising, people were really open to contributing and to have a chat so the team had a great time and I got a lot of video material for my little WFP-project. There weren’t as many must-see artists but Wiz Khalifa did a very energetic show and it was good fun to watch all the indie hipsters go all-in-gangsta, Jarvis Cocker from Pulp invited the whole audience for a beer “if you just take a sip and pass it on it will be enough for everybody, right?” and Kanye West was… well, he entered the show on a skylift and with a very dramatic expression on his face.. there was smoke.. golden rain.. insane fans fainting because they would be crushed in the crowd.. very violent dancers.. “I’ma need to see your fucking hands at the concert“.. and a lot of auto-tune. A very entertaining and good show indeed, but I can’t imagine anybody loving Kanye as much as Kanye loves himself.
Photos: Way Out West day 1
I spent three beautiful days at the Way Out West festival in sunny Gothenburg. I was there representing WFP in the UN tent and it was good fun and a great experience, I am really happy I got the opportunity to join. And the festival? A really good vibe, beautiful people, fantastic performances by, among many others, Janelle Monáe, Fleet Foxes, Santigold, Robyn, Kanye West and.. Prince. Seriously, Prince pulled off the best show I have ever been to. No doubt. He owned it and we all loved it.. and when the Purple Rain fell people were delirious with euphoria. I still am.
Here are some photos from friday. You’ll get the rest soon, I have a job to wake up to tomorrow! :) Goodnight.
In church with James Blake
Yesterday I freerided my friend’s press-pass to see James Blake playing in a church. We stood in line for almost an hour until they told us that the church was completely full and that we wouldn’t get in, so we went up to the entrance and joined the press-team instead. Apparently the artists have clear preferences to when pictures are to be taken, so we got the instructions to enter the “photographers pit” right in front of the artist during the 1st, 3rd and 4th song, after that we were moved out to the rest of the audience.
I was sitting on the floor 2m from James Blake and I was completely stunned by how talented he is. I knew he was good, but seeing him sample himself live and feeling how the bass made the whole church vibrate was seriously mindblowing.
Today I start working at the festival, looking forward!
Gothenburg with James
I’m in Gothenburg where I will stay for the weekend to go to the Way Out West festival to represent WFP and do some fundraising with the United Nations Association of Sweden. Today we’ve been planning everything and deciding on what the rest of the days will look like, tomorrow the real deal starts..
At the moment I am at the place where I will be staying. It has James Blake on LP and a hammock in the livingroom. Could a thursday afternoon seriously get any better?
James Blake – The Wilhelm Scream
James Blake (2011)
What is adulthood?
I met this girl on a local train in Mumbai in 2010 and I immediately got struck by the presence and self awareness expressed in her face. The confidence of this little woman was so intense that any person could get easily intimidated just by looking at her. She approved to me taking pictures of her by nodding and smiling between the shots, without the slightest sign of shyness. She took part but seemed to be beyond all that in her mind, like a cat that isn’t bothered and really couldn’t care less. What I was doing was childrens’ games to her and she completely dominated the moment. An incredibly beautiful and strong individual, I really hope she gets the opportunity to use that strenght once she’s older, and share it with the other girls in her generation.
Against a wall.
Milindi
There she is, my favourite Mexicana. Adriana – la Milindi más chida que hay.
Angry moustache
The fear that fire gives
I never showed you the pictures I took in Cornellà de Llobregat the night of San Juan the 23rd of June. There is a Catalan tradition called Correfocs, where people dressed as devils and dragons spray fireworks at people and play drums while the spectators, children and adults soaked in water, run away and dance around in the fire. It was an amazing show to watch, and relating that to yesterday’s observations about water and joy, fire has completely different effect on people.
Personally, fire gives me a quite specific feeling, it evokes great respect, admiration and curiosity, while I subconsciously note an instinctive fear that in turn sparks adrenaline and a completely different euphoria than that brought by water. We are addicted to fear, we want to feel the rush of adrenaline, we want to watch scary movies and go skydiving. It’s a different kind of euphoria that we strive for and miss. Considering our ancestors that had to go hunting and protect themselves from dangerous animals and dangerous people, fear is an instinct that we once learned to live with. Today our lives are organised and easy, and food is comfortably found in the nearest supermarket. We are bored. So we hit the streets, have a guy put his medieval dragon-outfit on, and run for our lives.
..Goodnight :)