Mobley

Explanation tl;dr f/1.7, 1/15, Lomography 400, 50mm

The last show of Side One Track One I saw was Mobley. I had been listening to his music for a good chunk of the last year or two so I had a sense of the music and the type of show he might put on. A multi-instrumentalist with a powerful voice, I expected a charismatic show showcasing various facets of his music making. I took this picture towards the beginning of the set, almost as a sort of throwaway picture. Mainly I was trying to match my timing with the lights to get the sort of highlighting you can see on the right side of his body.

Why do I describe this as what I thought would be a "throwaway" picture? Honestly, besides the timing, this isn't a particularly interesting image on its own. As a standalone image insulated from knowledge of any other pictures, it isn't a particularly stunning image. However, the way the light hits Mobley, both in amount and the monochromatic quality evokes other older images. This picture feels similar to images of various rock and pop acts. The film grain makes the picture feel older than it is, further cementing the idea of this as a sort of callback image.

More than most pictures I've taken before, this picture is one I like not as a function of it matching some personal imagined reality. Instead it's a picture I like because it connects a simple thought I had, and didn't necessarily believe in, to other images I've seen in the past and enjoyed. One thing I've been trying to do with my images is try to capture my experiences in ways that other people can understand them. When I think of throwaway pictures, I think of ones that may do a good job of reminding you of your own experiences but aren't great at telling further stories, that aren't great at expressing your experiences with others. In that vein, I tend to try to capture motion or energy. As a viewer, you're forced to confront the apparent action unfolding in front of you and ask what's going on or how did this picture get taken? This picture, however, reminds me that there are others ways to express your experiences with others. In this case, I'm using the idea that images don't live in a vacuum, that they can have an established identity and purpose to tell that experience and story.