Pons

Explanation

For this post is a simple but effective picture I took of the New York based Pons. I'm not gonna lie and say I went to go see Pons in particular. I wasn't even really planning to go out but found out that Shooks was playing a show and decided to go on the day of. Pons played second that night and I really had no idea what I was going into.

In terms of music, Pons is a chaotic and percussive force. With 2 drummers and a singer/guitarist, it's a really unique setup and sound. In person, the music is driving and powerful with an almost trance like effect. Eschewing catchy or memorable melodies, the point seems to be mostly rhythmic. As a result their recorded music isn't really indicative of the show.

In terms of this picture, I really think it works really well. It's clearly in that a/b split structure I've been refining and exploring this year. But I want to hone in on why I think this works better than a lot of the others. I've found that most of my favorite versions of this image live along two axes. If we think back to the pictures from Sungazer, I noted the pictures of Shubh and Shawn. By looking at this picture, you can notice how much of a carbon copy it is to those. The guitarist is off left and the drummer is to the right and back. There is a separation in both the x axis and the z axis of the image. That said, I think this one may succeed just a bit more. The reason for that I think is because of two factors. First, along the x axis, the guitarist and drummer are closer together in this Pons picture as opposed to the Sungazer ones. It's even to the point where you could almost flip this picture vertically and still fit both in the frame. This makes the connection a little bit more apparent and obvious. Furthermore, the z axis difference is more apparent via the shallow depth of field. This is probably due to a combination of factors. One, I'm probably a bit closer to the guitarist here than in the Sungazer pictures. And two, the distance between the guitarist and drummer is at least as far if not further here than in the Sungazer pictures. Some combination of those factors results in the depth of field being shallower and creating a stronger contrast between near and far.

Before finishing off, I want to note the color and its effect on this picture. Normally I don't really talk much about color because it either is more important on a roll basis or is altogether unimportant. But I think in this picture it's surprisingly important. The monotone red is caused entirely by the lighting of the venue during their set and it works really well. It matches their vibe and sound so well. Aggressive and brash with a hint of sensuality. It's a very fitting color scheme and I can't think of a better color palette.