A friend and co-worker, Nick Minieri, runs the website Beantown Boogiedown (website: http://www.beantownboogiedown.com/ / Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/beantownboogiedown) that covers dance and electronic music, events, concerts, happenings, etc… in and around Boston. Through his work in this area he got involved with the Together Festival (http://togetherboston.com/).
From the Together website –
Together Festival is an annual celebration of music, art and technology, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The festival was first held in February, 2010, with a primary focus on electronic dance music. As the festival has evolved however, its laser focus has shifted to encompass a broader scope of musical genres as well as a thorough exploration of the art and technology sectors.
Having attended other events around the festival, I had a rough idea of what it was and was happy to help when asked if I would be interested in photographing some of the events. I was able to commit to two shows: Ceremony with DJs Znuh and Static at An Tua Nua on Beacon St. in Boston and Agoria, presented by Soundscape at Naga in Cambridge.
Ceremony started at 9pm on Monday, May 13th. It was an industrial/goth genre show, which fits in with my tastes of music, more on the industrial side than goth but it was all good. The set sounded good but the crowd didn’t start really showing up until 10:30 – 11:00. I have been to several electronic and dance shows in the last few years but where this was more DJ than show, people were dancing, a lot and in ways that I was not as familiar with. During quieter/slower songs, the dance almost became a study of Tai Chi with slow movements then transitioning into more energetic and almost spastic moments of pure energy. The dress and costumes covered the whole range from fishnets and leather to a black bikini.
This was interesting but challenging to shoot due to the fact that, as the manager said “there’s only one light on, the industrial crowd likes it dark.” My camera isn’t such a fan of the dark but I had a flash and was prepared for this possibility. Focusing was an issue sometimes but not one that couldn’t be overcome. Once I figured out what worked for different looks, I was able to get a number of shots I was happy with. I was welcomed by most of the crowd, had a few awkward moments and some hard requests to “Don’t take my picture(!),” but overall the night went well.
