Yes, I like to take photos of screaming, sweating, violent people on stage, what of it?
Last week’s post about Pitfest 2026 and the accompanying gallery prompted the brain to spin into photography contemplation mode. Mainly I’ve been asking myself: "Why do I like to photograph hardcore bands?"
An answer! Maybe. But first:
LOOSE TOPICS, COMING YOUR WAAAAAAY:
Let’s start with some new music:
LA-based post-hardcore outfit Quiet Fear put out a very cool record called La Tierra Arriba/El Abismo Abajo. Though they’ve been around for a while, this was new to me, but I’m glad I’ve come across them. It has a slight Touché Amoré vibe to it, but feels more ominous and has a darker underlying tone. It’s quite gripping.
For the emo kids among us, Onelinedrawing has announced a new album, Rainbowmachine, and put out a single. Takes me back to the early 2000s, man.
Time to cool it a bit on the AI rhetoric, I feel, on pretty much all sides. Reason being that no one really seems to be able to find the correct words to describe the matter at hand. That is, apart from the author of this piece: If AI Is Sentient, Then So Is Age of Empires II.
Mechanical watches are neat, being as they are a cross-section between engineering marvels, supreme execution of craft and artful expression. But how do they work? This interesting article includes animated 3D cross-sections of the crucial parts of a mechanical watch and it’s fascinating and beautiful.
The state of tech channels on YouTube is, to be frank, pissing me off. If you love people afraid to speak their mind for fear of being blackballed by the brands they work with while fully cosplaying as actual reviewers, I guess it’s alright. But I don’t. Thankfully, there’s Techmoan. Picture a mildly cantankerous middle-aged British man who’s still fascinated by new technology but also loves to expound about hi-fi equipment of yore. Like in this recent video about a beautiful vintage FM tuner. It’s just a bloody good time, really.
Have you heard the good word about Skunny? 'Cause I sure as hell hadn’t until I came across Merritt K.’s roundup of this insane old computer game series. At some point Skunny, who is a squirrel, is sent to kill Saddam Hussein. So you know. That’s the level we’re operating on for this one. Have a look at this excellent piece.
Here’s an important essay that hit me: Just Be Normal About Stuff. Stop maxxing, stop sculpting, stop making everything into a huge deal, just… stop. And be normal about stuff.
So then. Why photos?
To be fair, I did make a whole zine about this topic, all of which is accessible on the blog here. But it’s five parts and, quite frankly, my thoughts have somewhat evolved on the matter.
In fact, what took me a full zine to articulate – or at least attempt to – now is maybe a bit simpler.
As articulated last week: I fucking love hardcore. I love the way it creates spaces where the line between artist and audience blurs. I love how it accepts any band or artist as good enough to participate. I love how anyone can contribute, musically, or as an artist, photographer, promoter – it’s all DIY, duder!1
And the only thing that I try to capture with my photography is that specific feeling.
It’s a work-in-progress.
I’m a good enough photographer on a technical level, I’m not too shy to admit that, but still working on the artistic part, the part that is not fully in-your-face, the part that gets under your skin and will make you think about an image long after you saw it for the first time.
Workin’ on it.
1Just a quick footnote to acknowledge that the hardcore scene is not a utopia and definitely deals with a lot of issues. I know, trust.