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ratrace ii

documenting the personal styles of an independently-ran queer rave event in Manchester.

I have a deep love of taking photos on disposable cameras. I like the idea that I’m choosing to devote one of my limited numbers of shots to a particular moment that I feel is special enough to capture,  and subsequently reliving that memory when I develop the photos later on.

These photos were taken on an old digital camera with a broken screen - so I had no idea what any of the shots would look like until they were uploaded to my computer later on. I feel that the concept is very similar to using a disposable camera: intentionally restricting my ability to take multiple shots in the hope of the ‘perfect’ one, and forcing myself to really consider the best way of shooting each moment.


For this reason, I felt it was a perfect tool to utilise in the pounding, sweaty basement of YES, surrounded by loud and fast music, darting through a sea of bodies in search of moments worth capturing. Instead of focusing my efforts on capturing the ‘best’ photo in terms of visual appearance, more of the authenticity of the present shines through in the rawness and imperfections, and highlights the playfulness of each person I shot. There is a certain charm to nostalgic, lower-resolution photos from parties of the early 00’s that has only come to be appreciated twenty years later, and whilst the character in photos like those will never truly be replicated in our digital modern age, there is a close substitute in utilising the technology of those times to capture the present.

These photos and graphics were later styled for use on the social media pages for RATRACE.