Partying on film

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably been to at least one party during your college career and odds are that someone had a camera there and managed to catch you mid-fun. So what’s so special about people documenting their party lives through photographs? Nothing really. But turn it up a notch and start posting your photos on a large, online archive and you’ve got yourself a business.

In this technological era where new cameras, computers and digital gadgets and gizmos are being released every day, photographers and those who love to look at photographs have managed to make a market out of what’s commonly called “party photography.”

Sweaty bodies swaying, bright neon lights, fists pumped in the air and beautiful people. These are all things that are commonly depicted in the typical high-energy party photograph. Though several clubs, promoters and photographers have tuned into this market by scouring clubs for hot shots of the physically blessed getting rowdy, birthing such sites as LastNightsParty.com, AbsoluteAddiction.com and InstantChaos.com, only a few photographers have managed to make a name for themselves apart from the rest. Among them is Mark Hunter of TheCobraSnake.com, whose site has risen as a sort of unofficial underground archive of the L.A. scene and subsequently has turned him into a party scene aficionado.

The community college student turned photographer who calls Los Angeles his home said in an interview with TheBrilliance.com, that he first picked up a camera in January 2004, plotting his “attempt to take over the world with some silly photo Web site” and ended up never looking back. But what started out as a fun past-time and fledgling business became a major gig when Hunter caught the attention of LA Weekly. His photos now appear in a half page of color every week and Hunter, who is still in the process of trying to “make this photographing thing work out,” couldn’t be happier.

“LA Weekly is my favorite,” he said in his interview with TheBrilliance.com. “They embraced me to the utmost.”

Along with Hunter, small legions of local photographers from around the U.S. have attempted to push their way to public recognition, one click at a time.

For Richmond native Justin Spears, a VCU broadcast journalism graduate, photography is less about climbing the social ladder and more about having fun. Though calling photography “mostly a hobby” rather than his profession, Spears has become one of the main photographers known for capturing the Richmond party circuit on film- albeit digitally – and now freelances under his business title, J5K Photography.

“I’ve been doing this for about two years,” Spears said. “I bought a camera that I had wanted for a long, long time, and I wanted to use it, so I brought it out to one of the dance parties one night.”

Though it’s clear why photographers might be attracted to reaching stardom via photographing parties, given the perks of being invited to endless events among other things, Spears says that not all photographers’ intents fall under one category.

“Some people do it just for recognition of their own photos and some people do it because it’s fun,” Spears said. Opposed to Hunter’s opinion that any and every event qualifies as a CobraSnake photo op, Spears is a little more selective.

“I don’t go out to just random spots and take photographs,” Spears said. “I only take photographs if I’m throwing the party or if my friends are throwing the party.”

Spears also weighed in on why party photography seems to be a prime choice for local and amateur photographers to start out with.

“It’s a really easy way to let everyone know you’re a photographer,” Spears said. “I have business cards that I hand out ’cause people ask ‘where can I see these photos’ if I’m taking photos of them and they can check it out. Then they see my other work, as well, and it goes hand in hand like that.”

Though the reasons why photographers are attracted to the industry of party photography seem to be more apparent, what attracts spectators who frequent these online archives to look at photographs of strangers having fun?

“One of the main appeals is just wanting to see your photographs at a fun party,” Spears said. “People can relate. I mean, I’m partying, too. I’m going just as hard as the people I’m taking photographs of.”