The Necessity of Excess
Hosted by Q-Dance Defqon1 is Australia’s largest outdoor rave party. Held at Sydney’s Penrith Rowing Regatta Centre this event is also known in my mind as the need for excess. The opportunity to shoot came only days prior to the event start and at first I was hesitant. I quickly came to the realisation this could be a one off opportunity and so accepted the challenge with a sense of naïve anticipation.
Now that I had accepted, I asked myself why?
To reminisce, to satisfy my curiosity and intrigue and to challenge my photographic ways and routine. The photographic intent was not technical but rather focused on communicating a taste of a huge dance rave.
I wanted to make the ravers look magnificent, hyper real and statuesque. I did this while documenting the hard-core rave exhibitionism and overt fantasy. This came with all the highs and threatening traps that are all part of this party style. The energy was contagious, artificially enhanced and ‘duff duff’ driven.
In shooting the reportage series I remember climbing up onto one of the stages packed with Hardstylers jumping to thumping tunes. As I forced my way through the crowd, I came across the ‘Defqonator’ and used hand signals to get the ok to shoot him.
Grabbing a piece of white cardboard from the ground next to me, I bounced light onto the Defqonator from an overhead spotlight whilst directing and shooting a few captures. It was one of my memorable moments.
At times I reminisced on my younger days and was glad I had an inner governor to keep the excess in check.
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