This tattoo will be extra embarrassing in like 8 years when that camera is laughably outdated, like getting a tattoo of a 1993 Lexus LS-400
Governments get overthrown, cities get wiped off the map by natural disasters, and life-altering technological changes come and go. But come what may, some things remain unchanged: the tides, the rise and fall of the sun, and that the hardcore scene is full of annoying photography nerds.
Point a camera at a bunch of grass and press the shutter button = you’re an artist?
My first question is, why do people act like photography is on par with real forms of art like drawing or painting?? Obviously there are some photographers who take it to that level, but I have no idea why people think it’s some kind of amazing accomplishment to take a picture of something that is either happening in nature or that someone else is doing. You didn’t plant the tree, you’re not playing in the band, you’re not riding the skateboard, you just bought the camera. Am I supposed to be impressed??
There is literally nothing that could make me raeg harder than this picture. So much irony, so many cries for attention, so many people who think they are special snowflakes. YOU TAKE HALF-ASSED SNAPSHOTS OF DRUNK HIPSTER TRASH, HOW ORIGINAL!
LOL is that a GL-2?? What antique store did you dig that out of?
Regular photographers are bad enough, but what’s even worse are photographers who act like they are “an important part of the scene.” For example, the asshole in the photo above standing front and center with his gay little video camera– THANKS I TOTALLY DIDNT WANT TO WATCH THE BAND, I WAS HOPING SOMEONE WOULD STAND IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DANCE FLOOR WITH AN EXPENSIVE, FRAGILE PIECE OF ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT.
Good thing she put her name on this image or someone might have gotten it confused with the 400 million other photos of a sweaty guy in a black band shirt screaming into a microphone
Also, why do fat girls love photography so much?? I get why they are into cupcakes and Rollerderby (cupcakes taste good, and in Rollerderby I assume a few extra pounds are an asset), but I’m not sure what the appeal of photography is. Is this their way of “participating in the scene” without having to, you know, actually DO anything? Either way, if I ever see another husky girl standing on the side of the stage conspicuously “documenting the band” and trying way too hard to look like she’s “so dedicated to her craft” I’m going to harpoon the bitch and tell her to go back to taking deceptive MySpace self-portraits.
Are photographers the ultimate example of how delusional and self-centered artsy people are?? Why do fat girls and cameras go hand in chubby hand? Now that every asshole with an iPhone has an 8-megapixel camera in their pocket and a pirated copy of Photoshop, can we officially recognize that anybody can take a goddamn picture??
I agree with this post. Just jump on tumblr and there are one million girls taking photographs of bins and laughably say that their photograph represents ‘consumer culture’. I go to the photography department at my college and there are all these photographs that kids have done for their coursework which are simply pictures of their friends and they also try to add some sort of message when at the end of the day it was just a lazy photography they took of their friend because their coursework deadline was the next day and they hadn’t even started their coursework yet. I know so many people who are talented in music production, writing, art and they have chose to be a ‘photographer’ as their profession.
This this this!
At a 108 show, oldfag and friend of band that I am, I was off to the side behind the amps. This fat pimply teenager asked me to move so they could join the 10 other photographers up on stage and was pissed when I pointed and said “Just look at their photos on the internet!”
Fuck these people – soooo annoying!
hard lol @ “Just look at their photos on the internet!”
the great part about that sentence is that it forces them to admit that they aren’t simply “documenting the scene,” because that would make them redundant. its really all about them “expressing themselves”
Expressing yourself by not actually doing anything is prty white-ppl-core.
I agree on all fronts. I have friends who have “photography studios” because they shelled out money for a camera & their friends tell them they’re good at photography. It’s a load of bullcrap.
And at a show, I take a couple of pictures at most (depending on the band & how busy I am headbanging) so that I can remember what the stage looked like from my perspective & how close I was. Then my phone is away for the rest of the set.
Respek to the photographers who truly make it an art.
I get live videos, as long as the sound quality is good. But someone taking photos of bands doesn’t make that much sense really. Unless they’re in the middle of something awesome, which is unlikely, I’d rather just hear them play.
More annoying than family pictures at disneyland
I would post this article to my facebook, but since I’m “involved in the underground scene” in my area, half of my friends would get butthurt for me advocating “stifling their creativity” and the other half would completely agree with me.
ondarilldoh, fucking photographers at show GTFO of the way of everyone else. We paid our $4 cover just like you did, and we want to mosh our dicks into dust, but now we can’t because you’re the singer’s girlfriend and he’ll get butthurt if we mosh around you while you’re busy “expressing yourself.”
I used to feel this way, then I started pounding Wild Irish Rose in the parking lot before shows. I am pretty sure I’ve broken 2-3 cameras by now. Fuck it, it’s the risk you take trying to get the shot. You don’t see graf writers crying over people attacking them/calling the cops/etc. because the risk is part of the experience.
I went to a show and tried to take pictures once. The camera got smashed. Coincidentally, it was one of the most fun shows I’ve ever been too.
As long as the photographer is doing something productive (like writing a review for the show, or making a high quality video while not getting in the fucking way) there’s no problem. But yeah, you are no more a part of the scene than anybody else who’s not in a band you fucking pretentious douche.
thats what annoys me the most… youre at a show and theres five photographers, yet you NEVER see these photos anywhere on the internet
fuck these people, i wish more band would just kick the camera out of their hands
What about cupcakes? That’s the other thing every chubby girl involved in hardcore cares about now.
“I get why they are into cupcakes and Rollerderby (cupcakes taste good, and in Rollerderby I assume a few extra pounds are an asset)”
ha
There needs to be a post on fat chicks and their cupcake obsession. So groce and annoying.
+1 WHISKEY & CUPCAKEZ
GETTING CUPCAKE TATTOO ABOVE MY LIGHTHOUSE AND NEXT TO MY OWL DERP.
Oh man good call on whiskey, i thought it was only the annoying girls in my city that thought they were s0 h4rdcore for drinking whiskey
Jack and Coke/Whiskey Sours are only for the hardest of the hardcore. When I blog about it I will omit these facts however and tell everyone how cool I am for drinking bourbon/sour mash.
“Groce”
I bet you’re super hot. And probably way smarter than you sound here.
LOLed hard at “deceptive MySpace self-portraits”
I hate people on shows taking pictures/videos and it doesn’t matter if they try to be artsy-fartsy or are just people standing in front of me with their cellphone. So annoying!
woh, got a post on the exact same vibe coming tomorrow. mediocre minds think alike…
Im bulemic, i can read your mind
Haha. Quoted your post a little. Pushed it out.
http://www.putthatshitonthelist.com/2011/11/photography-is-fraud-stealing-other.html
I’m a videographer. That means I’m not a douche, right?
i suppose someone needs to take some photo’s of stuff for posterity, but the problem is that everyone can afford a really good camera (via hardcore being for rich white pussies) and so everyone does it when really you only need a few people to take a few photos of stuff, kinda.
Exactly- I TOOK A PICTURE OF TITLE FIGHT LOOKING REALLY PASSIONATE, JUST LIKE THE OTHER 5 ZILLION BUT THESE ARE DIFFERENT BECAUSE I MADE THEM AND IM A SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE
this is why beatdown/metallic hardcore = the only style of hardcore that matters.
ONLY MOSHCORE IS REAL
if you cant mosh to it whats the point amirite. (no question mark, on purpose, i am right)
end of the day its HARDcore HARD that means if your a pussy you should get stuff stolen from you and beaten up for being weak. then you can go blog about it online about how HARDCORE IS NOT FOR JOCKS ITS REAL ITS ABOUT REAL ISSUES AND FEELINGS, while i ride your bike that i stole, from you, because your gay.
jus sayin….
ching!
Backed!
I thought this was at its peak during the Myspace era. That’s when i went to shows every week. But back then there was usually only one photographer. My favorite part was how they would advertise like they were creating a photographic scenepire. Some 15 year old kid with his dad’s Minolta. File him next to all the guys who were selling $75 layouts.
My friend is an actual free-lance photographer in NYC, and is regularly in the NY Times and shit. Thing is, he doesnt consider it art, he considers it a craft he has mastered to make a living.
This so fucking hard!! I hated it when I was in bands and some bitch with a Nikon her daddy bought her would attempt to impress me by showing me her shots of the band and precisely placed lawn chairs and ashtrays. Come talk to me when you have a hobby that’s actually interesting and takes talent
This post hits waay close to home, because I’m unfortunately visiting New Jersey at the moment (fucking FULL of these “unique, free-spirited artists”) and after three days of being around the general population here, I’m starting to hope it rains napalm for my birthday.
I was at a show yesterday night, and this smug, self-entitled Euro-hipster guttersnipe had no less than THREE cameras that she was using (her phone camera, a disposable camera, and some other tiny, shitty digital camera) to take pictures (and video clips) of the band. Sometimes, she’d even use two cameras at the same time (ie: snapping a photo while videotaping). Even though I was in the front, dead center, I had to keep moving around because her hands (with said devices) were always in front of my face. Although I glimpsed at a couple of her photos and they were predictably blurry and unremarkable, my favorite was when she snapped a photo of a sign hung on a utility room door that read “NOT AN EXIT”. Like, woah. Deep, man!
I wanted to “accidentally” smack her “documentary devices” out of her hands so badly, but I also didn’t want to get swarmed by the legion of coked up hipster dudes present, who probably would’ve tried white knighting it up and coming to her defense in order to try and get into her pants.
TL;DR version: Don’t fucking bother with the junior photography. Let’s face it: if it’s a band anybody really gives a fuck about, they probably already have people hired to take their pictures anyway. Oh, also: New York sucks.
Step 1: Acquire Celltech
Step 2: Smash
“she snapped a photo of a sign hung on a utility room door that read “NOT AN EXIT””
raeg
also, i hate New York City
If we have one saving grace, it’s the Puerto Rican Day parade. J-Lo Booty for miles, Literally! Of course theres much thuggery and brown foolishness to be had, but the semi-nude tan skinned bishes make it worth the sprawl.
The most smashable bishes I know loves photography, that is why I dig it.
I’m into art because I’m a faggot, and I personally could give a fuck about how much effort goes into any given photo or canvas or whatever as long as it looks pretty.
yeah i’m not a tard so i don’t think value = amount of effort that went into it, but my point is don’t expect me to give you a fucking medal for pointing your camera at a tree, you know?
I don’t have anything against photography in general at shows. I enjoy seeing pictures of bands that I like and I’m glad that pictures exist of bands that I’ve never had a chance to see. That being said, I agree that people taking pictures at shows need to stay out of the way and realize that no one gives a fuck about their art or how much their equipment cost.
I think the whole argument can be summed up in 5 words: “Calm down there, Mr. Artistic”
“Calm down there, Mr. Artistic”
lololol you know i made that video, right??
HOLY SHIT!
I read the site all the time, but the Deep Thoughts with Stigma videos are some of my favorite on the internet.
“There was a horse in the elevator…that’s a bad project”
Did you have anything to do with the Stigma for President videos?
yes, i made those too– Roger was NOT amused haha
Personally love the ‘preserve this for posterity’ argument – YOU ARE A CULTURE HERO!!!
haha yeah like these people are out documenting dirt-farmers in the dust bowl or something that will be culturally relevant 70 yrs from now…
the reason photography is so popular among the hipsterati and the young and self-important is because it is a form of art/self-expression/whatever that takes little talent. at least compared to other mediums, like say painting on canvas/anything else, sculpting, writing well, or just plain drawing good and other stuffs!
its really more like being a crane operator than an artist. one needs to master the technical aspects of the equipment , like shutters/lenses/focus and whatnot, and then just follow all the rules of composition (of which there are many). i suppose to do it well it takes a lot of time and practice, just like any other trade. anyways mastering technical precision doesnt mean youre “creating” make it art.
*or make it art
I did painting in high school, and to get beyond the ‘laughably godawful’ phase to the ‘just really bad’ phase you need to do a SHITLOAD of practice- drawing and painting every day. I spent far more time on my painting work than anything else i did in my senior year- it wasn’t any good (obv), but if you want to become actually good at painting you basically need to devote all of your time to practice/work and all of your money to supplies.
If these ppl r so desperate to be “part of the scene” why don’t they just write some sick breakdowns? More fun and rewarding than photography and only slightly harder.
Most band members are broke, full time students, want to help the scene? buy them dinner and beer rather than getting in their way with your oversized camera hahaha
FUCKING EXACTLY, IN FACT IF YOU WANT TO HELP THE SCENE TAKE THAT £700 CAMERA PAWN IT AND ORGANISE A BUFFET/ BBQ FOR EVERYONE FREE OF CHARGE AT THE NEXT SHOW. SCENE = HELPED
I used to do concert videos. Mostly Hardcore because I could. I hated it. They were all done well, but I don’t know where they are. The bands or labels have them I guess.
I’m faculty/staff for a film department at a university. Sorry everyone. I can’t help but feel partially responsible.
With technology being so cheap and good everyone is an artist. degrees and years of experience mean nothing.
it’s not your fault, dude– imagine how the guy who invented Photoshop knew when he found out his creation would be used to REDUCE the size of Lindsay Lohan’s tits in “Herbie”??? He probably wished he was never born for the horrific evil he was indirectly responsible for, but the truth is he couldn’t have known it was going to happen.
You are forgiven, my son.
Thanks Sarge. It really means a lot.
i dont have much to say about this that hasn’t already been said but that first picture is the gayest thing i have ever seen and just makes me raeg
That camera in the tattoo is already 20 years old.
Retro hipster photographer bitching about all those mnstrm faggots with their 2011 cameras?
Dude, no one uses 2011 cameras anymore.
I wish more courtroom artists would document hardcore shows.
I assume this is what the Poison The Well song “Artist’s Rendering Of Me” is about
Nice PTW reference. #everyonelovednerdyin99orwheneverthatsongwasout
Imagine a world where there were, at minimum, 3-5 kids on the side of the stage sketching the band with charcoal. Elohel.
I don’t own enough shoes with individual toes in them to ever hope to see a show like that.
No joke, I once had a ‘photographer’ at a gig I was running and playing at ask me between songs during my bands set “can you stop moving around so much, I can’t get a clear shot”
I was actually speechless, she seemed to think that the show was there just so she could build up her portfolio, she wasn’t even one of the official photographers the event had organised, just some random who had paid to get in haha.
should have raped her
In the end, photographers are basically people that wanted to be artists, but lack the natural ability to draw/paint.
I feel kinda bad for them considering that I can draw really well, but I rarely draw. :p
I know an old hardcore dood who takes photos in our scene, he’s actually a cool guy. Isn’t pretentious, runs a pretty cool zine, only legit photographer in the scene (NE has a pretty small but tight scene), gives me rides to shows even though I live super far out-I think photographers at shows can be cool if they get their heads out their collective asses and just have fun with what they’re doing. He also puts out comps made of local bands and shit, actually tries to help out and everybody knows him. Really cool dood.
Then I went to a couple bigger shows and saw the amount of annoying teenage girls with shitty cameras taking pictures and getting in the way of my ignorant mosh and hated it. Meh. Need more cool people, less pretentious teenage artfags. But this is hardcore, bro. Can’t avoid those fuckers.
To be fair, you could substitute pretty much anything other than “serial rapists” in this sentence and it would be true: “I think photographers at shows can be cool if they get their heads out their collective asses and just have fun with what they’re doing”
Basically, it’s totally cool if you are into photography or anything else as long as you don’t act like you’re a big fucking deal because of your gay hobby.
“Basically, it’s totally cool if you are into photography or anything else as long as you don’t act like you’re a big fucking deal because of your gay hobby.”
And that my friend is what it all comes down to!
da sarge, droppin wisdom all day erryday
also lol @ the cannibal corpse shirt in that picture. SO HARDCORE.
Agreed with most of this post. But there are some amazing photographers out there.
Gregory Crewdson, Joshua Hoffine and pretty much anyone who uses lighting in cool ways.
I used to be a “hardcore scene” photographer when I was younger but since I’ve returned from post-grad studies in France I much prefer to capture the PASSION and ARTISTRY of musicians through oil painting. I will go to say, a Devandra Barnhart or Fleet Foxes show, set up my easel & produce a work of great ART, every-single-time. I’m also making a socially- conscious statement by using brushes repurposed from my own beard-hair & fixie-bike frame-tubing so as to lessen the impact of my Eco-footprint on the environment. As for the canvas I use Japanese selvedge woven by refugees from the conflict in Darfur & ULTRA-RARE vintage oils from Bulgaria that you’ve probably never heard of.
How gauche. I do conceptual sculpture installations at post-noise festivals that are so exclusive there isnt even an audience.
what is real life
Just before reading this article someone offered to film me skate. However he wasn’t a faggot who goes around bragging to be a photographer, he was just a dude with a better camera.
Oh, fucking touché Monsieur D. You’re so cool even I’VE never heard of you. But my v-neck is deeper, my jeans tighter, my belt whiter & my Kaffiyeh crisper, SRS. AND I can pretend to speak, like 5 languages.
This dude who drinks at the bar I frequent and lives off of tips busing tables was talking about how he got a degree in photography from NYU instead of going into the construction industry so he could “do more” with his life than his dad and this old black guy says “Yeah? When’s the last time you took a fuckin’ picture?”
These drips of having too strong opinions about shit that doesn’t really matter.
That “HC” thing I was into was just a phase in-between my Black-Metal & Swing-Dance phases, but after my S.H.A.R.P. Skinhead-phase, but now I’ve REALLY found myself, as an ARTIST.
to be fair, if it weren’t for photographers at shows, we wouldn’t have the moshzilla girl and the hilarious fucking renderings that came with it. the increasing attitude of “PEOPLE DON’T UNDERSTAND THAT IT’S NOT JUST POINTING AND SHOOTING” is certainly annoying as shit, though. a working knowledge of photoshop impresses me about as much as the ability to create your own webpage on geocities.
Jerry *STOP* reading this, pleez!
I like taking pictures, but the only thing that’s keeping me grounded is making fun of it as much as I can and remembering that its such a lame hobbie. Same applies to anything.
I agree with this post. Photography CAN be an art form, but most of the time, it’s not. That or you’re just rehashing what everyone else has done. Go large format film or go home. I mean 8×10 sheet film that costs 5.50 a slice because silver’s getting more expensive. Sure people can turn a profit by being able to catch the right moment, but that doesn’t happen very often. Anytime you unload the digital camera onto your hard drive and find “the best picture you’ve ever taken!!!1″, delete it. It’s garbage compared to what someone else has shot. If you don’t delete it, at least do us the favor of not parading it around like it’s an accomplishment.
Eugene Atget. Nuff said.
I always assumed photography was just an excuse for hipsters to take naked pics of girls
Could be worse though, you could be a blogger.
Right now I have the opportunity to take pictures of shit that people will never see, but I always say fuck it.
But for reals. I would become a douchey photographer just so i could take naked pics of random bitches.
“Now that every asshole with an iPhone has an 8-megapixel camera in their pocket and a pirated copy of Photoshop, can we officially recognize that anybody can take a goddamn picture??”
I’d back this, except for the internet being clogged with so many bad fucking photos.
but photo classes were clogged with shitty photos before digital existed, so isn’t this more about the fact that most people are talentless and lazy, not the technology?
I… yes? Yes.
biggest scam are the kids that only go to local shows to take pictures and end up charging people to take pictures of the band. fuck you, faggot. if i wanted to spend cash to see myself id buy a mirror
Holy shit…. my thought exactly. I’m actually a professional photographer, as in it’s my day job, my pay checks prove it. (I work for a large metro daily paper) I get tired of kids I know asking “Hey can you take some pics of us for our bandcamp? I was thinking about something cool, you know? Standing in a field like that one Norma Jean Video? OH yeah, we can’t pay you but we’ll guest list you to all of our shows at the VFW” GTFOH. Like I’m going to come home from work to basically do more work but for free? I aslo love the dbags that bring their $400 D-slr that the parents got for them last Christmas because they got an A in their intro to photography to shows and act like they are pros, especially on the rare occasion that I have to go cover a super shitty BMTH show because there is space in the Arts & Entertainment section so they send me (the guy that “listens to that kind of music.”) But nothing gives me a bigger raging hate boner like the look I get from a hxc camera nerd that is taking photo 2 classes at Community College when he sees me; 1, on the other side of the rail, 2; eyes my gear (not even my gear, paper owns that shit, like I’m stupid enough to take my shit to a show?) and immediately feels inadequate as a “photographer” and 3, the look I get from his chubby girl who instantly gets a mega female boner and thinks “I should ask him to take some n00dz of me for my tumblr.” I don’t even like to admit to people that I’m photographer because I don’t want to be associated with Tumblr bros that have Cannon AE-1′s tattooed on their bicep… (who the fuck still uses a AE-1? WHO THEY FUCK STILL SHOOTS 35mm FILM?!?!?!?) Photography as turned me into a hate-filled cynical asshole who hates everything about it.
Looks like the kid that’s dating my ex. Also, that Straight Edge tattoo looks something I would have drawn on my history notes in 10th grade.
Photography as turned me into a hate-filled cynical asshole who hates everything about it.
Replace photography with any profession and WELCOME TO THE ADULT WORLD! Great comment BTW.
I bet the first guy has a Sidekick tattooed on the other arm.
great post, super replies. total agreement. have watched many ppl around me who are total fails at what we do (snowboard, skate, moto, band etc) due to either lack of talent or cbf’d coz they too busy getting wasted n partying. going nowhere? get a camera and a laptop, all of a sudden, famous, getting their arse kissed and their photos in magazines. instant “legit” with no effort/talent needed, and instant judges of the scene and who’s tuff enuff to pass their test. you can tell who they’re crushing on by how often their lense follows them, and who they’re signalling tacit disapproval of by refusing to point camera their way, even when said target of disapproval is killing it. ugh
ps thenks for frinding me. sure you will find lots of stuff to make fun of me for on fb coz i’m such the core chk. dunno what type of core but totally, totally core bro, for rlz the most core ever pick me pick me pfft ;/