In one snapshot, two beautiful, stylish young women playfully kissed each other with their arms wrapped around one other amidst a dark, crowded bar.
Next.
Five or so hands prepared to roll the dice onto a wooden table covered in paper cups filled to the brim with beer and topped off with some crinkled one-dollar bills.
Next.
Dozens of colorfully-dressed scenesters, packed in front of a sweaty DJ and his turntable, shout, raise their arms and sing along to the music.
In these scenarios that are captured in somewhat of a slideshow of events, everyone is beautiful, most are gripping alcoholic beverages and all are having a blast. Or that’s what it looks like in these snapshots and stills from various clubs and parties in Chicago’s social community, which now runs rampant with party photographers seeking to document what really happens at some of Chicago’s favorite nighttime hotspots.
In the past few years, party photographers have flooded clubs and parties, providing snapshots of partygoers while immersing themselves in Chicago’s social scene. What started as an outlet for friends to share photos and memories of wild nights out has evolved into a love-it or hate-it medium that turns ordinary club-hoppers into local Internet and real-life celebrities. And although the novelty doesn’t seem to be going anywhere any time soon, some are voicing their frustrations with how party photography has changed Chicago’s party atmosphere.
Though party photography in Chicago didn’t catch on until around 2006, Mark Hunter, aka The Cobra Snake, of Los Angeles, and Merlin Bronques of New York City, began posting photos of hipsters and glamorous partygoers on their photoblogs, TheCobraSnake.com and LastNightsParty.com,
in 2004. The websites rapidly caught on with locals and fans across the country, inspiring other wannabe photographers and partiers to pick up cameras and tap into the market of party voyeurism in the social scenes in their own communities.
Hunter and Bronques are widely credited with kickstarting the phenomenon of party photography, and Hunter is somewhat considered the “godfather of party photography,” said Kyle LaValley, a junior photography major at Columbia.
“He’s the guy that kind of made it into this commodity that it is, for better or worse,” LaValley said. “He’s kind of like the Warhol of photography. He just knows how to make people want his work. He and Bronques, they’re both really good at that—being the guy everyone in the room is like, ‘Oh my God, I don’t even know who he is, but I want him to take my picture.’ They’re really good at embodying this celebrity kind of feeling, which is so bizarre.”
LaValley, who runs her own photoblog in Chicago, has carried her camera with her everywhere since she moved to the city in 2005, taking photos wherever she went as somewhat of a social mechanism to meet new people, she said. She didn’t discover photographers like Hunter and Bronques until a few months into posting her photos online for her and her friends, she said.
“I think I’ve always made my pictures to be a reflection of what’s going on in my life,” LaValley said. “I hope that my pictures are something 20 years from now that people look back on and think about. For me, it’s more like I’m afraid I’ll forget.”
The phenomenon of party photography eventually gravitated to Chicago in 2006, when Clayton Hauck, a former Columbia film major, launched his website, EveryoneIsFamous.com. Hauck’s website saw more hits in the following year, and soon thereafter the name of the website became synonymous with Hauck, the “guy with the long hair, hat and camera” in hand wandering around Chicago’s clubs and bars.
“When I thought of that name I thought it was great because it’s just kind of a joking name,” Hauck said. “Of course, it’s not true. Everyone isn’t famous.”
Many photographers in Chicago have followed in Hauck’s footsteps, as he did with Hunter and Bronques. After discovering TheCobraSnake.com, Hauck said he realized how successful party photography in other cities was and how much of a demand there was for it in Chicago. Other websites from photographers like LaValley, with her photoblog 476ad.com/ChiKyle, and Matthias St. John, of CelebrateNothing.com, then began to gain more notoriety.
“I didn’t start the website with the goal of it getting big,” Hauck said. “It was more for just fun and a good way to gain experience and get better. And slowly, I realized that it was also a good way to drink for cheap.”
Along with thrusting Chicago’s party scenes into the spotlight, many party photographers also find themselves gaining a bit of celebrity status. Hauck has segued from being just a photographer to immersing himself in Chicago’s social scene by occasionally performing as a DJ and hosting parties of his own, like Claycella on March 8. LaValley said photographers have never been in the same category of celebrity “rock stars” before, as they are now.
“They’ve always just been like that weird guy with the camera,” LaValley said. “But these guys are like larger than life to these kids.”
Perhaps because of this and the relatively small social scene in Chicago compared to Los Angeles or New York City, Hauck also said most of his current friends are people he’s met while he’s photographing for his website.
“Now I recognize most people,” Hauck said. “I get out so much [that] there’s tons of familiar faces. I don’t like to get the same people on there all the time, but I know it happens. The ‘scene’ in Chicago isn’t really that big. So you kind of do see the same faces all the time. In a way it’s just kind of accurate.”
Accurate or not, some regulars in the social club scene have become jaded and a bit frustrated by the constant presence of party photographers.
Before Carmen Myers, who moved to Chicago from Washington, D.C., in 2006, even started to frequent Chicago clubs and parties, she said she would notice the same faces on sites like EveryoneIsFamous.com. But it wasn’t until she became a part of the social scene in Chicago that she realized how small it was and how much party photography was affecting the way partygoers reacted in front of a camera.
“I guess when I first saw [party photographers] it didn’t seem like such a big deal, but [party photography has] gotten annoying because it became totally oversaturated,” Myers said. “It’s definitely changed the crowd; the types of people who are going out now are almost too polished.”
Because Hauck and LaValley shoot at clubs and parties, many partygoers often become inebriated, resulting in pictures of people who become a bit more “adventurous” when they’re “too drunk to care” about what they look like. But some have voiced concerns about what photos of drunk clubgoers say about youth culture.
While at a show last spring at Smartbar, 3730 N. Clark St., Myers said she “drunkenly” asked Hauck to take her picture. When a photo of her with a caption about her begging Hauck to take her photo was posted, Myers said she asked Hauck not to take her photo anymore.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, I sound like such a vapid b—-. I don’t want to be photographed anymore,’” Myers said. “At that point I asked Clayton not to take my picture anymore. You don’t have to be photographed; you can definitely avoid it.”
Since beginning her website and gaining more notoriety from her photos at house parties and “ragers,” LaValley said she can understand the backlash surrounding party photography. At some parties, people have been so aggressive about getting their photos posted on her blog that they will offer her anything from money to drugs to take their pictures.
“I definitely think there are people that perform when the camera’s around,” LaValley said. “I feel a lot of times that if you’ve been doing it as long as people like Clayton or I have you can kind of pick up on that, and it’s fun to exploit it. I don’t take myself seriously like I’m God’s gift to photography for taking pictures of drunk hipsters. But at the same time that’s kind of the beauty of it, because there’s nothing hipsters love more than to be glorified.”
For Myers, the people who drunkenly strike poses for photographers have somewhat deterred her from going out to parties as much.
“I have kind of stopped going out as much partially because of the way the crowd has changed,” Myers said. “Whether they actually look like they’re posing, those are the people who put themselves in the eye line of the photographer. You started seeing more pretty people that were constantly going out.”
Because atmospheres like clubs and bars offer the same types of crowds and people, LaValley said she tends to photograph “hangout situations” instead, where a different subset of the Chicago social circle usually goes. Instead of taking photos of partiers posing for the camera in a “statuesque” way, LaValley said she’s able to capture more candid shots of today’s youth.
“I just feel like at clubs and bars it’s already all there and set up for you,” LaValley said. “And there’s so many more elements at a house party where the cops are going to come, there aren’t security or bouncers, people are going to get in a fight. Twenty years from now it’s not going to be like, ‘Here’s you and I looking statuesque for a picture.’ It’s going to be more, ‘Here’s me dancing my a– off and looking like a maniac. I remember exactly how I felt when that was happening.’”
Both Hauck and LaValley said they’ve come across people who are adamant about not having their picture taken while at a party, and LaValley said some have even tried spilling drinks on her camera or pushed her.
“I feel like a lot of people get this impression that to be a party photographer is something really glamorous and great, and most of the time it’s really not,” LaValley said. “It’s really stressful, awkward and difficult. You have to deal with a lot of s—.”
Recent Comments