Recording Studio

For my photo essay I decided to follow the local band High Rise Horizon as they traveled up to Salt Lake City to record their first single at Independent Music Studios. For the most part I made this essay about the musicians themselves, but I decided to capture elements of the studio itself as well, as it proved to be a very intriguing subject.

As I said, I had originally decided that my essay would give greater insight into the people and process behind music production. I thought that by following the musicians into the studio I might discover their artistic soul and creative desire, and that that desire would reveal itself in the photos I took. I believed that the deep passion felt by the musicians would help me engage with my community by better being able to understand the feelings that drive musicians to write and perform the way they do. I don’t know if you can already tell, but this isn’t exactly what happened. All of the emotion I had believed I would encounter on this journey was for the most part absent. The musicians were very calm and collected in their performances and hardly ever talked about their music in an artist fashion. Rather, the musicians acted much like any hard working person might in performing their usual task. So while following the musicians did help me understand the feelings that drive musicians to write and perform their music, it wasn’t in the same vein I had anticipated. This journey taught me that musicians are much like any other working individual in the sense that while some desire and love is present in the production of their work, most of the energy derives from simply working hard and concentrating on the task at hand. I later realized that this is exactly like filmmakers as well: we are drawn to film through love and desire, but ultimately it comes down to hard work if we want to get anywhere or produce anything important.

In conclusion, this project helped me engage with my community by allowing me to experience musicianship first hand and in so doing allowing me to discover the fundamental principle that lies behind all production and creation.