Regular scenestr contributing photographer Lachlan Douglas is currently exhibiting a collaborative project involving some of the musicians who have played Island Vibe Festival.
“Scenestr has supported the festival for a number of years and I remember that the first shots I had printed in Scene Magazine were actually from the 2010 Island Vibe,” Lachlan says. “Come Island Vibe this October I’ll be celebrating five years shooting for Scene/ Scenestr. Just one of the reasons why this is a special event for me.”
What was the inspiration for this project?
I like to come up with a unique point of difference with event coverage. Sometimes that isn’t very easy. Back in 2012, a few friends were playing and I saw they were all dressed up and in full-festival mode. At the time I had been shooting some promos for a group whose band members all lived over three hours away from each other, so I saw Island Vibe as a great opportunity to make the most of everyone being together in the same spectacular place at the same time.
How did that idea turn into the ‘album cover’ concept?
Festival portraits can get a bit samey, with a few notable exceptions, so the challenge was to come up with something a bit different. The line-up for the festival varies from nine-piece reggae groups, which can be tough to shoot in an original way, to DJs and selectors. The festival site is within arms distance of a whole list of different landscapes.
If we didn’t have any limit on post processing we could either use the natural landscape, use a pop-up seamless white/ black/ chroma backdrop or a combination of both. I have a thing for square-format images and the idea took-off from there. What we came up with was a series of images created around a photo taken over the week of Island Vibe, which we turned into something that was ultimately printed at an LP size. Those prints are framed and are hanging at Ugees along with some recent promotional shots and a few, live images of some local legends.
How did you decide on the design of each image?
I collected a set of images and ideas they could have a look through and possibly get inspired. I pitched some ideas, I had a few planning meetings in the lead-up, but there was also a lot of improvisation around available locations and how to come up with an image with impact.
Did anything go wrong?
Phone reception for different mobile networks was a bit varied, so arranging times and places to meet meant we missed a couple of shoots that were planned. Early and late flights also got in the way in one instance. When it didn’t end up happening we just went back to enjoying paradise.
What are your plans for this year’s Island Vibe?
I’ve started to have a think about what to do at this year’s event, given that it is their tenth anniversary. I’m looking forward to providing broad photographic coverage of the event for Scenestr if everyone involved will have me. When more line-up announcements are made I’ll see who might be up for participating in a 2015 project and see if we can push the boat out a little further this year with location and image manipulation. The possibilities are endless.
The Island Vibe Project is hanging at Ugees Espresso in West End, Brisbane, until 17 July.
