Los Emo Kids by David Gimenez
At first sight, Valencia, located in the Spanish Mediterranean Coast, could give an impression of being a conservative city. But in Fallas, one of the most world popular Spanish festivities, everything changes, especially at night. The mixture of fireworks, typical costumes, food, chaos, friendship, religion, alcohol and drugs give a peculiar atmosphere to the city.
Walking along the crowded “Barrio del Carmen”, the beautiful old center of the city, you can find many interesting people.
One of those nights, I found a group of Emo kids. Fancy dressed teenagers, perfectly eye lined, and tight jeans.
You don’t need to ask them to take pictures of them, actually they will ask you. They love themselves, and for that reason they want to check which shoots are good or not for approval.
This is one of my selected pictures for the final slideshow of the Photo Workshop Fallas 2009, directed by David Alan Harvey, Anton Kusters and Luis Montolio. It’s the first one of a series called “moods” composed by several portraits looking the different moods at Fallas nights.
Website: www.davidgimenez.es
Katia
i think my problema here is that the Goths and Emos tend to mix and match..they are friendly with each other, at least that´s how it seems to my totally out-of-the-loop eye. They all seem to have piercings, faces half covered by hair (but then, i was a hippie and it wasn´t that much different), chains are a big part of the package, stripey tinted hair, lots of times blue, pink, red or purple and very cool, clothing..often black but also little pleated skirts and converse sneakers and stuf..they seem to have their leaders who are REALLY cool and, well, whatever they are, they sure are good people. That´s pretty much all i know.
there are a number of street portraits of ¨my¨ Emo/Goth kids here:
http://altphotos.com/Gallery.aspx?&a=MemberGallery&memberid=1319
thanks for elaborating, Katia. It´s interesting how the song remains the same regardless of the country, eh?
bestest:
kathie-
Gracie
You viewed this photo and that´s how you read the expressions..nothing to be sorry for. There´s very little light on these faces and very few clues that tell us how to read them. Maybe these kids WERE smirking and sneering..hard to really tell with the blur and grain. But that´s what´s really nice about this photograph. It´s connotative, not denotative. We get a few clues, we interpret them our way. I was aided by my previous experience with kids like this but if i didn´t know better i would probably have been somewhat intimidated by their cool aura and read the expressions the same way you did.
DAH
I was not angry above. I have been angry here once and upset twice. I was frustrated last night because these essays and photographs get shuffled off to buffalo in favor of trying to talk somebody into seeing things differently, which never happens, ever. It really seems to be a diversionary tactic to give us something to do, including me! So why not just let this person be, let him come here and be happy, love or hate the photos for his own imponderable reasons while we also focus on the photos and essays, each in our own right or left brained way? My outbirst was a product of late night passion but i´m not really sorry. I like this person and think he has just as much right to be, well the way hs is, as we do to be the way we are. It´s all good!
all the best to Madrid!
kathie
I like this image and think the grainy style suits it. I don’t think it is a case of jumping on the “grainy bandwagon”, it works in its own right. I think the image would work best as part of an essay rather than a stand alone image.
To me though; it doesn’t say “Emo”, but it does say “Fancy dressed teenagers, perfectly eye lined, and tight jeans”. Here in New Zealand Emos are more goth like (or maybe goth-lite!!) than depicted here.
Cheers
Me encanta David, muy sensible por tu parte, quizas no es la que mas me gusta de todas las de tu reportage pero és maravillosa! Me gusta como ha quedado la chica, parece pintada practicamente.
GRANDE DAVID….. !!!
esto es solo el principio.
David, I just knew you would say that :)) Is it really everyday, hmmm, seems a little less. Am I really spending so much time here that I’m losing track of days? Chuckling. You know I’m always ready to jump in behind the curtain to help in ANY way I can. Sorry for the headache.
just had a look at the shot and through the link, to be honest, this photography is doing nothing for me. sorry, just not impressed with this work.
just going to Davids thread comment, i think alot has to do with where we are looking at images. eg DG’s photo might have more impact if it was an ad and the left side had some mega brand stamped on it, billboard on Sunset etc, or some toff in an art gallery had it enlarged and beautifully matted and framed or whatever, or here in my media room, one click from oblivion, i think our perception of what we see has to be influenced by how we percieve it. i don’t think there are absolutes, left side right side?
i wonder why people who shoot film and present scans as the image to be seen, don’t clean dust and marks from there images.
best,
IF you are a photographer, your best “position” for discussion always is what you can put down on the table in the form of your work..this should be your real statement to all of us here…
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Amen!
PS: back later…
To all. Right of left brained.
First of all, my apologizes for not jump here during the discussion, it has been a very busy week at work after the superb workshop with DAH.
I’m astonished with the all the writing about my picture, mainly for the number and quality of the comments.
Now it’s Sunday evening and I’ve spent a lot of time reading all from the beginning, and I swore you guys it has been a real pleasure.
The text companion was just and introduction of the context where the photograph was taken.
To Jim.P
I don’t mind you don’t like “Los EMO Kids” nothing at all, in my case I love your comments. Don’t delete BURN from your bookmarks; you’re a perfect catalyst and great stimulus to the discussion. Love.
To Ms. Rosa
The gear for “Los EMO Kids” was a Nikon D70 with a 35mm prime lens open wide.
To Jan
Ohh, Jan, I think I have to read several times your longest post. I’m not native English reader, so it takes me more time to think and reflect about your post. Thanks for the time. We have to talk about your impressive work at Gunkanjima. I’ll send you a e-mail soon.
To Biel, Gustavo and Fragan.
Gracias por vuestros comentarios. Ha sido genial compartir con vosotros el workshop.
Goth & Emo stuff.
It seems that there are different uses of the term EMO depending the part of the world you are. Anyway I think there is a very thin line between them. Goth kids in Spain are somewhat different, apart of the black costumes and their pale faces, we see or think about them more close to Epic Fantasy and also to manga culture. Many people, wrongly i think, refer to them as Otaku, but this term hasn’t the same meaning as in Japan, scorn and related to be a maniac. We refer to EMO, on a basic level, to more sophisticated look guys.
As I’ve said before, a real pleasure to follow your comments. See you at BURN.
Cheers
David G.