The line was surely drawn in the sand over recent news of certain New York night clubs banning social photography, instead encouraging punters to enjoy their nights without the ole smart phone or camera in hand. Although we weren’t sure if the broad laws included those official club photographer on the night it seemed fitting to get a real photographer who often shoots clubs, festivals and general fun times to weigh in on the situation.

Cue Oliver, all around nice guy, Channel [V] digital gun and owner/director of Voena, a small to mid sized photography collective who often lend their copious skills to shooting for Stoney Roads (you can check out all their work here or here). 

Although not actually living in the city of New York he knows what its like to shoot clubs and festivals here in Australia and a thing or two about keeping it relevant when on the job and advice on how to navigate the often tricky club landscapes.

“Photography banned in night clubs. Hell yeah!” Should we photographers be worried? Should photographers pack up their bags for more persistent pursuits in corporate life? Should we all just turn to a life of overcharging newlyweds?

If you take constant selfies with patrons in venues, if you get drunk all the time, are more obsessed by a desire to appear more important than the average punter on the food chain, and that somehow owning a camera makes you better than one of the people. Get out. Seriously, pack up the bag, sell that camera and go do something else. If you can’t be bothered improving, if you constantly undercut, if you aren’t looking at ways to innovate and capture stuff that isn’t stagnant people posing, get out. If you place more value on what equipment you use, rather than the content you’re capturing, you know what I’m going to say, get out.

I honestly think these sorts of disruptions are important. As a photographer, there is nothing worse than getting comfortable. I am the editor of an Australian based photographic collective called Voena who have a strong interest in club photography. We make generate revenue out of it, not just by taking stagnant photos of bimbos and himbos popping awkward leans or doing their best Blue Steel impersonation, but by capturing the vibe, the spirit, the loose times, the shots, the ecstasy (as in the feeling) and sometimes even nudity and occasionally the illicit and lurid acts. More importantly though, we’re there as a support tool for venues and that’s why they pay us.

However there are a few things that I think need to be addressed with it all.

1. People who are completely buckled are not fun to photograph. Ever.

2. From a photographers standpoint, group photos do generally suck. However, this trend helps venues cultivate an image that if you’re going to attend their venue, you’re going to have a good fucking time. It’s not something we enjoy but at the end of the day in the clubs, it’s our job. All of us in Voena spend nights and weekends waiting for girls to fix their hair, lipstick, tits, pull their dresses down, and then grab their one male friend so he can flip the bird at us. We’d much rather being doing something else with our skills and our time, but again, it’s a job.

3. We’d rather be capturing people having fun and vibing as they wander around a venue. It’s a lot more interesting to create those spontaneous moments of joy. We really enjoy when the reason people come together is to experience the music, atmosphere and each other, and not the other stuff.

When I started Voena my vision was extremely different to most. I just wanted to shoot music and parties and get those fragments of a party you might have missed, to make our audience feel like they were there. It was never about emphasising the beautiful people – it was about the beautiful moment. Unfortunately though, vanity plays a major role in how people enjoy our events. This industry has grown around the recognition that vanity prevails that and we as photographers, as employees, have to respond to their requests and demands.

In 2014 I’d love to see venues have a space where phones are banned and where a photographer only takes a few succinct shots of the artists and patrons. Buck the trend of having 500 photos online, instead get 30 fucking sick shot to sum up the entire night. Make it exclusive, interesting and playful. I’d love to see our photos just be about the cool fucking moments, not just the drops and nothing like the selfies you stick on social media after your three vodka raspberries.

I’d also like to see a lot of photographers to have more respect for privacy (we don’t always, I know, I’ve been guilty of taking some questionable pics). But trust me when I say, we’d love to see some people keep their dignity. We’d love to see a standard across the industry and have people learn to take photos well instead shitting out bad content and giving us all a shitty reputation.

So I guess my point is don’t just judge us snappers. Don’t shoot the messenger as it were. We’re just doing our job and it’s often a fucking great job. Take into account the venues, their intentions and their business practices. But above all, take into account the modern culture’s fucking obsession with themselves, their good time, and their fixation on this entire bullshit culture of “YOLO”.

And if you still want to shift the blame on to us, all I can say is don’t hire a photographer for the sake of coverage. Hire someone because their work is something you appreciate and love. And promoters, worry about filling your venue, not trying to make it look full. If your crowd is selfie obsessed, fake titted and roided-to-the-gills muppets – maybe you need to look at your marketing strategy. And above all else, check in with your regulars; because you just might be about to lose them.

Oliver ~ Editor of Voena.

You can check out our work here http://voena.co and complain about how shit this article is on our Facebook http://facebook.com/voena.co