For my Documentary class we had to do a short documentary project with a non-photojournalistic approach. Inspired by photographer Tom Sperduto’s images of ultra-marathoners before and after their race, I decided to photograph people going out to bars on Court Street in Athens, Ohio, home of Ohio University, currently ranked as the #2 party school in the country. I set up my camera outside of a couple bars on Thursday night and Saturday night, from 9pm-11pm and 1am-3am, in order to see if there was a visual difference between people at the beginning of the night and people at the end. I didn’t want to make people feel uncomfortable, or make the bars feel like their customers were being harassed so I only took photographs of people who approached me about what I was doing.
You can see for yourself if there is a visual difference from the shifts, it was not as drastic as I had expected. What I did notice was that less than my classmates and I expected, people wanted to have their photographs taken, especially for the earlier shift. Also, less girls approached me for the earlier shift. Everyone was quite fun and friendly. I had planned on just doing individual shots, but how could I turn down a buzzed partier who wanted a pic with his/her friends?
If I do this again, I will probably spring for a bigger and more stable background. I had a great time, and it was pretty interesting to see Court Street from this angle.
Thanks to everyone who participated!
Thursday 9pm-11pm
Saturday 9pm-11pm
Thursday 1am-3am
Saturday 1am-3am
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