In our modern era, photos have become a way of life. In a snapshot (excuse the pun!), pictures can be taken, uploaded and shared within seconds. Photos have become iconic and the photographers behind the lens have become personalities themselves. The grime scene on the other hand has also developed over the past two years and become more recognised to a larger, and to an extent, a more mainstream audience. But when the two elements meet, it makes for fantastic photos which tell incredible stories. As the grime scene emerged, we had photographers like Ewen Spencer and Wot Do U Call It documenting the early days in grime and Simon Wheatley‘s 2010 book Don’t Call Me Urban! The Time of Grime was a fascinating “behind the scenes” look at the genre we all know and love.
In 2016, we are blessed to have a heap of photographers who are exploring their love of grime through photos and people like Ashley Verse, Courtney Francis and Vicky Grout have had great success in their trade. To celebrate World Photo Day, we reached out to a number of photographers to get their favourite photos of the scene. We also want to get you all involved so upload your favourite photos you have taken or you like to Twitter with the hashtag #GRMPhotoDay
Novelist @ Born and Bred Festival, London
@GeorgeFosterUK
“I really love this photo. I was waiting for the smoke to arise and appear behind Novelist before taking it for a different effect, the hand was never meant to be in-shot but when I brought it up onto the laptop I saw it held something powerful, almost symbolic. A great performance by Novelist at Rinse | Born & Bred festival. It’s definitely one of my favourites this year.”
Big Zuu @ Radar Radio
@MsRiannaTamara
“There’s so many photos I have as favourites, this definitely doesn’t cover everything, but this was taken sometime in March this year at Radar Radio. There was a set with a packed out room of artists and the DJ was Alia Loren, it was of those random nights where my plan was to stay at home. I love the way the energy shifts when Big Zuu has the mic, he makes everybody instantly more hype than they already were. That’s why I really like these shots, because I think the look on his face and everyone else around make me feel like I’m back in that moment.”
Benji Wild [Astroid Boys] – Camden
@danisoysauce
“I picked this photo because it was one of my first portraits since I moved to London. I was covering a Thundercat show at Koko and really wanted to see some bands playing at The Underworld along other bands. I was sprinting from one venue to the other every 20 minutes so I could shoot every act that was playing. I remember thinking that I needed to get a shot from Astroid Boys for some reason. I had just started shooting portraits with my 35mm camera and was very excited about the whole process of approaching people and asking them about it without feeling weird. Eventually spotted Benji and his crew packing their van, so I approached him and he was super nice about it. One of his friend was with him and joked about a Louis Vuitton bag being in a picture, so I had to capture that too. Someone asked me to take photos of the other guys and bands and everyone was so playful that I eventually stopped getting nervous about it. It was important to me to keep doing it until today.”
AJ Tracey Live Set & Vision Crew
@CultureX_
“The picture with AJ Tracey, is one of our favourites, due to fact of the energy that we are getting from the picture with his facial expressions, and also all the hand gestures being shown. The picture with Vision Crew is one that we done recently and with this picture I was inspired by a lot of previous pictures of grime collectives, especially a picture of Ruff Squad which helped me shape the idea of this picture.”
Novelist & Skepta @ The Old Blue Last
@Z_snaps
“Here is a photo for me that conveys grime in a strong, imagery way. This was at the event recently from Iamnext in collaboration with Rrileyjh on the 14th August, 2016 at The Old Blue Last. The show was headlined by Novelist, with Skepta as a special guest and featured House of Pharaohs and J Flowz as supporting acts. DJ’s such as Tiffany Calver, Jamo Beatz and Granndmiixer giving some epic sets as well. The photo features Novelist holding up a signed copy of Skepta’s platnium album, Konnichiwa. The reason I admire this photo is the fact that it shows a monumental moment within grime; as Skepta has been one of the main faces of grime for ages and his recent success has given the grime culture a strong outlook as a genre. Plus Novelist holding the album also shows that the new generation of grime is playing a big responsibility within their forefathers, as Skepta is a big inspiration towards Novelist and that his contribution of being featured on the album is something to remember.”
BlukuByeBye Set – New Gen Radio
@CourtneyFPhoto
“This is grime. Loads of MCs cramped up in a hot room, eager for the mic, whilst another MC is spraying bars for the reload. I was balancing on the most unstable fold-able plastic chair, trying not to touch the decks whilst my lens kept on fogging up. Chip brought through some big hitters like AJ Tracey, Jammz, Mez and Stormzy, who all touched mic and kept the energy in the room high. I love capturing moments like this. The foundation for MCs. Where they come to sharpen up their skills before performing on big stages.”
The Money Shot @ New Gen Live 2015
@isaacjcambridge
“This photo is what I like to call ’The Money Shot’. It was taken at New Gen Live, 2015. Just as I was taking this picture, the guy had dropped all that money by mistake and I somehow captured the moment just before he had even realised he dropped it. I also feel this image encapsulates the crazy energies on that night.”
67 @ Birthdays
@HenrieVIII
“Here is a pic of 67 that I took at their headline show in Birthdays, Dalston where they had Reekz MB, Youngs Teflon as support acts and had Giggs come in on “Let’s Lurk”, which shut the place down. This is my favourite picture because it encapsulates the energy of the entire night. It was hyped, it was a madting.”
Wiley @ Village Underground
@KeatonRich
“This is possibly one my favourite images I’ve taken. This is from ‘Footsie Presents: KING ORIGINAL’ earlier this year! The reason why I love it so much is the lighting and more for the fact it’s the godfather himself. I’m super excited for his new album!”