I Enjoy Music Photo Club (vol. 1)

A while ago I put feelers out for folks who would be interested in doing an I Enjoy Music photo club. This would entail emailing me a digital photo they'd taken at a concert, plus a short written backstory explaining why the photo meant something to them. In turn, I printed the photos out, compiled the backstories onto a single page zine of sorts, and sent envelopes out to everyone who participated.

It was so cool to see the various photos taken and hear what made them meaningful, and it was especially cool to print out digital photos and see them IRL. We love an analog experience...the touch, the feel, of photo paper...the fabric of our lives...

Below, the photos from Photo Club (I took photos of the photos with my iPhone, for some semblance of digital verisimilitude) and some small snippets of backstory!!

would you want to participate in a future Photo Club? email me! ienjoymusicblog at gmail dot com. it would be free to participate at least for the near future...

"PUP was one of the first bands I really got into totally on my own in high school and I've been going to their shows since then. They're so great live, but I think the best part of their live show is the crowd- everyone is super intense and so into the music but also so nice and welcoming."

"as someone on the younger side, it means a lot to me that I can follow them on their journey as they grow. I feel like a lot of younger people think they missed the good old days of music, and all their favorite artists are dead, but I am exactly where I want to be!"

"he closed with "All I Do Is Win" and when he sang "and when I step up in this building, everybody's hands go up!" everybody's hands went up. Beautiful set. I took this photo because the gorgeous molten lettering for SHAWTY was making me giggle."

"The funny thing about photos of Jonny Greenwood is that he's looked exactly the same for over 30 years, so you'd have to look very closely to determine when it was taken. That mop of hair and strong jawline is somehow eternal."

"To attend this mythic set was to bear witness to the elemental fury of a wild dervish untethered and unleashed into the confines of a padded room, whipping the crowd into a manic frenzy of revelry with a catalog-spanning setlist of bangers and deep cuts..."

"Prior to this show I had sort of been in some mosh pits, but generally stayed around the edges of the crowd, or just got swept up with the whole mass of people at a show, but didn't get particularly physical myself. The crowd during both Hotelier and Foxing were the right level of m0shing, and I guess I had reached the right comfort level with such things, that I just went all in into it. Lots of dancing and moshing and just an overall good rowdy time."

"I have no recollection of who played that year, or even any specific memories of this festival as opposed to any of the following ones I went to in subsequent summers, but this photo always takes me back to a very unique time and place in my life - before growing up and kids and pandemics and when it was easy and fun to just get your feet filthy while hanging out with some very chill people."

"This was not a gig. This was the wedding of members Billy and Laura (on the right). I wasn't invited as a photographer, I was invited as a friend. I got to watch some of my favorite musicians pay tribute to each other's love. I got to watch two of my closest friends devote their lives to each other. And now, when I feel alone, or scared, or defeated, I get to look at this photo and remember that all the beauty in the world is right there, in the people we choose to love."

Thanks to all the participants, this was so fun! Again if you wanna participate in a photo club in the future—email meeee....ienjoymusicblog at gmail dot com.

And thanks for reading I Enjoy Music! If you like it, tell a friend.