NIGHT SHIFT PHOTOS INSPIRE COMPOSERS
When photographer Brian Douglas launched his “5 a.m.” project, photographing people in the community who work the night shift, he certainly didn’t expect those photos would end up in an exhibit accompanied by music written specifically for his works.
“I thought that world would be an interesting one to display, in their places of employment,” he said. “Shift workers come to mind, the unsung heroes.
“You don’t usually think of pairing it with music.”
On Saturday, May 26, Douglas will be one of eight juried photographers and six students whose images will be projected at the Arts$Pay show entitled “Distillation — The Essence of Waterloo.” The works will be accompanied by nine local musicians whose task was to write music to fit the theme of the photographs.
The photographers were asked what sort of music they thought best suited their pieces but it was really up to the composers to create a theme based on their inspiration.
“I had an idea of ambient music, city scapes, atmospheric music,” he said. “There’s a musician, Sigur Rós in Iceland, the music is very moody.”
The competition was open to the public as well as members of Art$Pay, a regional, grassroots arts organization with 100 members, founded less than two years ago. This is their first year for the “Distillation” project which, as Douglas said “highlights other talents” in the community.
Musicians will be performing the songs they created using a variety of musical styles and instruments including cello, flute, keyboard, acoustic and jazz guitar, as well as Indigenous drumming. There is even a DJ mixer. Most of the musicians are students or recent graduates of Wilfrid Laurier University’s faculty of music.
Douglas’ 22 images feature hospital and emergency services workers, factory workers and folks who wake up long before dawn to bake breads, bagels and croissants. There is brewer, hotel staff, morning radio show host and a pharmacist.
Everyone is busy working while most of the community is snug in their beds and for this, Douglas envisioned music that was at time jarring, like a city scape, and other times soft and beautiful, all the elements of a busy community.
“I was able to choose the style of music that fit,” he said. “They (composers) were given the images in advance to create the music.”
Other than that, Douglas has no idea what his composer Matt Borland came up with.
The systems design engineering at the University of Waterloo is also a musician and co-founder of the Waterloo Tape Music Club, a collaborative space for exploring new music so he seemed a good fit for Douglas’ photographs.
“I’ll be surprised,” Douglas said.