I had fun wearing my black knight on Friday at PAX East, although I ended up only wearing the helmet for a couple hours because it's hard to see with my eyes blacked out and no one can hear anything I say lol (I know, I could just not black out my eyes like at Dragon Con, but it looks kind of derpy). This costume holds up well, only needing a few minor repairs after three cons. Definitely one of my favorites.
Artist Interviews from Anime NYC 2023 @ Javits Center - Part Four
Artist Interviews from Anime NYC 2023 @ Javits Center - Part Four
Back in November, PiercingMetal was in attendance at the 2023 edition of the awesome Anime NYC convention which took over three main portions of the Javits Center for three days. During the course of our media coverage of the event, a series of artist interviews and booth explorations were done by site founder Ken Pierce. While all of these videos are resident on the Official PiercingMetal…
Participants volunteer to have their photo taken holding a sign with their answer to the question, "What does EDM mean to you?" Having started the project only a month ago, Yang has captured over 50 local fans and artists, plus some big-name talent including Heatbeat.
(Heatbeat, above)
We did a brief interview with Yang to find out a little about his background as a photographer and to ask about his rapidly growing project.
How did you get into EDM?
My first memory of electronic music is probably DJ Sammy's "Heaven" when it first started getting air time on the radio. I remember rollerblading around my neighborhood when I was a kid with a Walkman and this song came on. I had never heard any music like that before and I was hooked. I was 13.
How did you get into photography in the first place?
I started off with an iPhone 4S when those launched and I made an Instagram account and started snapping photos like crazy. The more photographs I took, the more interested I became in different techniques and styles. Eventually, I submitted a number of photographs I took on my iPhone 4S to a digital art exhibition in SoHo and two of my photographs were selected. A couple of months after that I purchased my first DSLR.
What inspired this project?
I disagreed with a lot of the coverage I've come across regarding electronic music and electronic music events. Having been involved in the electronic music community for several years, I disagreed with how the community and events were being portrayed.
What was your initial goal for it?
My goal was to offer a different perspective than how this community and the music was being portrayed and vilified by articles I'd seen written and news coverage I'd come across. I wanted to show that the music doesn't possess the ability to take your life down a negative path, those are decisions that you, as an individual, have to make. I also wanted to show this community is largely comprised of people who are no different than anyone else walking down the street.
Now what's your goal for the project?
In addition to those other goals, I'm also interested in exploring electronic music and the community through the individuals it's made up of.
What's some of the best feedback you've received so far?
I think some of the best feedback I've received up to this point is the support from people who are parents themselves.
Even if it's hypothetical, who are three people you want to photograph with their answers?
I would love to take a photograph of, in no particular order, Armin Van Buuren, Zedd, and Carl Cox.
Expansion to other cities is definitely in the future. Stay updated and fund out how to get involved with the We Are EDM project: