Introduction
Jamel Shabazz, Shabazz is an American photographer who was born in the 1960s in New York, specifically Brooklyn. Shabazz is known for many reasons however, he is well known because of his photographs when he captures the street life of America, the fashion and the everyday life of African American groups and communities. Jamel Shabazz gained a passion for photography when he was fifteen years old, what got him into photography was the images which he would see during the civil right movement and his dad was also a huge inspiration because his dad loves photography and takes photos too. In the beginning, when he was fifteen years old, he would grab his camera and he would go around his neighbourhood and his town capturing what he sees, producing photos which showed the natural, original energy and vibe which the streets of New York had. In New York, hip hop culture was growing and this culture was extremely popular, especially during the 1980s, fashion was also unique and extremely hyped in New York and this meant that Shabazz was able to capture all of this at the age of fifteen.
His photos in the current day and now that he is grown up and has a better knowledge on photography, his work is mainly based on and explores the themes of culture, identity, unity, urban life and pride. His photographs are energetic, original and they are bold / vibrant and the photos feel like they portray the New York City life so accurately back then.
His most popular piece of work is his photobook, titled Back in the Days which was published in 2001, this photobook consists of images with graffiti, streetwear, boomboxes and the overall style of New York and its youth in the 1970s, 1980s. Shabazz`s photography technique had great intentions, he just wanted to capture people from his city in a positive way, displaying photographs of unity in the black community with pride and strength.
Back in the time when Shabazz was taking these photos (1970s-1980s), the main camera used throughout the whole world was a film camera. His photographs were captured on a film camera and a film camera meant that the images would come out to have a warm, grainy and a retro feel / theme to them. If you have a look at all of Jamel Shabazz’s images, they are all candid photos which he gets people to pose for, most of these photographs include bold fashion, things like bucket hats, big chains, sneakers, denim etc. Other features which you will see throughout his entire photography collection is urban settings (subways, basketball courts, New York streets and abandoned, graffiti on buildings), colours and patterns, groups of people posing and natural lighting. His portraits are quite clearly staged and the models are clearly posing for the camera, however the poses and the overall photo does not seem forced, the people who were posing were proudly showing off their outfits and they wanted to be included which is what makes the photograph seem relaxed. Another aspect about his photographs which I really like is the authenticity of the images, his images are authentic and original, he builds a relationship with the models quickly and lets them express themselves however they want to, leaving the pose, the clothing and etc all up to them.
How this Links To My Project
Jamal Shabazz links strongly to my project, more specifically the streetwear aspect of my union project. I plan to do something similar to Jamal Shabazz, just like he would go out and capture peoples style I will do the same, capturing models in streetwear style of the modern day and show how fashion can be a symbol of individuality.
Sources:
Wikipedia. (2022). Jamel Shabazz. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamel_Shabazz.
The Bronx Museum. (2022). Jamel Shabazz: Eyes on the Street. [online] Available at: https://bronxmuseum.org/exhibition/jamel-shabazz/.
Lubow, A. (2022). Jamel Shabazz: Proud Street Culture on Display. The New York Times. [online] 6 Apr. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/06/arts/design/bronx-museum-jamel-shabazz-photography.html.
Jamel Shabazz Photog. (n.d.). HOME. [online] Available at: https://www.jamelshabazzphotographer.com/.