02/28/2025
James Duston explains his inspiration and design for these photos that are excerpts from his Documentary photo shoot assignment for DMPT 1020 Introduction to Photography:
"The poem 'You’re' was very influential on this Documentary assignment. With that influence, I photographed the young musicians at Stephenson High School Sonic Sound Band during practice. Just as a mother speaking to her unborn child in the poem, the relationship between the musician and their instrument is sacred. The dialogue that a musician must convey with every note played must be able to captivate their audience, just as this mother is mesmerizing her unborn child who lays idle, waiting to be expelled from the womb and enter the world.
"In this set of photographs, you will see these budding musicians working hard to master their craft. You will see them intensely preparing over music and ensuring every note is precise and in sync!
"In the first photograph, you see a young man on the saxophone. Watch as the iPad illuminates his face, and I capture him in an intense moment, perfecting that one note. The second photograph shares two young ladies also on the saxophone, blending their notes intimately. For the third photograph, I chose to make it black and white because it was speaking to me like an old photograph that had been recovered. Though taking in this moment, the grainy texture gives me a feeling like it was taken decades ago. In the fourth photograph, I captured the instructor giving crucial feedback to his students. In the fifth photograph, I seized the moment when the subject was deep in thought, ensuring he perfected his part. In the sixth photograph, you see a student with assurance that he finally got the note he was stumbling over for hours. Last but not least, this photograph did something for me. The section leader is leading her section, but she is singled out, and it’s like a spotlight is solely on her."
