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February 19, 2008
The Anti-Hipster's Guide to LA: Shadowscene
Is the word Hipster even allowed to be used anymore without disdain dripping from the user's tongue? Is it outdated? What about the connotation - good, bad, both? The Anti-Hipster's Guide to LA is a listing of people, bars/clubs, musicians/DJs, artists, installation, etc etc that may be deemed hipster-centric but don't really carry the negative connotation of the word (meaning pretentious, inaccessible, you get my drift)
If you haven't seen her bouncing around a club you've been in, snapping pictures of club goers at will, then you've certainly heard of her. If you haven't you're living under a rock - or lying. Just about any venue or night worth going to will have Ellei J's moniker on its fliers or email blast -- Photobooth by Shadowscene. I hung out with LA nightlife's ubiquitous nymph one Sunday night at Play and asked her a couple of questions.
You said you started shooting pics in Boston when you were about 13. What got you started, how'd you're parents feel about it?
I got my first manual camera around that age so started shooting real film regularly. Before that it was all polaroids and point and shoot stuff. But I was also playing music and hanging around with a lot of punk kids and bands so photographed what I was doing at the time. Who knows what my parents thought about it? They were just excited I was actually doing something and enjoying it.
How'd you get involved in LA nightlife? I think ubiquitous if the word I would use to describe you on the scene.
I got involved in LA nightlife by becoming a part of it. I went out almost every night and eventually started shooting photos of my friends for fun. This soon became noticed and a couple different friends asked me to shoot their events for them since they liked my photos. And yes ubiquitous is a good one.
What do you enjoy most about your work?
The most enjoyable part for me is that I'm doing what I love creatively and I get to meet so many amazing people. I also get to work closely with other artists and see the next great artists before most of the world even knows their name.
What parties/weeklies are you involved with?
I do Blow Up LA every month which has been going on for almost a year and half, Awesometown Wednesdays for over a year, Plus+ Sundays which is about 6 months so far for me. I helped found Check Yo Ponytail with Franki Chan as well as a few old events (Get Famous and Seven Sins). I also do Club 82 from time to time and a bunch of other random one-offs. Shadowscene now also throws it's own parties for example the second LA show for The Kooks next month with a lot more to come.
You're surprisingly not as tall as I thought you would be, in being around slightly intoxicated people, do you find you use you're camera as a means of not letting them get too far into your personal space.
Yes, I'm 5'5". Slightly intoxicated is an understatement; typically 80% of the people are drunk. And as far as personal space goes it's nonexistent with my nightlife photography. I'm in people's faces as an artist and as part of my job. So it's expected from time to time that someone off their rocker may get in my face as well. It's happened, it's not pretty but it always makes for a great story and really blurry photograph.
Do you consider yourself a hipster, do you think that word has good or bad connotations?
Hipster, shimpster.
Photo of Shadowscene by Rachael Porter/All other photos provided by Shadowscene
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Isn't the "The Anti-Hipster's Guide to LA" really just a hipster's guide to LA?
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1) bad hipster joke:
how many hipsters does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
oh, you don't already know?
2)Ellei J:
'I also get to work closely with other artists and see the next great artists before most of the world even knows their name'= hipster in disguise as an anti hipster.
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Not a hipster, just because some of the people who are profiled might be. If I profiled Mario Diaz and Big Fat Dick, does it make it a Guide to Gay LA?
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LOL to alexis' joke.
Whether these people are truly hipsters or not, Courtney's look into the deluded word has been interesting so far.
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I agree, interesting interviews, but PLEASE rename the series. "Anti-hipsters' guide" will result in endless hipster vs. nonhipster comment wars, and 1/3 of your readership will hate everyone involved just on principle.
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Will everyone who claims to take dumb pictures of drunken club life for "art" please jump in front of a bus.
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greatgatsby2, I'm okay with people debating hipster vs. nonhipster, that's healthy.... bring it!
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Ah...I see your point...tricky, Behrens, very tricky.
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it intrigues me how most of these so-called "anti-hipsters" aren't even natives to the city. That really says something about the nightlife here.
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thecoloured, it's a great point. Look at all those Los Angeles based bands heading over to SXSW.
How many are truly natives? If a band forms in Kentucky and moves to LA vs a band of transplants who all happened to meet and form a band in LA vs. a band of natives that formed a band here in LA, are they "from this city?"
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Yeah. Somebody needs to define what "being from the city" actually means. Lived here for X amount of years? Born here? Parents born here?
My grandparents grew up in Silver Lake. I think that makes me, like, so old school hipster that the rest of these tight-crotches are just fucking babies. Yeah I said it! BABIES!
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i'm currently penning "the hipster guide to being an anti-hipster." my thesis centers around the number one rule of hipstery: deny you're a hipster. idea #2: emulate this shadowscene broad by dating kelly osbourne's leftovers. idea #3: hang out at shortshop and say i do so not because i'm a hipster, but because i feel "comfortable" there.
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oh man.
i have to agree that the title to these articles needs to be changed. or put a question mark after anti. thats the point right? whether it's anti or not?
hipsters. ha.
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haha @ Carrie. That 'somebody who needs to define what "being from the city" actually means' could possibly be you.
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PS. i swear that second picture from the last has someone who is too young to register to vote.
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Hey Carrie, now the commenters are assigning you stories, it's quite fantastic.
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Hmm, I feel a hipster clarification post coming on.
This is like a hotbed of ideas.
Between this and the Kanye contest I will never have to think up another story idea on my own again. Keep 'em coming!
Yay for comments!!!
MORE!!!!
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This one time, in hipster camp, I stuck a band up my... oh nevermind.
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Ok now for a real question, can a rotund Jewish fellow with no fashion sense ever attain the coveted hipster status? If so I'd like to know how I can transform myself...
Actually no, I don't.
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Alexis, you truly made my day yesterday with that joke, thank you thank you. Hipsters and everything "too cool for school" have always been the thorn in my side.
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Oh come now, eecue -- with those thick-rimmed glasses of yours, you cannot be denied. The term "hipster" tho is just so dated, so post-rock, so last century, so emo-prog, gasoline drinking, scrotum-pierced and just rotten egg smelling.
We should seriously consider making a lowball bid on hipstr.com and redirecting it to a big ass black-thick-rimmed glasses wearing goatse.
Or not.
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Yeah but I don't like indie music!
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Love it. Hilarity. I definitely think the term hipster is outdated and I considered that when coming up with the title. Hmmm. Also, I used to hang out at the Shortstop on Thursdays with friends from West Hollywood for the dancing, getting sweaty is not really something I felt 'comfortable' doing in Hollywood and I never felt looked down upon as I do in other Hipsterdoms...
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seriously, they should drive tourists in the hipster places.. it can be a tourist attraction!!!
ah...