Dogumentary

For my photo documentary, I chose to document the Sego Music and Arts Festival.  This year was the third year of the festival and it was well attended.  I wanted to capture the essence of Sego, which I believe to be one of counterculture and creativity.  Everyone involved in Sego is a volunteer, many of whom put money from their own pockets into making this happen, and I participated in it as well.

If I were to tell the story of Sego through photos, I would have needed to begin this years ago, so, as I said in the beginning, I tried to capture the counterculture and the creativity of the festival.  I came to this decision because the festival is something that goes against the norm of Provo.  Many people dismiss Provo, or Utah for that matter, for being a place of any worth in regards to art because of the heavy stereotypes, such as we are all carbon copies of each other that can’t have fun, that plague the community.  The Sego festival is a showcase for the creativity of the counterculture that exists here.

I chose to keep my pictures in color because the festival was a very visually oriented occasion and to mute the colors would be like muting the music that was played.  Another reason why I left the photos how they were is a personal one because it is a pet peeve of mine for people to take pictures and then doctor them up in photoshop and think that they’re a photographer.  It’s kind of an elitist attitude, but I feel that it is in keeping with the spirit of the festival.  

The photograph of the paint bottles has the caption “Condiments of Creativity.”  I like this photo because it shows depth with the red bottle in the foreground and then the black and orange bottles and then the action occurring in the background.  Also the three main bottles are close to evenly spaced on the table, not quite filling the three thirds, but the middle third and the insides of the other two.  

Another photo I like is the last one with the car and the sign.  While the sign is in the right third of the frame, the caution tape creates lines leading off frame and creating an honor barricade for festival goers.  I also like the small areas of overexposure on the exclamation points and the plastic in the left middle third.  These spots, as well as the white sign are contrasting with the dark foliage filled background and blue car.  

The condiments of creativity can be analyzed as a metaphor for taking action.  The paints are there waiting for someone to gab them and use them. It is the person who determines whether the paint meets its canvas and becomes something of beauty or dries up to never reach its potential.  The photo of the sign at the end of the slideshow shares the caption “own provo” with the theme of the festival.  I felt that this was an allusion to how those who are creative have control.  The people pay five dollars to create art, they are paying five dollars to own Provo as the festival promises.