Five Minutes with Daniel Grendon, Photographer

It was like coming home each Friday and Saturday night. You’d walk in and even if you went alone, you knew all your friends would be there. The music would always be spot on and you were guaranteed a great night.

How did you come to photograph these people a decade later, as they reflected on their memories?

I knew I wanted to go back and reconnect with everyone again, see what they were up to now. I wanted to create something physical so I could look back on the memories and to share it with others. This is why I created the exhibition and book.

The exhibit is about more than nostalgia – what were you looking to capture in your photographs?

I was hoping to capture a moment of reflection on a time of belonging and for that to translate to the audience. I prepared handwritten interviews for each subject to complete and then included this with the portrait. I’m really happy with how the project has turned out with the combination of past and present.

Were you surprised as to how distant (or not-so-distant) your subjects had become from their unifying scene in that ten-year period?

Not as much as I expected. Most of us don’t go out as often anymore but everyone is still as creative and interesting as they were back then. Music is very much still part of our lives. It was great to see how everyone had progressed on their journey.

Now that camera phones and selfies are commonplace, how different will the documentation of today’s club cultures be in ten years’ time?

I remember owning a camera back then but always [being] too scared to take it out as I might break it. I think now there would be much wider documentation of the club scenes. The older photos I did manage to collect from the time were of groups and people enjoying themselves – I’d hope it would still be the same now.

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