Braiden's photos of London's electronic music set

Steve Braiden is a man of many talents. There’s the DJ-ing, from his sets on Rinse FM to rinsing dancefloor in London and beyond. There’s his production, with a follow up to The Alps, his 12” on Joy Orbison’s Doldrums label, due in the not too distant future. And then there’s his status as the London electronic music set’s go-to photographer. He recently photographed Mr Beatnik and he’s tight with Night Slugs, as you can see from the selection of shots below with Jam City, Bok Bok and L-Vis 1990 all in attendance. We asked him a couple of quick questions about his work below, more of which you can dig into on Braiden’s website.

What were your thoughts behind this shot of Mr Beatnick?

The first thing I did was to listen through his ‘Sun Goddess’ EP that these photos were to promote. It’s very good by the way. Anyway I feel a certain kind of warmth and organic quality from his music, so I wanted to shoot it with natural light and on film. We also talked beforehand and he liked the idea of having some photos which were more about creating a vibe rather than a straight representation of physical form. With the ‘Sun Goddess’ title in mind, I set out to do these photos during sunset, where Mr Beatnick was cast in shadow and the sun takes focus behind him.

What’s next for you?

I have three shoots I’m working on in the next week for various DJs. Aside from that I’m in my studio every day working on my next single, and I’ve just recently recorded a new studio mix which will be online soon.

Do you prefer making music or photographing?

That is impossible for me to answer, they use different parts of my brain really. It’s like asking me whether I prefer eating or sleeping. They are both fantastic pastimes.

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