WAKE UP. TIME TO GET SLEAZY
In the mid-aughts, getting shot by photographer Mark Hunter — and posted in a gallery on his blog, The Cobra Snake — was the ultimate status symbol. If it-girl Cory Kennedy was chugging beer in the background, even better. For some, this was an excuse to go out at all, as Hunter captured the recklessness of nightlife before apps like Instagram gave that power to party kids without a digital camera.
Mark: In high school I was a photo nerd, so I would spend hours in the dark room. I really have true street cred, you could say, because I could develop my own film and I print my own photos and I was fancy like that, I loved it. But I really didn't see that that would be something viable for me to continue with because it's expensive, it's slow and it wasn't exactly my vibe. This is the early 2000s.Mark: In LA, yeah.
Meg: So many people I know that are successful photographers from a young age now and do campaigns and really big work literally started doing parties. That's how they built up their thing, doing party photos. Meg: And people also didn't know if you were gonna be there, like is there gonna be anything worth shooting? Are we gonna have to create something worth shooting there? Am I gonna get my photo taken, will Mark be there?
Meg: Indie sleaze overlaps heavily with that birth of the influencer, the Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian kind of girl. The Cobra Snake felt so much more underground. Maybe celebrities are in the room, but it was cool scene people that you were shooting, which was such a cool element to have, especially coming out of LA.
Meg: So I like to push buttons and be a little messy and I'm a fashion bitch, but I think I could be a bit of a punker in terms of my mentality. I just think things should be a little fucked up sometimes.
Meg: It’s like, “Here’s the mess,” but I have to be the one to sort of take it the furthest with my own image and identity. When you’re taking photos of other people, you have to be a lot more careful about respecting their image. Mark: We ended up in Times Square at like four in the morning and there were dudes filming some kind of hip-hop music video, and you go and play with them.I don’t know if I would let you in a car either, but–Mark: That’s what’s so beautiful about the city, you can bump into people on the street, you can end up at somebody’s loft and play dress up for hours. That’s what I really enjoy photographing: that day in the life.
Mark: Everyone who made fun of Kendall Jenner for wearing a Slayer shirt, but it popularized Slayer’s music, in a way. Mark: Somebody called me in some article, “The Instagram before Instagram,” and I was flattered. The funny thing is, I did this pretty much myself for the first 10 years and then, over the years, I always had other photographers shoot and contribute to the blog because I couldn't be everywhere at once. So I gave them a platform and access. I had a really amazing girl from Tokyo contributing and a dude in Australia sending in photos, so it became a global party thing.
Mark: Yeah, it’s flipped on its head in a way. What I love is we went out and then I had a Dropbox fromparty, and it got spread through DMs and everyone just started posting those photos. So it’s pretty cool because it does serve a purpose to have me there at the event, and there’s an excitement and an anticipation to log on and see the photos the next day and socialize them.
Meg: Teenage girls, those are my readers. I’ve seen a lot of them already, and it’s so cute and so cool to see it happen. Meg: So how do we describe indie sleaze? Do you think it’s the way you took the photos, was it the clothes people were wearing or the music? What are the things that were pop cultural moments that come to your mind?
Meg: I was staying at my friend’s on Canal Street because I hated my dorm the first year. I just wore like three fake Rolex watches and a fake Birkin bag and an “I Love New York” shirt and shorts everyday and just kept buying them. And then I got my famous, “Keep back 200 feet,” on my ass shorts and I just kept like six pairs and they’re all ripped. I wore those for literally years, but to every event.
Mark: That’s what’s so special, when you get together with five or six people and you’re just having fun, talking, catching up with things. Being real and not on your phone, and that’s what is so important and I want more people to get back to.Mark: That’s why I brought fitness into my career. I wanted to make it a social way to network and do everything, but in a healthy environment like on a mountain or running across the Williamsburg Bridge.
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