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| Untitled @ Stephen Bingham |
Exactly
Football supporters make clear visual statements about who they are, whom they support, and as importantly, whom they don’t support. With any form of identity, it is important to mark oneself as having the same identity as one group of people and a different one from others –
the sharing of similar values. Football supporters actively identify with a particular team, openly displaying recognisable symbols of allegiance; a badge, a replica shirt or a scarf.
I decided to document the supporters as crowds, rather than individuals. Fans generate an energy that would be impossible to represent in any other way. I wanted to use this opportunity to document football supporters in a positive light, a display of colour, motion, beauty and belonging... ‘theatre’.
The documentation of these supporters involved experimentation: slow shutter speeds, panning and zooming. The images capture an ‘explosion’ of energy and emotion unique to football.
www.stephenbingham.co.uk
