19Elisha99
Erine Paniccioli
Estevan Oriol
Estevan is a well established photographer who captured the street culture of Downtown L.A, in the early 90s. One intriguing feature of his practice that I have always been captivated by is his work within the Latino, gang and tattoo culture. I remember vividly as a 10 year old child I had the poster of bone thugs and harmony crossroad single, behind my bedroom door, and right on the bottom in that bright crimson red, photography by Estevan Oriol. I was Hooked from then on. Certain aspects of his practice I can really relate to, like the street photography also along with how he captures the gang individuals, in a way that doesn't really glorify violence, but gives them a voice to tell their personal stories growing up in the streets. And how they lived their life according to the cards they were dealt with. A Lot comes to mind, thinking about the mindstate Estevan was in when capturing these photographs. Then I thought about how I take my photographs with my own community, and a few of the boys who had run-ins with law. And place myself in a neutral space where I don't discriminate but am interested in the object's point of view.
Chi Modu
The late Chi Modu, is another household name within the hiphop community. One of the pioneers to really put hip hop out there on the world stage all from his love of photography. “it's not glorifying, it's documentation, it's showing the truth” - Chi Modu. His way of framing certain artists into a position for photographs is why he's one the the best within the space. Snoop-Dog, 2Pac, Biggie, Naz.. just to name a few of these Hip hop pioneers all have used Chi Modus photographs as their album covers, most of these photographs are some of the most Iconic stills within the hip hop community till this day. Personally I see many similarities within my practice that relates with Chi Modu. One of them is capturing what's real within our communities, and also having that aspect of storytelling without having an explanation of the photograph.
Ernie Paniccioli “Who Shot Ya?”. A photography book that laid the foundations to my creative journey as a young proud and brown photographer from South Auckland. Paniccioli named the book after a well known hit song by the one and only Biggie Smalls - Who shot ya. I can remember vividly my 2nd year in College 2013. School wasn't really going well at the time for me, So detentions in the library was where I spent most of my lunch time. It was a blessing in disguise because that's where I first encountered an Old, ragged book named “WHO SHOT YA?”, which was at the time, unrecognizable by the cover due to it being vandalized by other students. No words, straight pictures of Hip-Hop icons and people I idolized and listened to, My favorite type of books to read at the time.
Paniccioli was born in Brooklyn, New York on Feb 26, 1947. He is of Native American and Italian descent, he is arguably one of the most prolific and prominent Photographers within the hip hop Culture from the 80s to the early 2000s. A decade later from my encounter, I now personally own a copy and still refer to it when I'm planning a shoot. “Who shot ya?”, Was in my opinion beyond its time. It was the pinnacle of Street/ Hip-hop documentary photography. He was “Considered by many to be the James Van Der Zee of the Hip-hop generation” was the first sentence behind his book.
The Visual impact it had on me a decade ago was what ignited my passion for photography. I can recall that lunch break detention I had that day so vividly, I was asked to help the librarian put a few books away then BOOM. There it was that white kinda spooky bold font “WHO SHOT YA?” with photographs of P.Diddy, Snoop, 2pac, Biggie, and Lauryn Hill. Instantly my attention span was snatched, Flipped to a random page about 1/3rd of the book in. “SHESH” My reaction to a portrait of a young Snoop Dogg holding a Phillies Blunt box (which is a cigar box), In his left hand while raising his middle finger with the right. That photographic book was what set the blueprints to what I later on discovered a passion for. Paniccoli’s approach with this photo book was his gift back to the Hip Hop community. Quoted in his index “This community gave me so much, So doing this is just a thank you to everyone”. I personally think the concept and idea of his photo book “who shot ya” is a perfect mixture of document and staged photographs from the thirty years he spent with the hip hop community. “Armed with a 35 millimeter camera, Paniccioli literally recorded the beginning salvos of hip hop, today the most dominant youth culture on the planet”.
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Years later when I first started my photography journey I always referred back to this book whenever I did my shoots because of how he positioned his clients. It was what I remembered the most from it. His camera angles was another point I took away from it. It's never really at an eye level, Always lower to make his clients look superior or a bit higher than eye level to make them look like they are striving for something great. His composition and rule of 3rds was also another factor I looked for whenever I was creating my own photographs. Subject right down the center, Never really did you see any of his photographs being more to the right or to the left of the center. Color grading was one I look to imitate as well, but I know film has a very distinct color that some of my more modern gears can't really make. Anything “Vintage” is what I normally slap on when i'm in post production to achieve that much older look. The Hip hop scene was also a no brainer for me due to already having many friends who were doing music. So for me to document their journey was something that I feel like I was destined to do with this craft of mine. And it just happened to be how Ernie Paniccioli started his photography journey.
To summarize it all up personally i believe Ernie Paniccioli’s “Who shot ya” is top five hip hop photo books out there. Purely because of the impact it had on me till this day after a decade ago when I first encountered it. I can only imagine how many others out there started picking up a camera because of Erine Panicciolis groundwork he put in during the early stages of this hip hop community. His documentation approach is also the sole reason why I photograph the way I do today. “You’ve got to always go back in time, if you want to move forward” a quote by snoop dog i refer to whenever i get creatives block during a shoot, “back in time” usually means look at Erine Paniccioli’s “who shot ya”.
