I’ve been following Huy for sometime now. Blessed with a brilliant mind, he has the ability and integrity to capture the philosophy behind Gritsy’s bass nights with picture perfect images like no other. Dedication and natural intuitiveness has given Huy the extra edge to document the Dance with a sense of beauty, but more importantly, to freeze those single memorable moments, which, if it wasn’t for his artistry, would only remain a faint memory. Huy is a master of his craft, and his Gritsy Flickr galleries are a testament to his work. After posting Gritsy’s 6 year anniversary album on our Facebook page, Huy got in touch and was eager to share more with the world. So I present to you, our first guest feature on TRUSIK, Huy Cao.
Hi everybody, my name is Huy Cao (pronounced like wee cow), and I’m a photographer for Gritsy here in Houston, Texas. Over the past couple of years, I have been fortunate enough to photograph some world class artists and experience moments that define a movement. It’s been an amazing journey and I can’t wait to see what lies ahead.
Our current system: 16 dual 18” subs . Hits you right in the chest!
What is Gritsy? Gritsy is the longest running bass music night in America and we just celebrated our 6th birthday last month. That is a quite a feat considering that Gritsy does not have a home venue to operate out of, and that we have to bring in every bit of gear to each and every event. This instills me with a sense of pride and honor since I’m watching it literally get built from the ground up. This helps TREMENDOUSLY when it comes to photographing the night because if your heart is not into something, your work output is going to reflect that.
Whenever I shoot a Gritsy dance, I focus on capturing the details of the event rather than trying to capture the event as a whole. It’s always good to take notice of the little things that the crowd can’t see or may not have even noticed. I always strive to make my photos candid and natural because nothing is worse than a group shot of people posing and smiling for the camera. Anybody can take boring group shots all night, but not everybody can go beyond that level and capture the real essence and vibe of a dance.
When it comes to photos, I like to work mainly in black & white. The first three things that register to a person when they view a photo are: Color, shapes, and texture. Shooting in black & white obviously strips away the color, so the viewer is subconsciously forced to focus on how varying shapes work together to create a photo. It is akin to how the space in dubstep gives listeners a bit of time to hear how all the different musical elements work as one, to build a solid composition. Photos with light trails all over the place and a million different things going on do nothing more than distract the viewer from the central focus. Of course, that is just purely my opinion.
Out of all the artists that I’ve been fortunate enough to shoot, no one exudes presence like the one and only Mala. It’s always a pleasure to watch and document a true artisan honing their craft. One thing in particular that I like to capture when documenting Mala is his records. In this digital age of CDJs, Serato, text messages, and emails; there’s something nice and calming about photographing hand written records. It just adds that human touch to the equation. Also, a photograph of a stack of dubs is a lot more interesting than a photograph of a CD wallet or Serato screen (laughs).
Well, that’s about it. Thank you for taking your time to read through my ramblings. Huge thanks to Alastair for giving me an opportunity to express my thoughts and feelings on the art of photography. If you’re an aspiring photographer (like myself), just abide by one rule: the best photographers never let others see their bad photos. It’s ALWAYS better to have a handful of great photos than hundreds of mediocre shots.
